The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1899-07-06

then those men asked only for an aver
age Of Is per cent 1T is now an average
OF IS per cent?. and that only for Gin
rant industries" It was supposed that
when these infant industries matured
they could get along without any tariff,
Tor Hamilton further said: THE contin-
uance Of bounties on manufactures long
established must always be Of question
able polity," but 1t would seem that the
greater bounties given the more our Gin
rant industries" require. They remind
one of the old farmers calf which
sucked two cows: the old fellow re-
marked that the more the brute sucked
the bigger calf he grew. Tom Reed, in
speech before his last election, said
that the Dingley tariff with it's IS per
cent average), had prevented importa-
tons and thus benefited home indus
tries, and he added: only raise the tar
IN high enough and you will prohibit
importations altogether" That, of
course, would give our various manufac-
turers an entire monopoly of the home
market.
Let us now trace the evolution of the
trust from tariff bounties. The first
influence of a high tariff is to attract
capital for investment in protected lines
on account of the greater returns on the
Investment, and the greater the tariff
the greater the returns, and the greater
the returns the more competition will
there be for these great gains. This
stimulation of production results in
production and market stagnation,
perhaps business panic. This brings
on an era of lower prices and ruinous
competition, in which many OF the
weaker firms fail and are forced out OF
the business. The stronger firms then
get together, compare notes, ascertain
the annual demands of the market for
their line of goods, then combine to
control the output, which they do by
discharging many hands and shutting
down portion of their mills; thus they
have complete control of the market by
controlling the supply, and the public
are obliged, on account of the tariff, to
patronize the robbers.
Such is the evolution of the trust,
corner, or monopoly, whichever you
may please to call it, for they are all
alike. Deriving this power from the
high tariff law, they not only reimburse
themselves for any losses they may
have sustained during the period of low
prices, but they exact tribute from all
consumers of their goods in proportion
to the height of the tariff, as that gives
them monopoly of the market. in pro-
portion to the height of the tariff, by
out foreign competition. A
trust, then, is a monopolistic evolution
of indirect taxation, the fruit of un-
equal and unjust taxation, for without a
tariff these manufacturers must COM
pete with the world the same as our
agriculture does.
You see now how the trusts are
evolved from indirect taxation, and
how they get their power to fleece the
American public. You will also hear
in little while terrible howl, by both |
the old parties, against trusts, but you
will get no relief if either party is elect
ed, for both of them must have cam
paign funds from the trusts, and while |
we'll paid orators declaim against trusts, |
the campaign committees will be raking
in the shekels, to be afterwards repaid |
by favorable legislation, so you will get !
nothing but the music for your vote for
either of them.
The late Frances Willard said: ITO
have the golden age we must have the
golden rule" which is simply another
way of stating that we must have JUS
ice in legislation, or the exchange of /
equivalents. Populism would inaugu-
ate an era of justice in legislation, and
he people would be prosperous because
Ill would get an equivalent for their
abOr or money.
JAMES ARNOLD.
Vesta, MINI.