The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1899-05-04
THE ALTERNATIVE.

The politician or public man who fails
| to take an account OF the part trusts are
10 play in the coming Presidential cam
paign. makes a grevous blunder There
| Is a profound and widespread discomfort
with the supposed injury industrial com
binations do the people at large, and
unless the subject is intellisently discuss
Cd so that the people at large may come
10 n correct understanding Of H. they are
liable TO take the bit between their teeth
! and run off into some gulley or brush
heap.
Far be It from The Times TO say dog
maticany that trusts are for the benefit
OF men, and that any measures aimed
al their destruction must needs be meas
ures aimed at the good Of mankind. The
Times has its own opinion, and they are
very fixed and founded upon reasons en-
tirely convincing 10 its own mind. But
those reasons may not be equally con-
yinclnc 10 the minds OF other men. and
The Times IS not going TO say that The
other men must necessarily be wrong and
The Times right. because The Times sees
the subject I'm one may while they see II
another. The Times is always ready to
argue out any case upon its merits ana
1T. therefore. holds itself ready to discuss
this burning issue with any and all who
have ideas TO advance about it.
A carriage maker Of Richmond said to
us within the past few days that he had
Just undertaken to repair a gentleman's
carriage for the sum OF $l25 He said
the lob had been offered 10 four carriage
makers. and that he had been compelled
10 take IL al this price or not get il. His
profit. he said, could, by no possibility, eX~
coed So Now when rent, interest insur-
ance wear and tear and risk in bust
ness are allowed for this profit makes 1t
impossible for this man TO do business.
He cannot live upon the net profits. Why
was the profit so small? Because steam
and electricity have put all men into
such immediate touch. that a buyer can
figure cost down to the last cent. and
he forces all sellers to put what they
have to him at the last fragment OF pro
nt.
This fact has given rise to the trust.
Men see that they must pool their bust
ness and make an equitable division of 1t
amongst themselves or else destroy each
other by the fierce competition which
steam and electricity enable them TO
carry on Competition is the life Of trade.
says the old saw, and that was true
while means Of communicating inteli-
gence and transporting bulks were as
defective as they were one hundred years
ago. But now that steam and electricity
enable the New Yorker 10 compete with
the merchant az Canton, China, for sup
plying articles 10 the citizens Of Canton,
competition may just as truly be said TO
be the death of trade. Under modern
conditions competitors must certainly de-
stroy each other unless they can find some
means for bridllng and controlling COM
petition We must find that means, or
we must give up steam and electricity.
That is the alternative. in our opinion,
and the more the subject is discussed the
more apparent we think that will become
the alternative. The trust-the industrial
combination-is, we think, natures
method Of controlling competition when
it assumes its destructive form. and we
believe that mankind at large will come
TO this conclusion, as the subject is ven
tnated, and it comes to have a clearer
appreciation of it,
We have hardly opened what we wish
ed to say in this connection, but space
compels us to defer tile remainder 10
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