The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-05-18

humanity. 1.-THE sweater and the blood
sucker" says Mr.. GLADDEN., who has no
mercy on his employees can always undersell
the employer who strives to maintain a liv-
ing wage: the merchant who pays his debts
every four or five years"
Mr.. GLADDEN. points out that the trade con-
ventioiss which nave been held for several
years have bsen considering the matter of
competition; IN fact, it has been a feeling
Of need OF Corporation which has brought
them together, md the discussions of these
meetings have prepared the way for the
present era of industrial combination The
trust is a development of which the writer
boldly declares:
Doubtless the Industrial methods which
the trusts are introducing lave come TO
stay All that they urge about the waste
and mischief Of competition and about the
great economies of cooperation on the large
scale Is perfectly true. Concentration in all
the great Industries is the need Of the hour.
We can no more go back to the old econom-
&c regime than we can return TO the stage
coacn ana the hand loom The only ques-
ton is, who shall control these vast enter
prises.
The danger, Mr.. GLADDEN. says, lies In the
overcapitalization of the combinations. and
it is a very grave danger. He asserts that
all OF the recently formed trusts are cap
italized at twice their value. or for twice the
sum for which the plants can be con-
structed The original owners hold the
bonds OF reliable and secured values in the
combinations. and put the stocks, which
are fictitious, wind or water, upon the
market. At the present time the promoters
are able to sell many Of these stocks, rep
resenting no value. to investors. Millions of
small savings are going into these common,
very common, stocks. If the combinations
are not able to control the markets, to be-
come monopolies, the trusts cannot pay
dividends on the stocks. If they cannot no
enc can estimate the suffering that will re-
small investors. Widespread social discon-
tent will be the result.
On the other hand, If the combinations
can m~onopolize their lines of production
and can extort from the consumers prices
which will enable them to pay dividends on
a capitalization two or three times greater
than the actual investment, there will be
IN Will Cul
inmate In wrath. because the American peo-
pie will not endure such imposition. IF
these combinations are protected by law
some way will be found Of setting the law
aside" says DR.. GLADDEN., who concludes his
article with the following thoughtful words:
The duty of the hour is simple. 1t is to
protest, not against the concentration of in
dustry, but against the imitation of capital
Inc laws which seek to restrain co-opera-
tion are attempts to dam the stream of hui
MAJ progress; men are bound to cooperate
more and more and on a larger and larger
scale; but they must not make their Coop
Grafton a pretext for plumber. That is the
precise significance of the watering of
STOCKS; and If We want to avoid a certain
financial cataclysm and a probable social
reVoiuioh, We must find some way of nut
ing an end TO this. Every man Who offers
70 sell this fictitious property, and every
man VINO thinks of buying it, should clearly
understand the nature of it. and the proba-
PIE consequences of its wide distribution. IT
nLust not De supposed that injustices of this
CHARACTER can be committed with impunity:
there was never a day when the ethjcai
sense or the people was so quick and sure
ana when retrfbution for social wrongs was
so near at hand. "N'