Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-11-09

phases, says the Chicago Chronicle
But what is to be the effect OF the
present tendency to form trusts upon
the young man who enters upon the
struggle for existence with limited cap
ital or no capital but his hands and
brains? Has the young man a chance
under the present conditions? These
are the questions answered with
trenchant and incisive vigor by ex-
Senator w. D. Washburn Of Mime
sofa. Mr.. Washburn believes that the
young man of today is being deprived
of business opportunity by the forma-
tion of trusts. He says:
when I was young man Il am
now 6S) l had the world before me,
and there was absolutely fair field
for me. Take all of our most success
full business men of today, and tneir
experience was like mine. They en-
tered the race without handicap, and
their grit and capacity won. Now, this
building up of trusts puts stop to
fair and equal opportunities for the
young men of today. The young man
just out of college has no opening, as
a rule. He cannot begin business on
his own account against organized cap
ital. He must join the procession. He
must content himself with being e
mere clerk, and the chances are that
he will never get any farther, because
there are so many in his class"
1t is difficult to escape the force of
this strong arraignment of trusts. 1t
will be conceded even by superficial
students of the question that the for
nation of powerful industrial com
binations for the purpose of control
ling the production of commodities
must inevitably tend to crowd out
small producers, and hence must dis
courage individual initiative and enter
prise. This means that the young man
who is looking for an opportunity to
engage in business is shut out from all
lines of legitimate Industrial endeavor
unless he can control enough capital
to become a part of a great industrial
organization. If he cannot do this, the
only avenue of business activity for
him is, as Mr.. Washburn points out,
mere clerkship in some great estab.
lishment, where his personality is OBJ
scured in the clerical machinery that
Is necessary for the conduct of these
combinations.
The observations of ex-senator
Washburn are worthy of serious re-
fection. They will suggest the ques-
tion as to whether anything is to be
gained for society by combinations
that are ostensibly formed 'to cheaper
the cost of production" but which de-
prive the young men of the land of all
opportunity to become producers or to
embark in business for themselves. Mr..
Washburn does not speak as a pessi-
mist or a politician-although he warns
the Republican party of the conse-
quences of failure to take up the
question aggressively and fearlessly.
The ex-senator speaks as a business
man of wide commercial experience as
the head of great manufacturing in
terests, who, during a business career
OF forty years, has enjoyed exceptional
opportunities for studying industrial
conditions. A nation should give its
young men chance. If present con-
ditions deprive them of all industrial
opportunities, the conditions should be
changed so far as is in the power of
legislation to change them, and the
party that takes up the cause of the
young man will be TIE political power
of the future.