Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-10-25
HANNA AND THE TRUSTS.

DOSS I1dHld says IHSIS 1911 d u uoe
in the country, and the Intelligencer
quotes his remark with subservient ap-
prevail Hanna prefaces his statement
with a quotation from Prof Gunton,
who is reported as saying
There is not trust left in the United
States. There never were more than about
half dozen, and they all have been dis
solved, and converted into large corpora
tons. In reality, then, the war on trusts
is a war on corporations pure and simple
Then Hanna says:
Prof. Gunton's statement gives the
whole question in a nutshell Ny idea of
a trust is that it is combination of capital
organized for the purpose of controlling q
commodity and a necessity. That kind or
an organization would be inimical to the
interests Of the country. and the Repubh-
can party can be depended upon TO pro-
tect the interests of the people against
such combinations or trusts Corporations
are not trusts, and without corporations 1t
would be impossible for this country to
compete with the world, and more so now
that the doors of the Orient are open to
our trade. l am not defending trusts, nor
am | repudiating a single word or phrase
in the Republican platform. | will con-
tinue to tell the people of the state exactly
the meaning of trusts and OF combinations
or corporations.
This is logic and reason with ven
geance. A more shameless effort to
bamboozle the public was never made
by any man in public life. Does Sen
ator Mark Hanna estimate the Ameri-
can people as having so low standard
of intelligence as to be deceived by that
sort of talk? He admits, through Prof.
Gunton, that there were at least half
a dozen trusts, but claims they have
l. fEJo,, fr.,c
If this be true, the large corporations
must of necessity be in the business for
merely conducted by trusts, a word he
is at pains to define. Some scores
of other large corporations have also
come into being, and are in the same
life of industrial work. 1t follows that
by whatever name they are called, they
are in trust business and are pursuing
trust methods, to the injury of the peo
nle.
The Intelligencer, in its effort to up
hold Hanna's end of the matter, makes
an effort to show that if the trusts have
advanced prices they have also ad-
vanced wages. 1t is true that wages
have been advanced in many instances;
but it is also true that merchandise
controlled by these gigantic combina-
tions have advanced at a much greater
ratio than wages, and the working
mans dollar or the workingman's saw
ings will not buy anything near as much
as one or two years ago. Let work
ingman who contemplates the erection
of a homo. or the farmer who wishes
to buy anything from underclothing to
a moving machine, compare present
prices with those of say eighteen
months ago, and at the same time make
a comparison of the income account
In either case it will be found that the
balance is on the wrong side, and in
addition the student of these matters
will ascertain that the future outlook
Is for an accentuation of these condi-
tons.
Another fact should receive the con-
s;deration Of wage earners. While there
mas been ali advance of wages in some
sPeCldl INDUSTRIES, dS iIOH anu steel, the
large majority of workingmen have not
shared in this alleged advantage. The
men engaged in many trades and avo-
cations have received no advance what
ever, but they pay more for everything
they buy. The outgo is greater and the
income is Just the same. That does
not constitute prosperity, save to a few.
The many are not benefited Take
such classes as clerks, travelling men.
newspaper men. timers. blacksmiths,
bricklayer, stonemasons, carpenters,
domestic servants, and all the long list
of those in employments which absorbs
the vast majority of skilled and UNI
skilled labor, and the so-caled Repub-
lican prosperity has brought nothing to
them, but everything they eat, wear or
use has been advanced in price. The
benefits go to Mark Hanna's corpora
tons" which he says are not trusts.
Mark Hanna isn't fool. but he
comes pretty close to the definition of
political knave who assumes that the
people are fools.
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