The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1899-09-14
THE TRUSTS.


known concerning them. Nor is there
any one who can suggest means to pre-
vent their organization if prevention Il
deemed advisable. and of that there can
be only one opinion, particularly when
the trust is organized to interfere with
legitimate forms of industry.
Unfortunately, the trust has become q
political question before information re-
garding it is sufficient to deal intelli-
gently with the questions to which II
gives rise. The politician who expects
to profit by the trust is glad OF its exist
ence as it is an instrument he can use III
his own behalf If the trust was legit-
innate outcome of business growth 1t
would adjust itself to the conditions
which gave 1t origin, and there would be
gradual adjustment in harmony with
the conditions of which it Is aD incident.
The trust as it exists today Is RI arti
fetal and not natural growth. 1t l.
imposed and not developed 1t can be
sustained only by disregard of the nat
ural laws of trade. An examination OF
its origin and purpose shows its parasitic
nature.
There is no doubt that concentration
of capital is necessary to industrial de
velopment and that corporations are the
only form in which concentration of cap
ital is possible That there are evils in
separable from corporations no one Will
DENY, But perfection is something i'm
possible. If the advantages of corpora
tons overbalance the features confess
edly undesirable. the existence of cor
porations is justified Partnerships can
not take the place OF corporations In
business of magnitude.
1t is also true that consolidation OF
railways has resulted advantageously tC
business interests, both in securing dis
ratch and in reduction OF transportation
charges. But these consultations have
been growth and in response to de-
mand for improved facilities. Besides
water transportation gave competition
which was felt.
The trust is an artific al consolidation.
If it was ruinous competition which was
responsible for its existence, the services
of the promoter would not be necessary.
The promoter is not factor in indus
trial development. He is the walking
delegate of the corporations, self-em-
ploved, but his success gives him power
to force combinations. The presence of
the promoter fixes the character of the
trust as it exists to-day. He is not EN-
ployed He is u canvasser. He is the
growth of diseased condition, of false
ideas of industrial development He
does not open new markets, increase ca
pacity of production, or lessen the labor
connected with it. He creates nothing,
makes no addition to wealth and opens
no new field to labor He manipulates
that which exists without adding to its
value or making it more effective in pro
ducing
A great difference between the con
solidation effected by his agency and
that which comes through natural chan
nels, and which. despite the howl of the
demagogue, is beneticent i'll its results
To fail to draw distinction is to be
blind to what is progressive.
If the trust is wrong in its inception it
is equally wrong in that upon which it
relies for its support. 1t is the old idea
of creating values by artificial means
1t is the spirit of the protective tariff in
new guise Combination is as potent in
advancing prices beyond what competi-
ton makes proper as legislation is. Pro-
lection enabled those for whose benefit
it was intended to increase the price of
their products. The practice vitiated the
life blood of Business. The poison mani
tests itself in various way. In the case
of silver demand was made for an in
slant and enforced advance in value of
100 per cent. The dupes who We're to in
sist upon this preposterous demand were
led to believe it was made in their inter
est just as the laborers We're the beneti'
Charles of protective duties.
The next eruption was the trust Con,
solidation was justified on the ground
that competition was ruinous. Ii it was
ruinous adjustment on a basis of fail
equivalent was at the threshold, as ruin
or threatened ruin, is always an equita
bile adjuster, weeder out of superfiuities
the stern agent of the doctrine of tn,
survival of the fittest which is the mos
potent factor in natural development
and the destroyer, for this reason, of fre'
silver Ruin would soon have settle,
unwarranted competition, and if ruiz
lid not intervene then competition wa
simply legitimate.
But we We're taught that legitimat
profits are not sufficient and when w
reached that stage through natural eS
pansion the cry which brought relic
e~a,,, +l,a fnra; ery, spn,,afitnr yraS 40