Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-06-26
POURs HOT SHOT INTO ovERCAPI-
TALIZED CORPORATIONS.
ARE SCHEMES OF VIsIoNARIEs
SAYS THEIR FAILURE HAS BEEN
UNIVERSAL.
No Apprehension Should Exist That
Combinations VIII Crush Out
COmpetition-Ol and Sugar
Trusts Only Exceptions
to BE Noted.

CHICAGO, June 25-Secretary Easley,
of the Civic Federation, of Chicago, under
whose auspices a conference will be held
In Chicago September 13 to 16, to con-
slider trusts and combinations and legis-
lation for their control, has received hun
dreds of letters from prominent men all
over the country accepting invitations to
be present at the meetings.
Among those who have signified their
| intention of attending the conference In
person, or who will be represented, are
Governors Pingree, of Michigan; Roose-
welt, of New York; Stanley, of Kansas;
Sayers, of Texas; Mount, OF Indiana;
Fancher, of North Dakota; Thomas, of
Colorado; Tanner, of Illinois; McLaurin,
of Mississippi; Mcmillan, of Tennessee;
POINTER, of Nebraska; Attorney General
GODDARD, of Kansas; Commissioner of La
Dor Thomas P. Rixey, of Missouri.
In acknowledging the receipt of an in
vitation to attend, ex-Secretary of Agri-
culture j. Sterling Morton, of Nebraska,
says:
Trusts which are overcapitalized are
born of the Vaccinations of shallow and
Impractical men. They will fail and no
one be harmed except those whose Gre
dulity led them to invest in their securi-
ties.
There is much misapprehension as to
incorporated capital in the United States.
Oratorfcal vagarists have endeavored to
make common people believe that incorpo-
rations are not subject to economic laws
of competition, and that the relation of
supply to demand is not the sole regulator
of values. The fact, however, remains that
money invested in manufactures or in
railroads belonging to interpretations is no
stronger, no better and no more exempt
nm q NY.nr ion Of
than the money which is owned by indi-
viduals.
Competition Will Not Be Crushed.
There need be, in my judgment no appre-
hension as to the trusts crushing out all
competition. With the exception of the
Oil trust and the sugar trust, failure among
trusts has been universal. The whisky
trust, the tobacco trust and all the other
trusts OF any Importance up to date, ex-
cept those that have been formed very re-
Gently, have been complete failures. These
failures have come, firstly, from evercap-
italizatfon; and secondly, from mismanage-
ment. Intelligent competition can enter the
Held against any trust on earth except one
which has natural monopoly (by this, I
mean one which, like the Standard OIL
company, owns the only Oil producing
lands in the country, and successfully put
Its products upon the market with the
sympathy of the consumer all on its side.
BY this, mean that outside of the trusts
co-partnerships and stock companies may
be formed with capital, energy and ability
to successfully take the market against
any and all trusts products except those
which are the result of a natural monopoly.
What can be accomplished by legisla-
ton or regulatory laws I cannot see, nor
do look to such enactments for remedy
OF any evils that may grow out of trusts
or course, 1t is fashionable, it is epidemic
TO denounce all large aggregations of cap
ital as trusts This mania will at last
exhaust itself and the country will find
that those who have been damaged by
trusts were those who bought their securi-
ties for more than they were worth"
In accepting the invitation to attend, A.
A. GODDARD, attorney general of Kansas,
writes:
4 feel that this matter is one that deep
ly interests the people of the United States,
ana, for some reason, interests us more
and differently from what it does those
living in the eastern portions Of the United
States. 1t is my intention to attend your
gathering In the capacity of a listener,
f,op hoping to, to derive much information and
substantial benefit from the proceedings"
DR.. Lyman Abbott's Views.
DR.. Lyman Abbott, of New York, says:
think that what we most need on the
subject of industrial, commercial, labor
and transportation combinations is Just
what your letter indicates this meeting
Will endeavor to secure light, not heat
What we need to understand and what
only experience can teach us is the rela-
ton between competition and combination.
the one the centrifugal, the other the con-
tripetal force of society. He who believes
to socialism; he who believes only in COM
petition will logically be led to nihilism.
Neither of these results can possibly fur
now confront US. We must learn how to
secure the advantages of combination
without destroying the individual; to main
tain brotherhood in practical forms with
out sinking, obscuring or belittling per-
sonality."
Hundreds of other letters have been re-
ceived, the writer's in nearly every case
expressing sympathy with the purposes of