Evening star., 1899-03-23
TRUSTS IN POLITICS
Preparing to Make Their Existence a
Party Issue.
DEMOCRATS TO BLAME THE TARIFF
Claimed to Be a Matter for State
Regulation.
ATTITUDE OF REPUBLICANS

Politicians who begin to concern them
selves at this season with party issues and
political questions of national interest are
devoting a great deal Of thought TO the
question of trusts, the popular term applied
to combinations of capital and industry.
One of the great parties is voluntarily TAX
ing up the subject Upon the other it is be-
ing pressed by force of circumstances
Thus the leaders in both parties in their
meetings and comminglng at Washington,
find this an absorbing topic of discussion.
1t is already apparent to politicians that
the democrats will attempt to hold the re-
publcans responsible for the enormous in
crease in consultations of various indus
trial organizations. The party cry will be
that they are made possible by protective
tariff, while free trade or low tariff enact
ment will be urged as one way to destroy
the trusts. The fact that the greatest in
crease in trusts has occurred since the en-
actment of the latest tariff law will be ad-
Vanced in evidence of the democratic propo-
sition that the republican tariff Is response
BILE.
Republican leaders, while not admitting
the latter claim, will not evade the issue
but will take 1t up for different motive
1t Is acknowledged that the existence of
trusts may become a menace to the public
welfare. Amy evil which threatens the
people during a republican administration
is a fit subject for correction by the repub-
lican party and administration will be the
ground upon which the republican party
will take up the question.
Attempt of the Democrats.
The democrats will attempt to make
trusts a national issue. The indications
now are that the republicans. while refer
ring to the subject in national convention,
will take the position that the remedy in
law lies with the states, and not with the
federal government. The trusts against
which the greatest complaints are now lev
eled are those maintaining a monopoIv of
the manufacture of the neceSsaries of life
Such trusts are distinguished in the sight
of the law from those which restrain inter
state commerce, and it has been held that
only to the latter does the existing federal
antitrust law apply.
Attorney General Griggs. in a recent let
ter to a correspondent in New Jersey call
ed attention to the decision of the courts
IN the case of the United States against
the sugar trust, in which the foregoing
proposition was laid down as fact Com
tinuinS, the Attorney General said that all
the combinations recently formed and now
organizing are similar to the sugar trust
ana not within the jurisdiction of the fed
eral courts.
III amenable to any law" wrote the At
torney General, they are amenable to the
laws of the respective states
President Cleveland. in his message to
Congress in December, 1896 took the same
position. He said that "even though II NAV
be found that the federal authority is not
broad enough to fully reach the case there
can be no doubt of the power of the several
states 10 act effectively in the premises"
Attitude of Republicans.
NO one entertains for moment the idea
that the republican party would hesitate to
recommend action by the states limiting the
scope and operations of trusts The opin-
Ion has been expressed by politicians in
washington recently that when the party
In national convention assembled has made
such recommendation it will have mel
the issue raised by the democrats and have
performed Its duty. Recourse can be had
10 the decisions of the courts to uphold the
assertion that there is no Jurisdiction in the
national Legislature to correct existing evils
AS before stated, the claim that the pro-
tectlve tariff is responsible in a measure
for trusts will not be admitted by the re-
publicans. They viii charge it is said bv
some politicians, that it is the laxity of
state laws which fosters trusts Witness the
recent organizations. Ninety per cent of
them or more have been organized in New
New Jersey simply because a law was en-
acted in New Jersey to permit such action.
The laws of other states render trust max
Ing more difficult, and in some states inn
possible. If the people of New Jersey are
opposed to trusts they can easily wipe them
out.
At any rate, the republicans would never
Tor a moment. It Is asserted On all sides
consider a proposition 10 weaken the pro-
tective tariff in u blow at trusts They
would not cut down the tree to remove an
excrescence upon limb. They will meet
the democrats. as of old. on the tariff ques-
tlon, II desired, and fight 1t out along the
ola lines, pointing to the uneXampied pros
perity Of the country since the enactment
q "a 10 bot.
While it Is expected that the trusts will
make a strong fight for their existence ad-
vancing specious pleas with which the pub
lie is already becoming familiar, there is
no doubt in the minds of the politicians as
to the ultimate verdict of the people. 1t will
be adverse to the trusts and probably fatal
to any party which would allow itself to
be held responsible for their existence.
Danger of Inflated Values.
Attorney General Griggs in his recent let
ter 10 his New Jersey correspondent, called
attention to a feature of trusts which he
deemed more significant than their mere re-
striction to manufactures.
With reference to these large combina-
tions of capital he wrote, which are now
forming. my own Judgment is that the dan
ger is not so much to the community at
large as II Is to the people who are induced
10 put their money into the purchase of the
stock
Touching this feature of the case it has
been estimated that there have been placed
upon the market within the past fifteen
months shares in trusts to the amount Of
S2,Ilo, 100000. 1t is claimed that this enor-
nous sum does not represent value but
that a great proportion of 1t is imitation.
The preferred stock In these corporations,
II is said, probably represents all the value
that in them is, and the common stock is
to large extent at least, watered stock.
When the imitation grows too unwieldy or
should a financial crisis come. 1t Is claimed
that millions invested in or represented by
the common stock will be wiped out.
I In such event, IL any political party
has been charged with the responsibility
for the existence of trusts, politicians real
lie that the people in a blind frenzy would
overwhelm it. For many reasons, there
fore, 1t bebooves the republicans 1t is said,
to take up this subject in the near future
meet the aggressions of the democrats and
check them by upsetting the false premises
upon which, in the eyes of the republicans
the democratic position will be based
Some of the methods to accomplish this
end which are under discussion at the pres
ent time among republican politicians, are
those outlined above, namely. to contro-
vert the proposition that the protective
tariff is responsible for trusts: to assert
that favorable state 1aws fnSta,. tbar,.