New-York tribune., 1900-06-29
SCIENTISTS ON TRUSTS.
ALL MoNoPoLIES ARE NOT BAD. PRO-
FEssoR GUNToN SAYS.

The general session Of the American Association
for the Advancement OF Science was continued yes
terday Havemeyer Hall, Columbia University
The Physical Society and the sections on chems-
try zoology botany and anthropology also held
meetings
The members of the sections geology and
geography went on an excursion under the leader
ship OF Professor James A. Kemp, going to the
Palisades for the purpose Of studying local eondi-
tons
The Council Of the Association for the Advance
ment Of Science passed resolutions requesting Con-
gress 10 save the hardwood forests south of San
Francisco. The property is partly owned by pri-
vate parties. The resolution asks that the prop
erty be purchased and made into National park
The Council also decided to recommend the estab-
hshment Of a section on physiology and expert
mental medicine. About fifty fellows were elected
the meeting.
Discussing Mental Energy. the Prime Factor in
Material Production" before the section on social
and economic science. Edward Atkinson said in
part;
No person employed in the service of others is
pe1o ior %hat ne Goes f9iS moih - oy LIZ IrTb b7
little physical effort. but neither the hours nor
nent may De measured. The measure of payment
fixed by the measure Of the work saved to him
who makes the payment
Mr.. Atkinson also said DEPRESSING from his i'm
mediate subject:
Many Of the troops who enlisted to remove the
oppression OF Spain from the island of Cuba were
Of them have returned and When their convictions
become the convictions Of right minded people Ihe
criminal aggression committed by this Govern
ment upon the people of the Philippine Islands VIII
end.
This Remedy for the Evil of Trusts-with
Special Reference to the Tariff the subject
of a paper by Lawson n. Purdy- He said in part:
The solution Of the natural monopoly problem is
IN public ownership and operation. There Is no
dGonos none SI Iea,n ~ n D2iat hands tons S
Industrial trusts engaged in business naturally ally
State has no more right to restrain restrict or
TO require publicity Of accounting than 1t has TO
make these demands any other merchant or
wage worker. Publicity Of accounts is incompat-
Nearly ali Industrial trusts are aided by the
tariff and are enabled TO extract higher prices
The tariff privilege most easily reached. and can
be most easily withdrawn There are hundreds OF
trusts which should be deprived OF tarln proteSc.
ton. Perhaps the best example of these Is the
Tinplate Trust.
At the meeting Of the section on geology and
geography the thanks OF the section were given
TO the authorities of the Ohio State University for
their gift OF the memorial TO Professor Edward NJ
Orton. Several papers were read.
Professor George Gunton read a paper on
Trusts" before the American Physical Society in
which he said trusts simply economic in
struments for the doing of certain kinds of work.
He said they were natural result, and were
formed in accordance with the principle of eco
nonic utility. Continuing, Professor Gunton said:
The general tendency of the, trust movement is
AI IN 4ae %ay g3oe OF b beneS Of the inTen
ton and organization with the public. Although
this is demonstrable. there is tremendous mis-
giving regarding these corporations. If some of
the very large ones could be definitely selected as
trusts II IS more than probable that public opin-
ION would demand their sacrifice as an atonement
If probe to the bottom We shall find what the
moral sense Of the people really opposes is not
corporate enterprise, but monopoly.
It is commonly asserted by certain persons. now
much in evidence. that all monopoly is bad; that a
unthinkable This may be good politics but II is
bad science. It is no more true that nil mon
arches bad than that all republics are good:
Neither is it true that all monopoly is bad. all
competition good. Whether monopoly is good or
the profits and create new margins by improving
methods, viii depend upon how the monopoly is
acquired
In the case of the street railways. gas companies
etc. which operate under franchises excluding
competition. the Government would probably COM
nit the fewest blunders and least violate economic
laws by acting on two simple propositions. First
make the corporations contribute TO the public
revenues by means Of franchise tax on the basis
Of real estate: second. by selling the franchises 10
the highest bidder. the bidder not 20 offer money
fer the privilege but the lowest rate of tariff to
the public thus sharing the benefits with the tax
payers through franchise tax and with the trav-
elling public through lower fares.
The closing meeting of the association will be
held to-day in the lecture of Havemeyer Hail.