Arizona republican., 1900-10-20

tlink there is a trns; still in ex stemce
 let them point it out, tell where it isand
 where it was organized. Unless they
 can put their finger on at least one
 trust. they in all decency should stop
 talking. Strictly speaking. then, the
 campaign against trusts is just wind {:
 it is a campaign against man or straw; but in reality the so-called war on trusts Is a war on corporations, pure
 and simple. MT. Bryan has d perfect
 right to wage war against corpora tiOns, but he should be honest about it and frankly declare his purpose.
 Large corporations may be very bad thing for the community, and if so they ought to be abolished. but an az itation for their abolition should be conducted on honest principles. It should be definitely understood that it | Is a crusade against large corporations.
 To call it a crusade against trusts when there are no trusts is to practice q | fraud upon the people. At least let us have the people who are to vote thf se know what they are voting against. Certainly before the people of this country can be expected to support such crusade they Ihavo a right to know something about what it will ac- compllsh.
 First, then, are all corporations to be suppressed? If so the proposition Is very simple. Of course, this can be done if the people want it. but it would stop every railroad. trClley, cable and horse car system in the country, and would close more than 90 per cent of the manufacturing and business con cerns. In fact, nearly all businesses larger than the peanut stand would have to be dissolved and redistributed
 into small efforts, about the equivalen, of what existed in the walled towns in the thirteenth century. IL would, in fact, wipe out about all the economic effectiveness the last five centuries of industrial evolution have produced. For reduction to economic simplicity and thorough abolition of monopoly this would leave little to be desired. It would accomplish the object com pletely, hut 1t would reduce us to bar barism. of course nobody wants that.
 Yet that is the simple case if the war is against all corpora tions. If It is not against all corporations. then against which is the war to be directed? If We are not to suppress all. there must be some specific line of distinction be- tween those ito be damned and those to be saved" There must be some way of distinguishing tha sheep from the goats? What shall !t be? It can- not be anything relating to the er"- homie or political principle Of the or ganization. because In these respects they are all alike. Nor is 1t in the character of the industry. because the corporation principle applies to all in- dustries. There Is only one difference between them and that is the size of their capital. Well. then, where shall the line be drawn? Shall it be at one hundred Ghousand, at half a million, a million, five millions. ten millions, fifty millions. or a hundred millions? Where? If the line is to De drawn any where, some economic or political req son must he given for drawing it there. Upon what economic principle or eX- perIence can a distinction be made? If there is any reason. economic, moral or political, why q corporation with a half million capital Is a good thing and one with million or five millions cap hal is bad, a benighted world is wait ing for the information. Thus far not a. ray of light has evGr been shed upon that point, though acres of literature on the subject have been published.
 The people of Arizona accuse N. O. |