The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-10-30

which a graQ6u GaA IS AdIu upon Gu6
earnings of corporations, the per
cent. of taxation being increased
in proportion to gross earn
ings. This disoourages very
large aggregatiOns of capital and
tends to give small manufacture
ers and small dealers al opportunity
in the struggle for existence. 1t is a
just application of the maxim of
1.-The greatest good to the greatest
number, which must be the basis of
all lust government. 1t is better far
that we have a very large number of
prosperous, well-tO-dO citizens with
moderate incomes, than a few multi
m%illionaires, high rolling in London
and New York, while the masses of
our people are struggling for a bare
living. A similar application of the
German principle is the graded in
heritance tax and graded income tax
in England by which the great for
tunes are heavily taxed, raising
about One-third of the annual rev
enues of the British Empire, while
the small estates are only nOminally
taxed and those under a certain sum
are entirely exempt.
4. And there is still a fourth meas,
ure of relief. The trusts operate by
un~derselling the small dealer, and
after he is forced out, they reduce
the price to the producer of the raw
material and raise the price to the
consumer. This can be met by a
statute empowering the Superior
Courts in such cases to issue writs of
injunction against the corporation
thus reducing prices from again rails
ing them, and making an attempt to
raise them a forfeiture of the char
ter, provided a jury shall find that
the reduction was made for the pur-
pose of destroying competition. AS
under the Craig act corporations can
not do business here without a State
charter, this would close out all such
operations. individuals may reduce
prices at will, but when corporations
created solely by the State use their
powers against the public interest,
it can be made cause for withdraw
ing those powers.
Besides the evils from trusts al
ready enumerated, there are these
,-ol1 1-Cr+b- Of v,,7r o++oD+;OD. I
Under IL normal and just condition
of affairs, the profits OF the producer
of the raw material, of the small
manufacturer and small dealer, and
the sums saved to the consume by
the lower price to them where there
is cOmpetition-all these sums stay
here and their accumulation Will
make the State rich. Under trust
rule all these profits are accumulated
in a few hands and Ire steadily car
ried out of the State to our perma-
nent impoverishment.
,. The owners of the vast accumu-
lations of the illegal concerns, Operat-
ing under the prohibition of both
State and Federal statutes, require
to be protected against the penalties
denounced by these statutes. To
that end portions of the amounts
illegally levied by these modern
Dick Turpins on the public are set
aside for the purchase or control of
newspapers, for donations to educa-
tiOnal institutions which shall in
dOctrinate our youth with senti-
ments of the beauty and holiness of
trusts and the iberality of trust
magnates, and in the debauching of
elections and the manipulation of
legislatures and Congresses through
lobbyists and other we'll known and
reprehensible methods. They are
thus a cancer on the body polite.
These and other evils are known
to every one. They are like the sun.
but only in hat none can fail to see
them. No one denies the existence
of these evils or apologies for them
save those whose who are employed
by the trusts or who are in some way
favored or controlled by them. Pub
lie sentiment and the public interest
are against them. But the trusts
survive and prosper. The people Of
the State can put an end to them.
Will they do it? Shall it be said oI
our people as of the allied armies OF
1914, "YOu can do everything and
you attempt nothing"
The British Government of 1875
in this country stood for p~lutocracv.
The Wings Of that day, led by Wash
ingtOn, Adams, jefferson and others,
stood for a government of men and
conquered. The trusts of this day
are a revival of the Tories of 1776 and