Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-01-16

Iwenty-eighth general assembly,
let it be your duty to crush ev-
cry one within your reach, and
the people of this state will
call you blessed, and the peo-
tple - every other state will take no.
tioe of your wisdom, and will fol-
low the course you shall have marked
out.
I hope / may be excused from in
dulging in any very extended or de-
tailed description of the perncious eff
fects of monopolies. This has been
done so frequently that we may, 1
think, safely ask the defendant
at lis time to waive arraign-
ment and the reading of the in
dictment. When the robins and
jaws are devouring my cherries,
do not care to listen to my children's
graphic application of the havoc they
are producing. $50 and drive them
off,
Many methods have been suggested
for dealing with trusts and combina-
tons, but many of them, think would
open doors quite as dangerous as the
ones through which have come these
admitted evils. A governor of great
state, a learned, and am convinced a
conscientious man, not long ago said
he would forbid the sale of monopoly
produced goods within his state. Many
in his audience cheered. If this be
wise, gentlemen, and it can be accom-
plished, | hope it will be done in low
But first what can be prohibited? The
sale of Intoxicating liquors has been
prohibited in some states, but the inhi-
bition rests upon the fact that intoX-
icating liquor is harmful in itself, at
least in many instances, and the courts
hold that the police authority of the
state carries with it the right to pro-
hibis the sale of that which in itself
is harmful.
But can the sale of sugar be prohibit
ed? Can the market be barred against
nails, and wire, and lumber, and a
thousand other things of universal
consumption? Certainly not. All that
my official brother could have intended
was that he would prohibit the corpo-
rations which produced the article
from doing business in this state. Very
well. Let us follow this thought, and
adopt it if wise. Suppose barbed wire
is now produced by monopoly, and I
do not believe it is a violent presump-
ton. 1 doubt, gentlemen, whether a
law prohibiting the sale of barbed wire
in Iowa would be sustained by the
courts. The present statute of the
state expressly bars a recovery by
any corporation, company, or firm, If it
be proven at the trial that the plaintiff
Is trust or guilty of having entered
into any kind of an agreement OF con-
spiracy to advance the price or limit
the output of any article. Then too
the person, or firm, or corpora ton can
be fined heavily and punished, and its
officers can be sent to Jail. Suppose
you go further and make it peniten-
tiary offense for any officer or agent
of a company or person to sell or offer
for sale any goods made by trust
concern. Will the law be effective?
Will prohibition prohibit? What would
you advise the county attorneys to do
if some wholesale house in an
adjoining state should sell barbed wire
in Iowa that it had bought perchance
of trust or monopoly? Mark you,
it is not the wire that has committed
the offense.. YottTcannot charge the
product of the trust with moral turpi
tude and prohibit its sale or use, or
bar the merchant who simply sells it
at a price which includes profit to the
wholesale iobber who lives beyond the
confines of your state and who pur-
chased of the trust. But suppose your
statute be strong enough to. prohibit
the sale by the jobber, or anyone else,
SO that the article made by monopoly
shall itself be prohibited. Where will
our farmers then. go for wire? They
will need some in the spring, cannot
but think my friend had failed to fol-
low his suggestion, of prohibition to it's
| logical conclusion.
Publicity.
Suppose we adopt the policy so fire.
Equen1ly recommended, and which is to
my mind the most feasible of auything
havefyet seen suggested, and require
all corporations within the state to
make report of the expenditures of
their capital; and disclose what
amount of water, if any, their stock
contains; then require annual reports
under oath setting forth general
summary of their transactions, the
amount of business done, the expendi-
l,tures for salaries, for material, for la
Dor, gross sales and net profits. If
these reports disclose that large act
ual profit has been. made, will it not in
vite competition? Suppose there is ten
millions engaged in the business, will
not other ten millions spring up, if
the enterprise will yield 10 per cent
dividend? / think so, certainly. There
is plenty of capital in the country seek
ing Investment. Any enterprise that
will insure 6 per cent can be capitaliz-
ed and foated, and to any amount.
There lies, however. gentlemen, one
difficulty to all this. You have no au-
thority to require a corporation organ
lied in sister state to make reports
to any officer of this commonwealth.
1t is true you can prohibit their en-
trance into this state. You can eX-
clude their agents and statesmen until
they shall have furnished such re-
port as you may require, but as we
have seen you can not prohibit them
from selling their goods to a jobber
who lives across the line, and he can
sell in this state plus one profit. You
can, think, successfully guard against
I the existence of trust, or monopoly
on Iowa soil, by this plan of publicity.
But you will not thereby invite capital
this side of the Mississippi river, and
that is the only objection. Let me il
lustrate my meaning. A few years
auo there was in process OF formation