Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-03-27
UNIvERSITYOF VIRGINIA
Professor Richard Heath Dabney's
Address on Trusts.
He Gives the Washington Literary Society
Some Intcrestlog Information Where
ever the Tariff rostered Monopolles tho
Tariff Should 30 Smashed.
Especial to The virginlan- Pilot)

Charlottesville, Va, March 24.-Pro-
fessor Richard Heath Dabney, profess
sor OF political science in the Uni
versity, delivered an address Saturday
night before the Washington Literary
Society. his subject being TRUSTS"
He opened his informal address by
stating that the subject of trusts was
such a broad one that it would be i'm
possible to attempt any treatment of
the subject in the short space which
he had allotted TO him, and at best, in
such n short time. he could only men
ton a few facts concerning this i'm
portant subject.
He said that there has been too much
sky-scraping oratory on this question
and not enough sound reasoning, which
was needed; that there was multi
plicity OF facts which had to be treated
In Il logical manner.
On the topic OF the definition. of
trusts, strictly speaking, trusts do not
exist; that we call these gigantic COM
Dnations trusts, but technically speak
ing there were no trusts. He defined
such a trust strictly to be "a combina-
ton of two or more businesses put in
the hands Of trustees" that the origin
OF these comrades was to prevent
over-production, which would put an
end to low prices. The first important
legislation aimed at these trusts was
In 1889. Since that time twenty-five
States and several Territories have
adopted such laws, Georgia being the
first. He then pointed out the futilty
OF these laws, and said the results
SHOW they did not amount to n row of
pins" In fact. the effect of these laws
mad been to change the form of these
corporations and If anything to
strengthen them for in place of loose
combination of former times we have
the single giant. In 1898 there were
trusts formed in New Jersey whose
capital aggregated s605 000, 900, and in
1899 1t reached the enormous sum of
S2.o46. 900; that this State had de-
liberately undertaken TO bid for them
ana oiter various inducements, and that
little Delaware" was trying TO out
bid New Jersey, and that West Vir-
Einia has succeeded in outbidding
both.
He called attention to how the pub
lie was fooled by these companies, par
ticularly by the scheme of watering
stock; that n number of States had
offered inducements which would ena-
bile the companies TO work endless
frauds upon the people.
lie said that while he was not strictly
"laissez faire" man he did not be-
lieve much in legislative supervision,
and that whatever laws of such ma
ture were passed 1t should be done
with the greatest elaboration. He said
as rule he agreed with Buckle that
the best laws were those that repeal
other laws. But one thing is certain:
we should not give up on account of
past discouragements."
He drew the distinction between In
dustrial concentration and wealth con-
centration. When number of men,
each with small or medium capital,
consolidate and form a capital stock
say of 100000, we have an example
OF the former case, but where one or
two start out each with an immense
fortune 1t is wealth concentration The
most evils are thus seen in monopolies,
ana it is with practical monopolies that
We should deal most
Some kind of monopolies are inevita-
bic. These he calls natural monopo-
lies; L. e., from the nature of the bust
ness or where the raw material of the
article is confined to one area, as in
case of anthracite coal or natural gas
Here n company buys up that area of
land and nothing can prevent such a
monopoly, and furthermore in some
such natural monopolies, as street car
lines or telephone companies, there is n
great saving in expense. But more
evils exist in the other class called
social monopolies, and that a number
or these evils are obvious, but they
were sometimes grossly exaggerated
He said that while prices in actual
monopolies may go up. the tendency is
otherwise" and cited the Standard Oil
Company. giving the prices from 1870
to 1898. showing n steady decline: in
1870 oil was q fraction over &c cents n
gallon; in 1898 it was 22-100 cents n
gallon (wholesale). This decrease is
the result Of economy by reason of the
large capital expended. This is illus
trated so well by their extensive system
or underground pipe lines, through
which oil is transported hundreds of
miles at minimum cost. the supply
in New York alone being 5000 barrels
II day.
Bnt nc says he canot say when they
VIII put prices up. and. besides, so
many other evils exist-secret discrlm-
nations. injustice of trustS-for there
are ethical considerations of this mat
ter as well as industrial: small indie
pendent dealers are wiped out; thou
sahds OF employees are under one big
boss. Are these employees. who are
merely parts of big machines. are they
as good citizens as the small. independ-
ent dealers would be? There are worse
things than high prices. To control
such number of employees dcspotism
is necessary; actual military discipline
Is essential. These monopoles may
turn out poorer goods: but notwith-
standing they may he ever so powerful.
there is always. If not actual. at least
potential, competition ready to spring
up when power is abused
Professor Dabney then said there
were number of possible remedies,
which would take hours to expound:
hence he could only touch upon them
among them the most important were:
n flNl oil ,N,,