The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-11-18

and it IS to supply its place that the
trust, with its artificial and exceedingly
faulty check upon production has been
evolved
Some sort Of check upon production is
indispensable to the well-being Of the
industrio-commercial organism Of So
cietyI it is, to that organism, what the
governor is to the steam engine, and all
talk about crushing out the trust with
out putting some substitute IN its place
to regulate production, is twadle. MY
solution contemplates neither the crush
ing out nor the regulating Of the trust
but the removal Of conditions upon wnlch
the existence of the trust depends and
consequent restoration Of the automatic
check upon production as it existed be
fore the machine came. I hasten 10 say
that I do not mean by this that we shall
abandon the use Of expensive machinery
nor that we shall cease TO encourage
its invention, but that we shall In its use
merely keep within the bounds Of the
commonest rules Of justice and equity be-
tween man and man. The right Of sup
plying the cash demands of the human
race is franchise Of exceeding great
value-in fact it is the only source Of
purchasing power there is on earth. BY
the commonest rules Of justice and equity
that enormously valuable franchise be-
longs exclusively to human beings be
cause they and they alone at enormous
expense create all the cash demands ever
existing on earth. We must all agree
that whoever, at great expense, creates
a thing Of value, he is of himself the
rightful owner of that thing. Further,
as the right TO supply the cash demands
Of humanity belongs exclusively to hu-
man beings, that right must necessarily
carry with the right to be the sole pro
ducers Of all the commodities required for
that purpose from the fact that it is
the creator Of the commodity who IS the
real supplier Of the consumers demand
the merchant who buys the commodity
from the producer and sells it to the
consumer is but a mutual agent between
them. Now, what I mean by keeping
within the bounds of justice and equity
IN our use Of machinery" is that while
continuing to produce the commodities to
supply the wants of humanity largely by
steam, we at the same time should bear
in mind that the right to do that pro
ducing belongs wholly to human beings
and that we should respect that right by
paying to its owners, the people, what
eve. compensation they are individually
willing TO accept therefor. It is possible
that a method better than the one I am
about to propose may be devised for &C
this complex end, but the
most unique plan I have as yet been able
to conceive of far-reaching in each in
stance the proper owners of the rights
in the markets made use Of by the pro-
Queer and paying each of such owners
whatever he is willing to accept as com
pensation for his proportion Of those
rights and at the same time putting all
Of these processes on a self-operating
basis would be to enact a law COMPEL
ing each machine owner, as a condition
upon which he would be allowed to oper-
ate his machine, to employ his ascertain
ed rightful proportion Of all the people
from the field of production by
without regard to whether he
needs their labor OF not in operating the
machine but solely on the ground that he
would thus be paying the rightful own
ers Of the markets for the privilege of
the use Of those markets in disposing Of
his products, precisely as he did before
the machine came.
This would restore the old-time auto
matte natural check on production be-
cause it would limit the amount Of pro-
AUCTION that could be carried on in the
world to the number Of people there were |
just as it was before the machine came. !
Il would remove the necessity for pro-
ulcers to combine Gncorporate) together /
or the purpose Of keeping up prices of /
Ill commodities at the standard Of hand |
-Ool production just as they were before |
he machine came for, bear in mind /
hat the producer would be able to sell !
lis products enough higher to cover the !
added expense of production just as he |
lid before machine-made cheapness be /
gan: bear in mind, also, that re con
'Umer could wei afford to pay those en-
lanced prices because he would be the |
thief beneficiary Of the enhancement
Many difficulties may appear to be in /
he way Of this solution of the greatest |
problem Of the age Just as they would |
lave arisen in the minds of our an
'estors on hearing Of a proposition to /
lind wheat or sew cloth by machinery
,ut those difficulties, like these, are ALL
Inreal because the solution IS founded on
IN underlying principle Of truth