New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-02-21
TRUSTS AS AIDS TO LABOR.
WILLIAM Fl. BALDWIN TELLS OF THE
EFFECT OF RAILROAD CONSOLIDA-
TION AT COOPER UNION.

The subject discussed last night ct the confer
ence on trusts which is being held this week In
Cooper Union was THE Economic Effects Of In
dustrial Combinations" There again a large
audience present. and the views expressed by the
various speakers were followed with the closest
attention.
William II. Baldwin. jr.. president of the Long
Island Railroad Company. the first speaker.
and in beginning his address he described what
was really meant by trust and what trust
should be. In the first place. 1t was a combination
of capital in order to purchase material; sec
ond, to pay high wages, and, third, to sell at a
lower price than could be made by any smaller
combination of capital. That the only kind Of
trust either economical political, that could sur
vlve public opinion. and the Anal analysis Of the
great question of trusts. Addressing himself par
ticularly to the matter Of wages. he pointed out
how greatly the wages of railroad workers mad
been increased during late years. Twenty or thirty
years ago. Mr.. Baldwin explained, when the rail-
roads were beginning to combine in order to IN
crease their mileage and develop their resources
the farmers the West and other distant parts or
the country cried out against the growing power OF
the railroads. and urged that restrictive measures
should be enforced against the companies. Such
talk to-day he commended. would De absurd. as his
audience we'll knew. When the railroads were
small separate companies. Mr.. Baldwin proceeded,
the wages of the employees were low. the average
pay being about $50 a month; but as Mr.. Arthur,
Of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, re-
Gently testified before Washington commission.
the average pay of engineers was now three and a
half cents a mile for passenger service and four
cents a mile for freight trains which means an
average wage of $50 to s225 a month for day of
seven eight hours. That result had been possible
only by the combination of the railroads BY
of that combination greater economies in operation
had been brought about the companies had be-
come strengthened. and in consequence were able
to pay better wages. 1t illustration Of
capital and labor marching hand in hand Il say
it is belief, he added. that industrial enter
prses become more and more converged developed
and combined. the labor connected with those
terprises will become intelligent and more
conservative OF it's good, will work harmoni-
ously with capital" Mr.. Baldwin closed by CIV
ing his opinion that the onward current toward
combination could not be stopped. The aim must
be to control the question, guide 1t along and
make it of service TO the common good.
John R. Dunlap, Editor of The India Rubber
World" who followed said he believed in the ideal
trust which Mr. Baldwin had outlined. but there
agreed with Mr.. Havemeyer that the mother of
trusts the tariff. Mr.. Dunlap did not agree
trade for the products of this country. II trusts
should be thrown upon their operations Like
banks and insurance companies. they should be
capital their profits, expenditures-they should
in short. be forced to their books to the pub
confidence in combinations, and the ideal trust
c. Ktrchhofr. Editor of The Iron Age" asserted
that while there had been concentrations which he
trade, there was no monopoly, and the tendency
of the concentrations to cheaper the product
to the consumer. The speaker also believed that
the combination Of capital would lead to more
powerful labor organization.
In an address dealing exhaustiveIy with the prob
lens which industrial and capitalistc cOmbIna-
tions presented. Professor F. W. Taussig, Of Eiar-
ward said that many of those problems could be
controlled by legislation. But sweeping prohibtive
legislation would accomplish nothing. 1t would
merely drive the trusts into hiding and evasion,
would promote rather than hinder stock gambling.
Jonn S. Crosby said trusts could not exist in
their present form it not for their corporate
power, and he asserted that the Government had
right to grant corporate power to anybody. The
sole purpose of the Government was to maintain
justice and 1t should, not lend one particle of its
power to any individual for private purposes.