Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1900-07-26
THE TRUST QUESTION.
Closely Allied to the Monetary Prob
Iem-M0nOpOlies the Result
of Falling Prices.

The trust question is more easily
understood than the money question
The appreciation of money is slow,
while the rise in the price of trust-made
articles is sufficiently rapid to attract
attention. When prices fall a little
each year, the friends of a rising dollar
talk about over-production, improved
machinery, ETC.; but when prices rise
rapidly and the trusts declare large
dividends. the connection between
cause and effect is so direct and obvious
that only those blinded by partisanshiI
can fail to see it.
The trust question was N the cam.
! paign of 1896, and the menace of the
trust was then pointed out, but the
warning was unheeded. Now the heavy
hand of monopoly is laid upon so many
that there is a growing protest against
a system which permits a few men to
control each branch of the industry,
fix the rate of wages, the price of raw
materials and the price of the finished
product. Until four years ago no re-
publican of prominence defended the
trusts; now the republican leaders
speak of the trusts in guarded terms.
II oLl4O NNNAN o0OPN>
demands that "so-called trusts shall be
regulated from time to time and so re-
stricted as to guarantee immunity
frsm hurtful monopoly" The word
'hurtful" is as broad as charity, and
enables the trust defender to shield
every trust behind the plea that it is
not hurtful. A monopoly is not hurtful
to those who operate it, and if they can
control the government they will be
! sure to decide that it is lot hurtful
to anyone.
The recent action of the b~arbed-wire
trust illustrates several phases of this
question. 1t shows hat a monopoly
can raise prices when it desires to do
so: and it also shows that monopoly
will raise prices when it can. 1t shows
howan artificial rise in price will lessen
consumption and thus decrease the de-
mand for labor; it shows how a monop-
oily canshut down factories to work off
the stock, throwing upon the laborer
the burden of maintaining prices lin
this case IL factories were shut down
and $500 men thrown out of employ
ment); it shows how even the stock
holders may be victimized if the man
ager desires to speculate in stock; and
it further shows how those in charge of
a great monopoly may in the future
bring great wealth to political friends
by disclosing intended raids on the
stock market and thus carr legislative
favors. The ordinary forms of bribery
sink into insignificance when com
pared with this new and more danger
Gus method. That this is no idle fear
is evident from the testimony taken by
the senate committee which investi-
gated official speculation in sugar
stock. That monopolies contribute to
campaign funds is also shown by the
testimony taken by another senate
committee. A few great monopolies
could. without loss to themselves,
make on the stock market enough to
supply a campaign fund as enormous
as hat used by the republican party in
1896.
On the trust question, as on the mon
ey question. the line is drawn between
those who believe that money is the
only thing to be considered and those
who believe the people have rights
which should be respected.
The republican party cannot be re-
lied upon to deal with the trust ques-
ton. The sympathies of those who
control the policies of the republican
party are entirely with organized
wealth in its confess against the
masses. An evidence of this is to be
found in the fact that the trusts have
grown more rapidly under the current
administration than in all the previous
history of the country. This remark
able growth shows that, at this time,
the trust magnates neither fear the en-
forcement of the present law nor the
enactment of new and more stringent
laws.
While the inspiring cause of mo-
nopoly is to be found in a selfish desire
TO enjoy the fruits of monopoly, several
things have contributed to its growth
and success. First, a constant fall in
prices has led people who invested
money in plants to seek in combination
a protection against loss upon their
investments. The republicans do not
propose to take away this incentive to
the organization of trusts. Second,
railroad determinations have some
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an immense advantage ver less fortu-
nate competitors. The republican party
is not only not trying % reform the
tariff in the interests of the people,
but it boasts of the Dingley law as a
panacea for all economic ills.
While state legislatures can do much
congressional action is necessary to
complete the destruction of the trusts.
A state can prevent the creation of a
a monopoly within its borders and car
also exclude a foreign monopoly. But
this remedy is not sufficient; for, if a
monopoly really exists and is prevent
ed from doing business in any state,
the people of that state will be deprived
of the use of that particular article un-
til it can be produced within the state.
Instead of shutting a monopoly out of
one state and leaving it A. states to do
business in, we should shut it up in the
state of its origin and take the other
A away from it. This can be done
by an act of congress making it neces-
sary for a corporation, organized in
any state. to take ont a license from
the federal government before doing
business outside of that state, the IL
cense not to interfere, however, with
regulations imposed by other states.
Such a license, granted only upon evil
dence that there is no water in the
stock of the corporation, and that it
has not attempted and is not attempt
ing to monopolize any branch of
business or the production of any arfi-