Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1900-06-21
Analysis of the Trust.
by u. W. HALE.

Inc tendency or Illc tllncS IL loN-
ard the concentration of wealth
and power in the hands of a few.
This tendency has been most
clearly manifested during the last
two or three years in the formation
of gigantic corporations known as
trusts which control the manufac-
turc and sale of most every human
necessity.
And now from all sides, from all
parties and shades of political be-
lief come cries of dcnunciation ac-
companicd by proposed remedies,
some wise and some otherwise.
But in spite of all the clamor
against them, in spite of all the So
called antitrust laws which Lcgis-
laturcs enact and Supreme Courts
declare unconstitutional, the trusts
90 ON i'm the even tenor of their
way. driving independent concerns
out of business, cutting the wages
of their employees and sending
prices of their goods skyward in
defiance of the law of supply and
demand.
Eliminating partisan politics
ns far us possible, let us pass to
the analysis. The modern trust
contains two principal elements;
LIST. Cooperation and division of
labor. ID. Monopoly.
\ number of individuals or firms
can, by uniting and skillfully dl-
viding up the work 50 that there
will be the least possible waste of
time and labor, produce goods
much cheaper than they can by
acting separately. This is II great
blessing to mankind. Anything
which lessons the cost Of prOduc-
ton of any necessity of life is a
great boon to humanity. Co-opera-
ton does this. In fact it has tn,
same effect rs Il new machine en-
abling Il few men to do the work
of many. While all this is true
the history of the trust shows thai
the people do not get the benefit OF
the increased productive power
On the contrary, every farmer
knows that goods controlled by
trusts are very much higher pricct
than they were before the trust wa'
formed. For instance, the Stec
and Wire Trust had advanced tn,
price of their products to such al
extent that farmers were forced t,
get along without the wire an,
nails which they needed. An,
now comes the Trust with Il 30 pc
cent. reduction in prices in ordc
that it may work off its over sup
ply brought about by undcrcon
sumption, the result of cXtortion
ate prices. But still prices are II
to - per cent. higher than the.
were before the formation of tn
trust. Being unable to get bot
hands in the farmers pocket tn
Trust must be content with scoop
ing out its plumber with one hand
Thus we see that cooperation doe
not in this ease work for the com
mon benefit, but that the Trust i
in some way enabled not only t
pocket the entire benefit of chcape
production, but also to charg
higher prices. Why is this! M
because of cooperation, but he
> cause of that other element, me
nOpoly. Cooperation is bless
ing; monopoly is II curse. Abo
ish monopoly and we abolish til
power of the trust to do harm
But how! Opinions differ.
: monopoly is simply special priv
ilcgc granted directly or indircctl
by act of Legislature, such rs e>
elusive franchises, protective tai
IFS, etc. Monopoly means thu
one man controls more than h
: share of natural opportunity
Some businesses are by nature mt
nopolics, such MS the railroad, tc
cgraph, telephone, express, etc
These should be owned and Opera
ted by and for the benefit of til
: people as is being successfully don
in other countries. No mdividu'
or corporation should he given Il
right of eminent domain; tn
should belong solely 10 the people
I q,