The Winslow mail., 1900-03-29
The Monetary Problem.
ssseseeeeeesgesgee eeeeeeeeeeesgeeeeegeee
WHEN THE SHOE WILL PINCH.
The Present Industrial Status as
Brought About by Our False
System of Economics.

1
The present industrial status in the
United States is a striking illustration
of the aphorism that things are not
what they seem;" for, as a matter of
fact, the magnates of the trusts are
taking advantage of the prosperity that
| followed in the wake of the higher
prices of grain in the Letter year to
rivet the fetters of producer and con-
sumer alike. In truth, the entire or
ganism of our economic and political
life is undergoing a metamorphosis
which will not be apparent to the gen
eral eye, until the cycle of events shall
| have once more made the masses of a
critical temper. The average man has
neither inclination nor leisure for phil
osophical investigation. From empti-
ness of stomach, as a rule, comes the
fullness of heart, out of which the
mouth speaketh.
In every direction, one sees certain
tendencies at work. In the first place,
the control of capital is passing into
fewer and fewer hands. Giant cor
porations seek to establish monopolies
in various lines of trade. With each
sunset, the individual is of lighter
weight in the balances of life, the will
of the multimillionaire being thrown
into the opposite scale, after the his
toric fashion of the sword of Brennus.
Doctrines of absolutism are boldly
preached which would not have been
endured decade ago. 1t is contended,
indeed, that the average American
stands in direst want of a guardian,
and that the trusts respond to the need,
as the scabbard protects the blade from
the rust. Russell Sage maintains the
thesis, in its boldest form, but the mo-
nopoly's real weapons of precision are
forged in the silence of academic re-
treats.
The fallacy of the argument will be
exposed when it shall come to be
tried by the stern tests of experience.
An ounce of fact is worth ton of the
ory. a system of morals or finance is
to be intelligently judged only when
the logical results have been wrought
out, in the sequence of the years. 1t
is a truism that depression follows in
the wake of prosperity, as the ebb sue
ceeds the flow of the tide. AS a rule,
deficient harvests are the prologue to
the tragedy; then come exports of gold
and falling prices. A lessened demand
for manufactured goods is the next de-
velopment, so that labor awaits the
employment which does not come. The
unemployed are consumers of capital,
but not consumers of products. Thus
congestion is the order of the day, and
unrest is in the air.
Now the tremendous changes in the
processes of production are bound to
intensity the dislocation which bad
trade never fails to bring. In such a
case, the trusts will avail themselves
of their undisputed possession of the
field, to restrict the output to the mini
mum requirements of the hour. One
factory will be kept in operation at a
profit, where five were run at moder-
ate loss, under the old order of things.
The consequences will be felt at all eX-
The many will suffer, so that the few
may be sheltered from the storm.
There is little reason to suppose that
the reality of things will be disclosed,
until the presidential election shall
have come and gone. In the interim,
the fears of labor will be lulled to
sleep with higher wages, lest the YER
dict of the ballot box bring the plans
of the monopolist to naught, but greed
will throw off all disguise, when once
the overweening corporations shall
have been assured of four years more
of license. 1t will then be too clear
for argument that the sons of toll have
sold their birthright for a mess of pot
tage. With the inevitable disillusion
will come searching, and even pitiless,
reeXamination of the questions at is
sue. The result cannot be doubtful,
unless democratic government is to be
the monumental failure of the ages. In
the meanwhile, the duty of the cham
pions of freedom is plain as the noon
day sun; they must present the facts,
in season and out of season, with su-
preme confidence in the truth of Lin
coins dictum: "You can fool some of
the people all the time, and all the peo-
pie some of the time; but you cannot
fool all the people all the time" In the
end, exact justice will be done, at
whatever cost; for mans ingenuity will
never suffice to construct an efficient
shield against the darts of the divine
justice.
T:vasn The mills of God grind slowly,
Yet they grind exceeding small:
Though with patience He stands waiting,
| With eXactness grinds He al