The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-09-27
CONSTITUTIONS AND TRUSTS.

1t IS most Interesting feature of cur
rent political discussion that the ad1aia-
istration party has thought it necessary
recently to charge against Mr. Bryan
that he has deserted his contentious
against Imperialism, and has shown a dis
position to make the trusts the para
mount issue" -,s
1t is not necessary to pass upon the
right or wrong of this allegation in order
to be enabled to observe the growing i'm
portance attached by the political lead.
ers and managers to the trust issue 1t
represents one of the leading and one of
the most pressing of the evils which as
sail the commonwealth. Tt is tangible
1t IS no mere abstraction. 1t goes to the
root of our commercial and Industrial
system and affects the prosperity of our
people in the most appreciate way.
There is not a household in any large
city at the. present moment That the
heads Of it will not agree, as the result
Of their daily experience, that they have
les which are under trust control, and
that the increases in price to which they
are subjected are not recognized as
springing from any definite economic
cause.
Aside wholly from the result of the
presidential election the people have an
abiding interest in the. public control of
the trusts. BY trusts, of course, is meant
gagged In the several industries which
have succeeded in effecting a substantial
monopoly Of the product which they
| manufacture or in which they deal.
There are such trusts. Every intelligent
citizen can name off dozen of them
They are engaged in what is generally
accepted as, private enterprise and are
/ per Sc under our constitutional system
T free from legislative control To under
| take to control them, without being able
first to establish that they are in nature
or operation monopolies. would not be
possible without a constitutional amend
ment. In this they are distinguished
from those industries which are engaged
in doing pubic or a quasi public bust
ness in the eye of the law.
While this distinction has the utmost
bearing on what can or can not be done
to protect the public, it is becoming
recognized by the more intelligent that it
has no existence in actual operation. The
railway corporation cannot do what it
pleases in the conduct of Its business.
Any attempt in that behalf would bring
down public criticism ana interference.
The question naturally arises why, If a
business organization, like the Standard
Oil concern for instance, is in effect a
monopoly there should not be as wide a
range of remedy under the laws and the
constitution for its regulation as for the
regulation of the carrying company, al
| though it is not feasible to establish that
it embodies all the characteristics of a
monopoly. Why should the che be pro-
| tected from public interference any more
than the other?
No intelligent person pretends that the
law providing for a proposed amendment
to the federal constitution which was
adopted at the heel of the session Of the
last congress is entitled to serious con-
sideraion. 1t was party political meas
ure essentially, even though it be not re-
garded. as SO many people regard 1t. as
merely an effort to stave off effective
action against the trusts. But however
insincere or reflective an effort thai
measure involves it remains true that as
time advances it becomes more and more
plain that if we are to reach the private
n'onopolies which have grown up in such
number in the commercial world it will
be necessary to consider serious changes