The Winslow mail., 1901-05-09
HADLEY'S PREDICTION.
Tendency OF the Industrial Monop.
oIies to Turn America Into
an Empire.

"We shall have an emperor in Wash
ington within 25 years unless we can
create public sentiment which will
regulate the trusts said President
Arthur T. Hadley, of Yale university,
in an address delivered in the Old
South church in Boston recently. The
assertion Is not so fantastic as it may
seem, although little attention might
be paid to it, did it come from a less
thoughtful and less scholarly member
of society than President Hadley.
The emperor may not come within 25
years; but his ultimate coming is by
no means impossible, or even improb-
able. When the great industrial mo-
nopolies are once firmly established, it
will not be difficult for the men that
control them to work their will in poll
tics and government. The complaint
is already made that presidential
elections disturb business, and the
question of extending the term of Of
fee of the president is seriously agi-
tated. This disturbance will become
more and more pronounced as indus
try and commerce become more and
more centralized. Fundamental diff
ferences in party creeds will increase
the uncertainty growing out of presi-
Dental contests and consequently the
business uncertainty of the country.
Anything that disturbs business is
popularly regarded as Objectionable,
and the disposition of the trusts will
be to minimize this disturbance as
much as possible. The first step from
4 republic towards an empire would
probably come in the reelection Of a
''safe" president TO third term. A
crisis might easily arise in which this
third term would be considered nec-
cssary for the preservation of the
commercial interests of the country.
Out of this third term might as natural
~ come a quasi-dictatorship, and out
of this dictatorship empire. 1t is not
impossible-no more impossible than
was the transformation of Napoleon
III. from president to an emperor un-
der the belief that "the empire is
peace"
The experiment with a republican
government in the United States is by
no means conclusive, although most of
US fancy that it is. The supreme task
Of republic is yet to be undertaken.
1t has not yet been proved that re-
public can perform its functions satis-
factorily in the midst of a highly COM
plicated civilization extending over a
large area, with diverse and often con-
flicting interests. The machinery is
very cumbersome and operates clum-
silly,
We have seen brilliant illustration
of this in the miniature tariff war that
the administration is conducting with
Russia. Nearly four years ago tariff
| bill was passed, and the secretary of
| the treasury only recently got around
| to construe a clause relative to the
duties on sugar. This clause was con-
strued to meet the demands of GER
| tain interests, and the secretary set
| tied back in his chair with the cOnvic-
| ton that another load was off his
| shoulders, and that the courts might
| dispose of the matter as they pleased.
| I he ink on the paper was hardly dry
before M. de Witte, the Russian minis
| ter of finance, had issued an order in
creasing the duty on American imports
of agriculture. The retaliation was
almost instantaneous. M. de Witte
was not obliged to convene a congress
| in session and wait until a tariff blu
discriminating against American in-
ports was lobbied through. He was
IN position to declare war at once.
It would require more months in this
country to inaugurate such tariff war
than it required minutes in Russia, and
consequently Russia is in far better
position than the United States to
meet the demands of her growing in
| dustries from day to day.
In the fight for markets centra liza
| ton in government must soon count
| for as much as Capitalization in indus
| try, and when that Capitalization be-
comes necessary to the men that con-
troll the great trusts, have we any rea-
son to believe that they will not exert
| themselves to the utmost to obtain it
| 1t must be remembered, too, that
money is everything in politics and
| government. 1t is the lever that moves
| the government, and the men that have
| this lever in their hands are the men
| that can make over the form of a gov
ernment to suit themselves s.-Detroit
| Free Press