The Washington times., 1901-08-20
The Jenk. Report ON Trusts.

eve may judge from the summary
given out for publication. the report OF
European Industrial combinations pre-
pared for the Industrial Commission
by Prof. Jerks is both an interesting
and suggestive document. Whatever
may be the partisan bias of the Com
mission itself. this summary certainly
should afford but little comfort to the
champions OF the trusts in the United
States. To be sure, they will seize
upon the generalities in the report. and
argue that as there are trusts both in
free trade and protection countries
abroad, therefore the tariff has moth
ing TO do with them in this country,
and there is no occasion to change The
tariff schedules. This will be an easy
and comfortable way of dismissing a
difficult and threatening question from
the careful considera ton which it de-
mands. But the opponents of the
trusts will not be content to have the
subject thus disposed of. for there is
much more in the report than mere
generalities. 1t is full of details and
full of suggestion
In the first place it is a most striking
circumstance that the trusts should
have reached their highest development
and most gigantic proportions in the
virgin field of America, the very coun-
try in which we would naturally ex-
pect them to appear last. Under nor
NAL conditions there are better oppor-
tunities here for competition than
there are anywhere else in the world,
and the great masses of American cap
ftal are of recent accumulation.
Moreover. in this country the trusts
have taken on fully what is the worst
possible form. In Europe, speaking
generally. the trusts consist merely of
agreements between separate indepen-
dent establishments. These agreements
for the maintenance Of prices are bad
enough, but when the smaller concerns
are either forced out or bought up by
one huge corporation IL creates a sit
uation at once much worse and more
dangerous to the industries of the
country. Prof. jerks report shows
this. for he states that combinations
of separate concerns usually fail
through some of them breaking the
agreement and selling for less than the
prices fixed upon. Such violations of
the agreements are bad for the comhi-
nations, but good for the consumers.
When. however. the different concerns
have been welded into one, and are all
under single management, IL is clear
that the prices can be held in a grip of
iron. subject only to certain economic
laws which no trust can entirely con-
troll. There can be no rivalries or
working at cross purposes when the
whole combination is under one man.
agemeLt
Prof jerks shows that the OBJ
tect of thus unifying the management
is to control the output and limit pro-
duction. when deemed necessary. by
closing the least profitable factories
What this means TO both the consumer
and the factory hands requires no ex-
PLANTATION beyond the simple statement
Of higher prices for the consumer and
fewer men employed in the mills. The
fundamental idea with the trusts is
that the dividends of stockholders must
be kept at the top notch. no matter
what becomes of anybody else.
Another fact brought out by the re-
port is that while trusts exist in free
trade countries as well as in those
which have adopted protective policy.
still the thrift is an aid to the trusts,
This comes from the circumstance that
the tariff enables the manufacturers to
charge higher prices in the home mar