New Iberia enterprise. (New Iberia, La.) 1885-1902, 1901-09-07
TAX MONOPOLIES OUT OF EXISTENCE

The tariff is not the chief source
or the only source, of the trust 5
power. In his recent testimony
before the industrial commission
at Washington President Schwab
SAID: "The great advantages which
the new company enjoy start with
the ore, embracing the well-known
ranger in the north west-SO per
cent. Of which the United States
steel corporation own or control. ~
These ore fields, monopolized by
the trust, are, as President Schwab
testified, extremely valuable, for
the reason that they contain only a
limited supply of ore, a supply
which cannot "last very long, per-
haps 60 years. He continued !:
awe own something like 10000
acres of Connellsville coal You
could not buy it for $50, 900 an acre,
for there is no more Connellsville
coal. | believe that Connellsville
coal will be exhausted in 80 years. !"
That monopoly control of the
raw materials, without which there
can be no industry, furnishes the
trust an impregnable fortress
against which the hosts of labor
cannot hope to prevail with their
present methods of warfare.
1t is contrary to public policy to
permit such ii gigantic monopoly
of raw material provided by nature.
To prevent such a monopoly
there are but two courses open.
One is socialism. If we were to
try to cure the evil of private mo-
nopoly by taking the remedy Of
fered by socialism we should prob
ably be like the Irishman who said
that, on account of the awful me-
dicine prescribed for him, he was
sick long time after he got we'll.
The other course is that suggest
ed by the platform of the Ohio
democracy, the most radical anti
plutocratic platform ever adopted
by the democratic party. Mr..
Schwab says the Connellsville coal
is worth 100000 an acre and de-
clares that the ore fields of the
northwest are Of almost inestima-
BILE value.
The employe Of the trust, if he
saves enough to own house, will
pay taxes on GO per cent. Of the
full value Of that house. Would
it not be interesting to know how
much taxes the trust pays on its
GO, 900 acres of coal fields7
President Schwab says the value
of the great are fields of the north
west is more than equal to the en-
tire capitalization of the United
States steel corporation.
Why does the trust acquire prop
erty in all those fieldsi
Certainly not because it has any
present use for them, but because
it wants the legal power to keep
others from using them, so that it
may command a monopoly price
FOR this raw material.
The way to destroy that monop-
ply power is to tax 1T to death.
Let the trust pay taxes on the true
of its property and i'll
would not find it SO profitable to
hold idle the raw materials with
'ut which competition is impossi-
Die.
The power to tax is the power to
lestroy. With that power intelli-
gently used, the people could eli
innate the element of monopoly
rom industry, increase the securi-
y Of all legitimate forms of prop
'rty and increase the opportunities
or remnnerative employment for
10th labor and capital. But no
me is going to drive them to Free
lom. Until they gain wisdom we
must expect their blind protests to
nd in failure. Pictorial in Col
INDUS co., Press-Post Of Aug. IL. /,
Geo. w. Lane, Pewamo, Mich, writes |
IL - ~ i