The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-04-02
RATIONAL DISCUSSION OF ECONOMIC
TENDENCIES.

~ Dh0t1E1lON vi
TENDENCIES.
There is a disposition 10 discuss the ex-
tensive combinations of factories engaged
in the same business in a rational man
ner rather than from the point of view
Of the d~emagogue. Monopoly. or the de-
sire of monopoly. is not confined to cor
porations. Monopoly has been one of the
aims of mankind since the days of Adam.
Each man has sought to gain an advan-
tage over his associates and TO obtain
in trade a portion of the income of his
neighbors over the mere cost of living.
Possibly the individual monopolist is more
grasping than the corporation. Certainly
the individual money lender, as a rule,
demands higher rate of interest than the
bank. So. in discussing this question, let
us dismiss the idea that there cannot be
monopoly without a corporation. To deal
with trusts or m%onopolies by legislation Is
the fad of the period. Something In this
line may be done, but how can legisla-
ton prevent such vast combinations OF
plants and capital as that which has
just been made by the consolidation OF
the Carnegie properties and others in the
same or kindred industries? Must not such
legislation begin with constitutional
amendments that will change the theories
upon which our government stands? Those
who are at the same time candid and in
telligent, instead of indulging in denuncia-
ton. are awaiting the development of
such vast a-ggregations of mills, mines
and transportation as has been recently
made under the leadership of J. Pierpont
Morgan. While most distrust many wait
for results.
Now and then a man appears who is max
ing a theoretical study of the trust as
an economic factor, like Mr.. Edward S.
Meade. a-recent graduate of De PAW
University, who gives his views in an ar
ticle in the Forum entitled Limitations
of Monopoly which are worthy of con-
sideration by those who are studying the
subject. He is frank and brave enough
to say that such extensive combinations
as have been referred to may mitigate
monopoly by extending the number who
are participants in the profits of manu-
facture. The Carnegie Company dominated
the iron interest for years. 1t owned ore,
ships. furnaces, coal, and dominated trans
portation. A competitor could not make
the smallest profits of the Carnegie Com
pany. Many competitors had to pay heavy
tribute to the Carnegie Company because
IL controlled raw materials. All the while
the Carnegie Company made large profits
while competitors had TO be content with
meager ones. Now, all these properties
are merged in one corporation and the
aggregate of profits must be divided more
equally among a multitude of stock and
b~ondholders. Thus whatever monopoly the
great iron combination obtains is diffused.
The investment habit will make hundreds
of thousands of individuals sharers in the
profit of what may be called a monopoly.
In Philadelphia $1,000 voters are share
holders in the municipal monopoiies of
that city. Through deposits in savings
banks and trust companies almost mil
lions of depositors are the recipients. indi-
rectly, of the profits of railroad and other
reliable corporations. This is a move
tent tCWdIu pubic OWHciSIip VI III
character. The organization of labor comes
under the same head. Whatever is gained
by thousands of workmen in better wages
is a dividend from the profits of what
may be called monopoly.
The power of substitution is another of
the limitations of monopoly, and a very
effective one. The monopoly of the anthra-
cite coal industry led to a great increase
of consumption of bituminous coal. forcing
the output from IS, 200. 900 tons i'm 1880 to 49,
10000 tons in 1898. The substitution of
gas made of soft coal for anthracite coal
and petroleum is a feature in some larger
cities. A few years ago the international
Paper Company announced that the mo-
nopoly was based on the possession of
large tracts of forests from which pulp
can be made. Hardly had the company
made it's announcement when 1t was dis
covered that the magnolia tree, growing
abundantly in the South. would make good
paper. and that the hull of cotton seed
and the waste of sugar plantations could
be turned to the same use. TIL consump-
ton of wood has fallen off during the last
ten years because the cotton-seed hall has
sidering the unlimited power of substitu-
ton, no monopoly is secure in it's control.
for no bounds can he set to the inventive
capacity of man.