Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1902-10-02

agents together with most liberal divI.
.dends upon its enormous volume Of
bonds and stock
1T requires little foresight to conf
prehend that in order to do this 1t
must sell the output of its business.
to some of its customers at least, 1T
prices enormously in excess OF their
actual cost of production.
THAT this is done to home con.
sumers is conclusively established by
the fact that large quantities OF It's
products are shipped abroad and sold
in foreign markets at little more than
one-half the price exacted for them
here.
The evil of excessive prices to home
consumers is not the only one that is
threatened. II reports are true, its
watered stocks are floated in every
market of the country and are being
absorbed by small purchasers who Will
be least able to bear the loss when
the crash comes, for, as certain as
the judgment day for all. Is the day
to come when the American people
will find a way to squeeze the water
out of the stocks of every one Of these
great combinations, and when they do
the bonds and stocks of each will be
worth the fair market value of the
property they represent and nothing
more.
Another and equally serious OBJ
lection is found in the fact that IL uu.
restrained and permitted to increase
in the future as they lave done In
the recent past they will soon be able
to dominate the labor markets of
the country, and fix at their own sweet
will the terms upon which workmen
shall be employed and the wage that
shall be paid them for their services.
I'm requires little sagacity to see
that II the day ever comes when each
of the separate lines in our manu-.
featuring Industries is controlled by
trust it would require but one
greater combination of all, either OK.
press or implied, to fix for each a
scale OF wages that would be paid By
all.
"A forcible example of the power
they would easily WELD in this regard
Is furnished by conditions, that now
exist in the anthracite fields of this
country. There one huge combina-
ton has possessed itself not only of
the soil from which our hard coal must
tOluCt Dul VI tic VI
ton through which it must reach the
outer world.
For a period Of nearly four months
the managers of that monstrous COM
bination have been at loggerheads
with their employees over differences
they are unable to harmonize, and al.
though thousands upon thousands of
their hard handed working men with
their wives and little ones are suffer.
ing for the necessaries of life. and
the whole country is on the verge of
a fuel panic. not a muscle OF that
soulless combination is moved and not
word of Cancellation escapes the
lips of its managers.
These men have formulated the
terms on which the workmen may re-
turn to their toll. They can accept or
starve, that is their only choice.
What ! have said of the few ex.
amples to which | have referred is
largely applicable to nearly three hun.
dred similar combinations of greater
or less degree.
"As heretofore stated, while all seem
to realize the danger to the great mass
of our people which this new depart
ure In our business methods threatens.
we are hopelessly divided in seeking
a remedy for it.
For generations the American PEG,
pie have been divided on the question
of the right or the wrong of a protec.
tive as distinguished from a revenue
tariff. but it is only in recent years
that the trust evil has entered in a
discussion of that question.
THE teachings of democrats logical
ly leads them to believe that our pro.
tective tariff system has made the
organization of these trusts possible,
and. so long as it is continued, they
also believe 1t will furnish a defensive
breastwork behind which they can
find shelter from every shaft that could
reach a vital part.
"The course of reasoning by which
this conclusion is reached is easily
understood. They say. truthfully. that
the conceded object of protective
tariff Is to exclude from our markets
goods of foreign manufacturers. that
IL permitted to be imported would be
sold in competition with home manu-
facturies, and hence reduce the price
of these to the same level at which
foreign goods of like quality could he
bought. That so long as we maintain
tariff wall that shuts foreign goods
out of our markets there is no possible
way to prevent home producers from
combining by either express or i'm
piled agreements and fixing the price
at which their own productions shall
be sold.
"The futility of legislation other
than tariff reduction in restraint of
such action is to them demonstrated
by the fact that the great bulk of our
trusts have been openly organized in
the face of antitrust laws. carefully
prepared and incorporated into the
statutes of the nation and many OF
the states.
"They insist, therefore. that mas
much as the plain object of these
combinations is to destroy competi.
ton among themselves and thereby
become able to fix their own prices
upon whatever they produce there is
but one remedy Tor the evils they
threaten, and that Is to take down
the wall that shelters them and com.
pei them to compete with the world
at large.
"ln this view heartily concur, as
do in the old aad revered democratic
doctrine that tariff which is nothing
less than a tax on consumers can
rightfully be laid for one purpose
only, and that to raise needed revenue
for the use of the government.
But old as that doctrine Is. and
firmly rooted in democratic faith as
1t has become, ii must always be in
terpreted in the light of conditions as
they exist when 1t is to be applied.
"Tn the absence of circumstances re-.
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