New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1902-06-14
TRUST POWER IS A SMALL THING
AS YET..BUT THE PEOPLE SHOULD
REALIZE ITS MEANING, AND IN
ALL POSSIBLE WAYS PRE-
PARE FOR THE STORM
THAT IS COMING.

Meat Trust, which cnts down the
food supply of the people to add
to its bank account.
Every merchant feels keenly the
existence Of half a dozen trusts on
which he is absolutely dependent
and from which there is no es.
cape.
We all see the Coal Trust keep.
ing ready armed men to shoot
working citizens whenever it shall
give the order. We notice that
this Coal Trust, in a calm, matter
of-fact way, boasts that it will, if
necessary, "call out the United
States Government troops" tC
shoot the miners. Here is one
trust already talking as though it
controlled the army and all the
other forces of Government. The
trusts believe Themselves already
in control, and their national power
is very great.
The crisis of trust development
has not been reached. The present
power of concentrated, organized
money is very great, but it is moth
ing to the power which money will
exert in the future.
This future development of the
trust force should be discussed and
studied calmly, nationally and dis.
passionately by all Americans.
There is no use in denouncing OF
in hating the trusts. 1t is true that
they are entirely selfish; it is not
true that they represent evil pure
and simple.
The trust is Necessary develop.
ment of humanity's tendency tow
ard organization, concentration and
the simplifying of industry.
The first locomotive ever built
was trust. 1t performed the
| work of a thousand four-horse
teams, deprived four thousand
horses and thousand drivers of 6
livelihood.
The railroad trust is simply al
extension Of the concentration
of labor, the simplifying of indus
trial operation, represented in the
building of the first locomotive.
The trusts in the end will do in
finite good.
They will destroy the mean com
petition which for centuries has
made liars, swindlers and slave
drivers Of men.
They will practically eliminate
the great number of large private
fortunes, and thus compel men tt
devote their energies to pursuit!
nobler than the accumulation O.
money.
At first few enormous fortunes
will dominate the nation-th'
beginning Of these great fortunes
You may see already.
Then will come the owning O
the trusts-that is to say, of all th'
great national industries-by tn
nation itself.
| The people of the land will owl
and operate their own necessities
These necessities, instead Of max
ling few men enormously rich a
the expense of many, will con
tribute to the comfort of man,
without injustice to the few--ex
cept, perhaps through confiscation
which will affect only one gener
alton, and be no more serious thar
an ordinary war.
| The development Of trusts mus
run its course, like every Othe
great feature of human history.
Its beginning-in corrupt legis
lation, watered stocks, human self
|ishness-was inevitable.
Its ending-in national owner
ship, competition eliminated, ant
industrial life vastly improved-i
also inevitable.
| But thousands of struggles
thousands Of economical battles
thousands of ruined men, viii
mark the evolution of human in
dustry from the control of individ
ual selfishness to the service of tn,
nation.
| The duty of the people is t.
study and, as far as possible, t.
foresee and regulate this enormous
and inevitable development Of tn
trusts.
The trusts cannot be dedroyed
and they should not be destroyed
But they can be regulated, ant
with proper vigilance they can b
kept from commanding aud con
trolling absolutely this nation
which sees the birth of their grea
development. We believe tina
the most pressing public duty a
present is the reorganization of tn
Senate Of the United States on tn
basis of popular election.
j 1t has been said truthfnlly
"You cannot indict an entire pee
ple,' and, fortunately for us,
may be truthfully said, "You can
not purchase an entire people. /"
4 The trusts of the United State
base their hopes Of continued an
growing power upon the Unite
States Senate.
i The trusts own many Unite
States Senators. OF those Sens
tors whom the trusts do not owu
many are deeply interested in tn
trusts, which is the same thing a
though the trusts did own their
Under the present system, th