Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1902-10-01
trusts will cease and that the one aim wifi
be 10 restore prosperity.
The Tariff and Trusts.

A remedy much advocated at the moment
Is TO take on the tariff from all articles
which are made by trusts To do this Il
will be necessary 40 define trusts. The Ian
guage commonly used hy the advocates Of
the method implies that they mean all arti-
Giles made by large corporations. and that
the changes in tariff are 10 be made with
punitive Intent toward these large corpora
lions. OF course, II the tariff Is 10 he
changed, In order 10 punish them. IL should
be changed so as 70 punish those that dc III,
not merely those that are prosperous. II
would neither he just nor exnedieut to pun
lsh the big corporations as big corporations
what We wish 10 do is TO protect the people
from any evil that iaay grow out af their
existence or NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. Some of
those corporations do well and others do ILL.,
II in any case the tariff is found TO foster
monopoly which does III, why. Of course. no
protecu0niSt would object to Il modification
sufficient to remedy the evil But in very
Few cases does the so-called trust really
monopoltze the market. Take any very big
corporation which controls say something
over halr the products 0f R given industry
surely in rearranging the schedules affect
ing such big corporation II weuld be nee
essary 10 consider the Interests Of Its small
or competitors which control the remaining
part, and which, being weaker. would suf-
fer most from any tariff designed To pun
ism all the producers; for of course, the
tarin must be made light or heavy for big
ana little products alike. Moreover, such
q corporation necessarily employs very
many thousands of w0rkmen. and the min
ute We proceed from denuncation to ac-
ton II would lie necessary TO consider the
interests of these workmcn. Furthermore,
the products of many trusts are unprotect-
ed and would be entirely unaffected by any
change in the tariff, or at most very slight
ly so.
The Standard oil Company offers case
in point; and the corporations which con-
troll the anthracite coal output offer anoth-
er-for there is no duty whatever on an
thracite coal. | am not discussing the ques-
of Rrf =fsANA hen frFA IN
the standpoint of the fundamental differ
ence between those who believe In q pro-
tective tariff and those who believe in free
trade; or from the standpoint Of those who,
while they believe I'm protective tariff. feel
that there could he a Encouragement of our
schedules, either by direct legislation or by
reciprocity treaties, which would result in
charging our markets. nor vet from the
standpoint of those who feel that stability
Of economic policy Is Mt the moment our
prime need condition and that the benefits to
be derived from any change In schedules
would not compensate for the damage d0ne
to business caused by the widespread agita-
tion which would follow any attempted re-
vision of the tariff at this momeat.
Revision Not the Care.
without regard to the wisdom of any Of
those three positions 1t remains true that
the real evils connected With the trusts
cannot be remedied by any change In the
tariff laws. The trusts can be damaged by
deprving them of the benefits of Il protec
tive taflu. only on condition OF damaging
all their smaller competitors and all the
wage workers employed in the industry.
This point is very important and Ii Is de-
sirabe to avoid any save wilful misunder-
standing. | am not now considering wheth-
err or not on grounds totally unconnected
with the trusts 1t would be we'll TO lower
the duties on various schedules, either by
direct legislation or by legislation or trea-
ties designed to secure reciprocal adyant-
ages from the nations with which we trade.
My point is that changes in the tarin would
have little appreclahie effects on the trusts,
save as they shared In the general harm or
tariff Change would help one Of our talaller
corporations. or one of our private ndivid-
uals in business. still less one of our wage
worker as against large corporation in
the same business; on the contrary. II Ii
bore heavily on the large corporation II
would inevitably be felt still more by that
corporations weaker rivals, while any In
furious result would of necessity be shared
by both the employer and employed in the
business concerned The immediate intro
ductiOn Of substantial free trade in all ar
ticleS manufactured by trusts, that Is by
the larger and most successful corporations,
would not affect some Of our most power
full business corporations In the least save
for the damage done to the business well
fare of the country, others would he seri-
ously affected, but much less so than their
weaker rivals. while the loss would be di-
vided between the capitalists and the la
borers; and after the years of panic and
distress had been lived through and some
return to prosperity had occurred. even
though all Were on q lower plane of pros
perity than before, the relative difference
between the rusts and their rivals would
remain as marked as ever. In other words
the trust, big corporation. would have
suffered relat vely TO, and In the interest Of
Its foreign competitors. but its relative po-
sitlon toward It's American competitors
would probably be improved; little would
have been done toward cutting out or min
imzi.ig the evils in the trusts; nothing TO-
wards securing adequate control and regu-
ia .len of the large modern corporations. In
T ther words. the question of regulating the
trusts with view TO minimizing or abol-
ishing the evils existant In them, Is separate
and apart from the question of tariff revis-
ion.
The Presidents Plan.
ba bo4 IL hor