The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1902-09-25
N0TINTHETARIFP
DOES PRESIDENT SEE REmrnv
FOR TRUST EVIL
Removal of Duties, in Most C.
Thinks Would Hurt Small
ducers Much More Than
ones---Business of Corporate
Should Be Supervised.

Cincinnati, Sept. 22.-Mps;o n,
was thronged when President pal ali
welt spoke-not only thronged 'I h's.
thousands at the doors were mail 'a'
gain admission. It was the Grs. 70
speech the president has made sig Ds
the conference at Oyster Bav and ~
comes, therefore, of particular interaS.
The president, in opening, took nn
trusts and for a time followed the lip ~
OF his recent speeches at Wheeling "
Va. w.
1.-The trusts" he said, "bave ~,
duced both good and evil. Ttev w pO,
the inevitable and we could NOT cot ~
OF them. The evils attendant nnon
capitalization alone are, in nv on;n;on
sufficient to warrant a far create,
supervision and control than now ov
lists over the great corporat;ons
Wherever substantial monopolv CON
be shown to exist we should certa;nlr
try our utmost to devise an expedipn,
by which it can be controlled.
1T would be neither just nor exna.
dent to punish the big corporations 90
big corporations. What we wish 70 do
is to protect the people from any evil
that may grow out of their existence or
INSTRUMENTATION. Some of these cor.
porations do we'll and others do III
If, in any case, the tariff is found FL
foster a monopoly which does ill, wbv
OF course, no protectionist would object
to modification of the tariff sufficient
to remedy the evil. Furthermore. the
products OF many trusts are unprotected
and would be entirely unaffected by
any change in the tariff, or at most
very slightly SO.
THE. Standard Oil Company offers
case in point and the corporations
which control the anthracite coal out.
put offer another, for there is no duty
whatever on anthracite coal. Without
regard to the wisdom of any one Of
those three positions, it remains true
that the real evils connected with the
trusts cannot be remedied by any
change in tariff laws.
1.-The immediate introduction Of
substantial free trade in all articles
manufactured by the trusts would not
affect some OF the most powerful of our
business combinations in the least
save by the damage done to the general
business welfare of the country. The
necessary supervision and CONTROL in
which / firmly believe is the only
method of eliminating the real evils Of |
the trusts, must come through wisely
and cautiously framed legislation which
shall aim, in the first place, to give
definite control to some sovereign
power over the great corporations and
which shall be followed when once this
power has been conferred by system !
giving to the government the full
knowledge which is the essential for
satisfactory action.
1.-The savings banks show what can
be done in the benefcent world by
large corporations when intelligenty
supervised.
Now, of coucrse, savings banks are
as highly specialized class of cor
poratiohs as railroads, and we cannot
force too far the analogy with other
corporations; but there are certain
conditions which l think we can lay
down as Indispensable to the proper
treatment of all corporations which
from their size have become important
factors in the social development OF the
community.
"But in very few cases does the So
called trust really monopolize the mar
ket. Take any very big corporation
which controls, say, over half the prod
ucts of given industry. Surely, ID
rearranging the schedules affecting
such big corporation, it would @
necessary to consider the interests Of
its smaller competitors which contrOl
the remaining part and which, being
weaker, would suffer more from any
tariff designed to punish all the prO,
ducers; for, of course, the tariff mus
be made heavy or light, for big anu
little producers alike. However s'lcn
corporation must of necessity empiO
very many thousands of workmen' anu
the minute we proceeded from denun
citation to action it would be necessai.
to consider the interests OF thoN
rly