The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-10-03


law.
THE VITAL POINT.
"Our tariffs have been defended out of
consideration for infant industries, but that
Is not the foundation of the protective
policy. They have been defended on ac-
count of the difference in the wage scales
of Europe and America, but that is not
the foundation of the protective policy.
The long debates that were held in other
generations about the rates Of duty, wheth-
the wall Should be low enough to allow
foreign merchandise to flow over it or high
enough to barely allow 1t to leak over.
or to be pumped over, failed utterly to
comprehend the principle which has iden-
titled the doctrine of protection with the
present day miracles of our industrial
progress. Protection in the perfection of
its design, as described by Mr.. Hamilton,
does not invite competition from abroad.
says Mr.. Blaine in his famous chapter on
the tariff question in it's relation to the
political revolution Of 1860. in Twenty
controlling principle that competition at
home will always prevent monopoly on the
part of the capitalists. assure good wages
to the laborer and defend the consumer
against the evils of extortion.
THAT principle, which never failed to
justify the doctrine of protection in any
period or the past, is to-day passing
through an ordeal hardly even anticipated
the statute books. If one field of produc-
tion after another passes under the control
of spectators intent on nefarious schemes
to engross the whole market the protec-
tion literature of a hundred years becomes
misleading and obsolete.
81 have from the beginning been slow to
believe that 1t is possible for one man or
any combination of men to overrule the
forces which make for equity and fair deal
ing in human society. For that reason
have been willing to wait for the facts and
govern my judgment by more careful OBJ
servation than has hitherto been prac-
ticable. The census of 1900 has given an
accurate account of the trusts and what
they are doing, and the daily reports of
the market place indicate what their pres
ent standing and future prospects actually
are. We know that they are 1S5 in number,
representing the consolidation Of 2,040 sep
arate plants. We know that less than 10
per cent of the factory labor Of the coun-
try is employed by them and only Ia per
cent. of our manufactured output is made
products of iron and steel the percentage is
hardly visible to the naked eye In the
textile industries they are almost unknown,
and most of the other fields of American
truders and disturbers of the peace
RECORD OF TRUSTS.
Most of them were established between
1890 and 1901 and in the aggregate, counting
all kinds of stocks and all kinds of bonds
which they have issued, their gross cap
italization has been six and half billions
of dollars, from which at least two billions
should be deducted to cover spurious stock
which represents nothing except the
swindling projects of Adventures and
cheats at common law. So that, putting all
the consultations which have been effect
ed i'm the last twelve years together four
and a half billions of dollars may be set
down as their true aggregate capitalization.
including their bonds. These corporations
have enlarged our productive capacity by
the addition of new bona fde capital in a
degree hardly noticeable. They have mere
ly undertaken to dazzle the speculative
world by playing on the popular fancy for
full-page advertisements. And in nearly
everyone of them the motive of the organ
ization has been mainly to shield capital al
ready inve jted from the operation of natur-
world II they have failed in that they
have failed in everything, and the power
which some have been afraid would be
used TO wrong and burden the community
has not even proved equal TO the task of
taking care of itself.
Before anybody makes up his rnind that
the so-called American trust is perma-
nent institution. let him consider the long
list of ambitious combinations which have
already had their affairs wound up by the
courts of justice. The alcohol trust, the
linseed oil trust. the alkali trust, the as
phalt trust, the bicycle trust and scores of
others whose names are now even forgot
ten. What was the matter with these as
tonishing creations of the promoters art?
Nine out OF every ten OF them were bogus
and. without stretching the law very much,
could have been denied the use of the mails
on an ordinary fraud order. Only yester-
day one of the mammoth establishments
the National Salt Company, had little
business before a court of equity In New
Jersey The organization of that trust in
1885 was looked upon everywhere as a step
CONTINUED ON PAGE 3, COL. A.