The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-10-03

enough 10 allO" foreign mercnandlSe 70
flow over 1t or high enough to barely al
low it leap over, or to be pumped over,
failed utterly to comprehend the principle
which has Identified the doctrine Of pro-
lection with the present-day miracles Of
our industrial progress.
" Protection, In the perfection of its
design, described by Mr.. Hamilton,
does not invite competition from abroad
says Mr.. Blaine In his famous chapter
on the tariff question in its relations to
the political revolution Of 1861 in Twenty
Years of Congress-" but Is based on the
controlling principle that competition at
home will always prevent monopoly on the
part Of the capitalist, 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 Of the past, is to-day passing
through an ordeal hardly even anticipated
when the tariff law Of 1897 was placed
upon the statute books.
II have. from the beginning, been slow
to believe that it is possible for one man
or any combination of men to oXerrule
the forces which make for equity and fair
dealing in human society. For that rea-
son have been willing to wait for the
facts, and govern my judgment by a more
careful observation than has hitherto been
practicable. The census Of 1900 has CIV
en- an accurate account Of the trusts and
what they are doing and the daily reports
Of the market place indicate what their
present standing and future prospects ac~
tually are. We know that they are 1856
in number, representing the consolidation
Of 2,O4O separate plants We know that
less than 10 per cent, Of the factory labor
Of the country Is employed by them and
only IA per cent Of our manufactured out
put Is made by them. and. leaving out
chemicals and 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 production they
have entered as mere intruders and dis
turbers Of the peace.
"Between 1890 and 1901 most Of them
have been established, and, in the aggre-
gate counting all kinds Of stocks and all
kinds Of bonds, which they have issued,
their gross capitalization has been $780,
900, 900, from which at least $4,000, 000,0 900
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
effected in the last twelve Years together,
81, 500, 900, 900 may be set down as their
true aggregate capitalization, including
their bonds. These corporation have en-
larged our productive capacity in a de-
gree hardly noticeable. They have merely.
world by playing upon the popular fancy
for full advertisements. And in
nearly every one. Of them the motive Of
the organization has been mainly to shield
capital already invested from the opera
ton Of natural forces always present in
the commercial world. If they have failed
in that they have failed in everything,
and the power which some have been
afraid would be used to wrong and bur
den the community, has not even proved
| equal to the task Of taking care of itself.
Before anybody makes. up his mind
that the so-cafled American trust is
| permanent institution; let him consider
which have already had their affairs
wound up by the courts of Justice The
| alcohol trust, the linseed oil trust, the al
kali trust, the asphalt trust, the bicycle
| trust, and scores Of others whose very
| names are now even. forgotten. What
| was the matter with these astonishing
| creations of the promoters art? Nine out
Of 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 yesterday one
of the mammoth establishments, the Ma
tional Salt company, had a little business
before a court Of equity in New jersey
The organization of that trust in 1899 was
| looked upon everywhere as, a step In, the
direction Of monopolizing the necessaries
of life.
THE more I examine the old law of
competition the better it looks to me-. If
the day of settlement has already come to
so many Of these once formidable institu-
tons, how has it Jared with those which
have SO far survived the test? Already
the evidence is accommodating from which
| the doom Of the trusts can be foretold.
| even the most solvent and best managed
| of them all. The figures of the census
| show that neither in the mercantile world
nor the manufacturing world has the
small dealer, who owns his business, and
| gives it his personal attention, anything
| to fear in competition with the overgrown
and top heavy investments of capital that
| surround him.
There is no room In this discussion for
vain EXPLANATIONS of alarm and despair.
Up to this time the tariff policy to which
we owe the prosperous conditions which
now surround us, has been the ally of in
dependent capital, in it's grapple with the
modern trust system; but If the day
should ever come when the productive en-
ergies of the American people are impo-
tent in the presence of monopoly, the pro-
lection which for more than a genera
ton our laws have given to all our indus
tries alike, is not likely to remain to en-
rich such a conspiracy of avariec and
greed
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