Evening star., 1902-08-04
Treatment of the Trusts.

Ol Tic Liuobb
The book deals at great length with the
questions of trusts. the Philippines. labor
and wages. protective tariff. Cuba and the
isthmian canal. The chapter on trusts
opens as follows
THE attitude Of the two great parties on
the trust question is clearly defined. That
of the democratic party looks to constant
agitation. with restrictive legislation;
that of the republican party to restriction
as will prevent arbitrary advance In prices.
or reduction In wages through exclusive
control. but not the destruction by legisla-
tion or injury by fictitious agitation of
legitimate enterprise through great manu-
featuring systems by which production is
cheapened, prices OF manufacturers re-
duced and permanency Of employment as
Sured.
'As far back as the Fiftieth Congress the
democrats began their agitation for effect
by the passage Of a resolution authorizing
the House committee on manufactures to
enter upon an investigation ~ the trusts Of
the United States. Such distinguished dem
OCratic leaders Representative Wilson Of
West Virginia, Representative Breckenridge
of Arkansas. Representative Bynum OF In
diana and Representative Bacon Of New
York were members Of the committee. and
they were given power to administer oaths,
examine witnesses, compel the attendance
of persons and the production OF papers,
and make their investigation a thorough
one. More than 100 witnesses, including III.
A Havemeyer and Claus Spreckles of su-
gar fame. Mr.. Rockefeller, Mr.. Flagler and
others of the Standard OH Company, and
representatives of the cotton bagging trust
and whisky trust were examined. A thou
sand pages of testimony were taken and
the committee delayed its report until one
day before the expiration OF the Congress.
when it presented Its testimony, but made
no recommendation as to legislation, owing
to the present difference of opinion between
the members of the committee
I'm the Fifty-second Congress the House
judiciary committee made another investi-
cation. and after an examination of many
witnesses, submitted a report in which 1t
declared that none of the methods EN-
ployed by the trust in controlling the pro-
duction or disposition of their products are
in violation Of the United States law. and
that 1T is clearly settled that the produc-
tion or manufacture Of that which may be-
come a subject Of interstate commerce and
ultimately pass into protected trade Is not
commerce. nor can manufacturers of any
sort be instruments of commerce within
the meaning OF the Constitution In 1894
they again grappied with the trust problem.
adding to the Wilson-GOrman tariff law a
series of provisions purporting to authorize
the regulation Of trusts. but which neither
the democratic President nor the demo-
cratic officials who were in power when the
act came into existence made, so far a Is
known, any attempt to put into operation.
The Republican Record.
THE record of the republican party on
lowing profession. The republican party
from its organization has sought to protect
both labor and capital as the two great
forces of our civilization. Under the ad-
ministration Of this party these two forces
have received protection and in or
ganization they have been on parallel lines.
The greater the development of each the
nearer they have come to working in har-
mony upon scientific wage scales and agree
ments as to business mana nagement.
THE trust or corporation is not of fed
eral origin due to any legislation by Con-
greSs or executive act in the administration
of federal laws. They are all of state orr
gen, Incorporated under state laws and be-
yond national control when confined to
those states. The only power the federal -
government has to reach these trusts or
corporations is where they cross state lines
and touch interstate or foreign commerce.
The republican party has tried to enact
laws that would prevent the trusts from
interfering with interstate commerce."
The chapter then recites the action OF the
republicans in Congress in the Fifty-siXth
Congress and dwells upon democratic op-
position to certain phases of proposed anti
trust legislation.
The book contains many tables of statis-
tics and historical reference of value in
connection with the Philippines, Cuba Por-
to Rico and the isthmian canal