Omaha daily bee., 1902-04-06

this there is overproduction and the stor.
Ing up Of the unstable products, resulting
In financial crash and a long period Of in.
dustrisl depression. during which the very
depression itself diminishes the demand fol
the article, until the natural %buoyancy oil
the industrial system. like a convalescent
recovering slowly from a wasting sickness
has revived business conditions; then there
Is again the same feverish activity provoked
and developed by the competitive system
resulting again in another period Of over
production and consequent financial panic
Check on Over-Production.
1t is claimed, but by no means generally
conceded. that when, II ever, the trust sys-
TEN has been completely developed. when
the process Of putting forth the articles Of
any one line Of industry shall have been
completely unified and under a centralized
control, the overproduction can be checked
before It has resulted in any evil, and
there can be, during a slack demand for
articles, a uniform production to meet the
demand which will thereafter arise. In
stead Of the seven fat years and the seven
lean years Of Pharsoh's dream, the trust,
like a modern Joseph, will store up the
products OF the fat years and equalize the
conditions throughout the entire period.
But 1t must be said as to this that it Is a
mere prophecy and remains to be verified.
1t must be understood that l am discuss
ing trusts in the abstract and that l have
not undertaken to vouch for the outcome
OF the existing trusts. 1t may be that the
intense rspidity and feverish activity with
which they have been organized, and the
doubtful, not to say dishonest, methods
which have entered into the financing of
them, stamp them as an unhealthy
excrescence, rather thaR a natural
growth. 1t lie of the essence of
the theory Of evolution that the
process Is slow, enduring through the ages,
and proceeding by natural selection, so that
the organisms which are found unht to
their surroundings are killed of and their
places taken by others better fitted for the
conditions under which they live. l am not
prepared to either assert or to admit that
so important a step in the Industrial eVolu-
tion as the change from the competitive
system, which has endured for centuries,
into the cooperative system, has been COM
pleted within one short generation we
know that competition does still exist IN a
large measure in many. II not all, OF the
avenues Of industry, and 1t is probable that
there will be a reaction which will restore
the competitive system, perhaps for genera
lions. IL the present trusts dAS bohAN
upon dishonest and unhealthy principles,
IL they are designed to rob the investor,
practice extortion upon the people and OPP
press the laborer, they will fall, crushed
by the weight Of their own iniquity; and
IL we are correct in claiming that the
process of industrial evolution points to the
Ultimate triumph Of the cooperative sys-
tenn. their places will be taken by other
combinations based upon sounder and
healthier principles.
where Benefits Go.
But the more serious objection to the ex-
istence Of the trusts remains to be consld-
| cred. Assuming that they can succeed In
eliminating the wastes Of competition ana
distribution, the general public Is inter-
ested in knowing who is to benent by the
saving. II the result is merely to swell the
already enormous profits Of their origina-
tors and the capitalists who control the
operation of the trusts, and II the general
public is to get no portion Of the saving,
but is to be mulcted in higher prices by
reason of the ability of the trust to nix its
own prices. It would be difficult for the peo-
nile TO see any benefit in the elimination OF
competition and the saving OF the wastes
OF production and distribution.
In its larger aspect this question, ike the
one lust considered, must be regarded as
still In process OF solution. Some light q
to be had upon II from conditions as they
now exist and as they have existed for the
past generation. Upon the one hand we
know that the formation Of trusts in recent
years has been followed by an increase In
the price of an article. In defense OF this
II has been given out that before the for
nation Of the trust and by reason of the
effect Of competition prices were less than
the actual cost Of manufacture; that II the
existing conditions had continued they
would have been followed either by the
failure Of many Of the factories or an enor-
nous overproduction, in the hope of making
I'D by large sales for the smallness Of the
margin of profit, which in time would have
resulted In a financial panic.
Upon the other hand, we know that where
the trust idea has been exemplihed for any
considerable period the tendency has been,
not only to decrease the cost OF production
and enormously increase the profits of the
trust, but also to produce a better quality
Of product and to rapidly decrease its
price. This is exemplihed In the history Of
the Standard Oil trust, which, within less
than a generation. has reduced the cost Of
oil to the consumer SO that 1t is now not
" Ihah OhS oA4NA ~ "A1N ~
was. How much Of this would have taken
place under the competitive system by the
Improvement in process we cannot know,
but it is true that control by a trust has a
tendency to develop the rapid improvement
Of process, since the trust can afford to do
what the individual cannot-that is, dis
card the WORKOUT process and stand the
loss Of machinery. buildings, etc, and re-
place It with a modern and better method.
Government Cannot Crush.
Those who have called upon the govern
ment to use Its supposed powers to termi-
nate the trusts. and who have endesvored to
create a public opinion for their annihila-
tion. should bear In mind that II trusts are
a natural outcome Of the growth of the in
dustriAl system they cannot be crushed by
all the powers OF government. and they will
not be. They may, indeed, be regulated and
made to serve the public need rather than
to tend to the public injury. Being citizens
Of the commonwealth. they can and may be
required to respect It's laws and to con-
form, in common with their fellow-citizens,
to the golden rule OF the law books, that
they must so use their own property as not
to injure the property Of Others" but de-
stroyed they cannot be. and II the competi-
tive system Ia passina out of aviatanca hy