Omaha daily bee., 1902-04-06
ON NDU!RIAL EVOLUTION
T. A. Brogan scusses Problems Presented
by Imation Of Trusts,
CONCERT oF'owERs SEEMS NATURAL
Ultimate Tents Depend Upon wis
dom andUnseIhsbness Of the
Manage of the Indus
tri Combinations.

ATOMS OF CaElt pIephIeu W fIahCs n
Brogan Of thomaha bar:
The c~losingars Of the nineteenth cen
tury presenteo the student Of economic
and social editions a problem that is at
onoe new antartling.
That It is startling question will be
readily admid when attention Is drawn
70 the vast cunt Of controversy which II
has ~provokedld the important part 1t has
played In picsl and economic discus
sions. It hrentered the political arena
in 1888, wheI vas made the subject OF a
special messi from the chief executive TO
congress. los figured In political con-
tests ever ST. and has evoked all manner
Of proposed ledies, ranging from the re-
cent suggest OF the president Of the
United Stat requiring publicity OF the
business Of combinations to that made
SOM time ably a college president, that
the evils ohe trust problem could be
eliminated bocially ostracising the trust
magnates.
That the blem is a new one has not
been admit on all Sides. There are
those who tend that the questions I'm
volved in I discussion are the same In
kind but dent in form and magnitude
with the qllons that have at all times
arisen In relations between capital and
labor in tproduction, distribution and
consumption the worlds supply. Thus
It has beerid hat the modern trust is
merely an lrgement Of the corporations
which Pred It; that the corporations
themselves,re merely greater partner
ships and there is no essential differ
ence betwehe larger business carried on
by a partmip and the smaller buslnes
conducted an individual. So, too, II has
been pointout hat the action of the
trusts in ~eavoring to control the pro-
duction amle OF a given commodity is
essentially same as certain evils known
TO the lalkers from time i"mmemorial
and design In the law books as fore
istalling tharket," and known in more
Lecent tiuas "cornering" It. There are
those whelieve that the effort OF the
modern trio dictate the conditions upon
which all business in a certain line
shall be ced on is but a temporary incl
dent in trowth OF corporations and that
by the a%fation Of a few drastic legal
measures Sc evils can be eliminated
from the EN- and the principle OF COM
petition ce restored to manufacture and
commenced the familiar remedy which
Is AWAY be invoked in such cases OF
passing new avs and demanding
their eminent is relied upon as sum
cient toFect all the real or supposed
evils in Growth and development OF the
trusts.
CSier, II New Question.
Upon other Inland, there is a very
pronounind groting school Of economic
thought ID maintedns that the combiua-
lions OF ltal, ~popuILrly known as trusts,
are an iely new d a%,arture In the dis
tributioi the functions Of modern in
dustrial iltions.
A trun the sense In which the term
Is now 'rstood, has been correctly de-
fined asominant combination Of money.
propertIbusiness, or commercial W
or ener The significant word In this
d~enniti' the word dominant. The mere
mRgnitpf a combination OF capital or
the fact 1t may have resulted from a
combtni or numerous corporations en-
gagged le same business would not OF
Itself PEE a trust In the sense in which
the ties now understood. The thing
that dsuishes the modern trust from
any Of coordination of capital is the
purposing back Of its formation of
domini and controlling the particular
line osiness In which 1t is Engaged
This Us the exclusion, II the purpose
Of thet is successfully carried out, of
all otpersons and corporations from
taking in the same business upon any,
thing equal terms with the trust. 1t
is trut there are az the present time
very trusts which have successfully
carrie their purpose. but, as we shall
h~ereasee, that is because trusts are
still tr formative period and have not
obtaipeir ultimate growth.
Theof the word trust has arisen from
the that the nrst combinations OF
capitthe class we are now considering
were ed by an arrangement whereby
all onjority OF the stockholders of the
variompanies desiring to form a trust
trans their stock In trust to a trustee.
or coee OF trustees, thereby putting It
into ower OF such committee 10 control
the OF all the companies. These
trustsued trust certificates which en-
title holders to a pro rata share OF
ali phts arising from the operation OF
ell ompanies. This method was de-
claregal by the Sherman law and IL
wasi practicable TO enforce that law,
go pis form OF combination has been
gen, abandoned. but the use Of the
wort has remained.
velOpment of Industries.
Tpuiry to which / wish 10 direct
yo1ntion Is, whether the formation
of has resulted from a mere selfish
des the part OF a few mlllionaires to
cofor a time the gathering OF the
PREF a successful business, allowing
Informs OF production and dlstrlbu-
tiGesume their sway in due time, or
WI the growth OF the trusts is the
naoutcome In the development OF in
d. conditions.
ose OF us who accept the doctrine
II existing conditions Of the present
tive resulted from the slow, gradual
en- from the primitive and simple
I, the highly developed and complex
oms OF the present day, and who be-
that all the forms OF animate life
hrisen by the process OF evolution
fhe simple cell in primordial erea-
md who hold that the same rule OF
on applies to all growth, whether
acts, Of vegetables, Of animals OF OF
al. Industrial or social organisms.
ldy OF the growth Of trusts presents
ensely interesting question.
will doubtless remember that the
ionists profess TO hnd an exact
81 between the functions OF an ami
being and those Of a social organism.
here Is the same passing from simple
nplex conditions and the other pro-