Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-09-25
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threatened. If reports are true, It's wa
tered stocks are fioated IN every mar
ket of the country and are being alb
sorbed by small purchasers who will be
least able to bear the loss when the
crash comes, for ,as certain as the tudg-
ment day for all, is the day to come
when the American people will find
way to squeeze the water out OIL the
stocks of every one of these great COM
binations, and when they do the bonds
and stock of each will be worth the far
market value of the property they rep
resent and nothing more.
Another and equally serious ob1ectlon
is found in the fact that IL unrestratned
and permitted to increase in the future
as they have done in the recent past
they will soon be able to dominate the
labor markets OF the country, and 1lN
at their own sweet will the terms upon
which workmen shall be employed and
the wage that shall be paid them LOT
their services.
1t requires little sagacity to see that
IL the day ever comes when each or the
separate lines In our manufacturing IN
dustries is controlled by trust 1T would
REQUIRE but one greater combination OF
all. either express or implied. to fix LOT
each a scale Of wages that would be
paid by all.
Example Of Coal Fields.
A forcible example of the power they
would easily WELD In this regard is
furnished by conditions. that now eA-
list in the anthracite fields of this coun-
try. There one huge combination mas
possessed itself not only of the SOL
from which our hard coal must come
but of the means of transportation
thru which 1t must reach the outer
world.
for a period of nearly four months
the managers of that monstrous COM
bination have been at loggerheads with
their employees over differences they are
unable to harmonize, and altho thou
sands upon thousands Of their hard
handed working men with their wives
and little ones are suffering for the
necessaries Of life, and the whole coun-
try is on the verge Of fuel panic, not
a muscle of that sOulless combination
is moved and not word of Cancellation
These men have formulated the terms
on which the workmen may return
to their toll. They can accept or starve;
that is their only choice.
What l have said of the few ex-
amples to which I have referred is
largely applicable to nearly three hun
dred similar combinations of greater
or less degree.
Division as 20 Remedies.
AS heretofore stated, while all seen,
to realize the danger to the great mass
of our people which this new departure
in our business methods threatens, we
are hopelessly divided In seeking a
remedy for It.
For generations the American people
have been divided on the question of
the right or the wrong of protective
as distinguished from a revenue tariff.
but it is only in recent years that the
trust evil has entered in discussion
of that question.
The teachings of democrats logically
lead them to believe that our protective
tariff system has made the organization
OF these trusts possible, and, SO long as
it is continued, they also believe 1t will
furnish a defensive breastwork behind
which they can find shelter from every
shaft that could reach vital part.
The course of reasoning by which
this conclusion Is reached Is; easily I'M
derstood. They say, truthfully. that the
conceded object Of protective tariff is
to exclude from our markets goods OF
foreign manufacturers, that II per-
mitted to be imported would be sold
in competition with home manufacture
les, and hence reduce the price of these
to the same level at which foreign
goods of like quality could be brought
That so long as we maintain tariff
wall that shuts foreign goods out of
our markets there is no possible way
to prevent home producers from cons
bining by either express or implied
agreements and fixing the price at
which their own productions shall be
sold.
The futility Of legislation other than
tariff reduction in restraint Of such
action is to them demonstrated by the
fact that the great bulk Of our trusts.
have been openly organized in the face
OF antitrust laws, carefully prepared
and Incorporated into statutes of the
nation and many Of the states.
They insist therefore that inasmuch
as the plain object OF these combina-
tions is to destroy competition among
themselves and thereby become able to
fix cir own prices upon whatever they
prd ice there is but one remedy for
the wills they threaten, and that is to
take down the wall that shelters them
and compel them to compete with the
world at large.
In this view heartily concur, as dc
in the old and revered democratic doc
trine that tariff which is nothing less
than a tax on consumers can rightfully
be laid for pne purpose oniy,and that to
raise needed revenue for the use Of the
government.
But old as that doctrine is, and firmly
rooted in democratic faith as 1t has be-
come, it must always be interpreted in
the light of conditions as they exist
when 1T is to be applied.
Democratic Tariff Doctrine.
In the absence of circumstances re-
quiring different Interpretation, de-
r1Eard for an immediate reduction of our
tariff system to a revenue basis would
naturally be understood to mean de-
mand for a general revision of our tariff
laws, and a reduction of all their sched-
ules ito common level that would pro-