The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-10-09

think no one expects this to be a COM
plete remedy for every phase of the
trust problem. 1t is expected to be a
protection against fictitious capitaliza-
ton, and to disclose, in many instances
at least, the real character and inside
operations of the concern, and to in
wife competition.
OF course. the opposition party comes
forward with its time-honored panacea
for all financial and industrial ills. II
charges all evils to the protective tariff,
and as a remedy for all evils it de-
mands the removal of all protective
tariffs The trust being an admitted
evil must necessarily, from Demo-
cratic standpoint, be occasioned by
protection. and the remedy must, of
course, be the removal of protection.
And l speak of the tariff tonight
only in its relation 10 trusts 1 do not
refer to it now as an economic meas
| ure The best way to determine the
wisdom of a remedy is to make APP
! plication thereof to specific instances.
| If there Is a monopoly of any kind in
the United States it probably is the
| Standard OF Company, and yet its
| success has been in no manner de-
pendent upon the tariff. Protection,
! then, is not the cause of this monopoly,
| and if not the cause of all monopolies
then its remol al would not cure all
| monopolies.
Nor is the tariff the cause of every
| recent advance in prices. Crude pc
troeum. on the free list, went from 65
cents per barrel in November, 1897, to
| $1.30 per barrel in November, 1901. an
advance of 100 per cent. The whole
] sale price CT standard Rio coffee ad-
vanced from cents in August, 1898,
to over cents in August. 1900. fully
| so per cent; choice Japan tea advanced
! from 1871 cents in August, 1901, to 26
| cents in August, 1902, an advance of
! 45 per cent; raw silk advanced 60 per
! cent. between January, 1898, and jan
uary, 1900: raw cotton at New York
! advanced 50 per cent. from October,
| 1898, to October 1900; sisal hemp, from
Mexico, advanced $50 per cent. from
April, 1897, to April, 1902; pig tin adj
| vanced 140 per cent from March, 1897,
to March, 1900. All of these are on the
free list, and many others might be
added.
Neither are trusts confined to coun-
tries that pursue the protective policy.
| Only thirty days ago; at a trades union
congress in London. resolutions were
| passed deprecating the growth of gi-
gantic capltalistic trusts, with their
enormous power of controlling pro-
duction," in more vigorous language
and suggesting more drastic and rev.
dictionary remedies than l have seen
anywhere on this side of the Atlantic.
We are frequently threatened with
production. and against this we
must always protect by increasing our
| markets as far as possible. But other
countries also have overproduction.
| and from this source our Industries are
| sure to be crushed unless protected.
| Does any one suppose any iron indus
| try in the United States could have
| survived an inundation from Europe
| occasioned by recent business stagna-
| tioR in some localities on the continent
but for the TARIFF The Republican par
/ ty watches primarily that the Ameri-
can laborer shall have employment. 1t
| is probable that during the last year
| or two free trade in iron would have
! cheapened the product to the Ameri-
| can consumer, but million and a half
! people, fed and clothed directly by
| wages paid by the various iron and
steel manufactures. would have been
| again begging bread. Unreasonable
| prices are always Objectionable. but
| prices unreasonably low are more OBJ
| Jectionable and fraught with greater
| hardships, primarily to the wage-earn-
| or, and, secondly, to all those who sup
| ply the wage-earner's necessities, than
| prices unreasonably high.
| Now, suggestion with reference to
natural and evolutionary remedies I
suppose more objection has been made
| and more antitrust sentiment created
| by reason of the United States Steel
| Corporation than any other one con-
| Germ. / confess its organization stag
| gered me. happened to be at the time
| the Governor of great state and
| wondered if 1 could originate some law
that would protect two and one-half
millions of the best men and women in
| the world. But l was unable to formu-
late one satisfactory even to myself
! Therefore I appealed to my Democratic
| friends throughout the state in some
| thing like a hundred campaign
| speeches. l had no difficulty in finding
! plenty of these brethren who couli
| formulate an antitrust resolution. so
| asked them to formulate an anti :
trust law. l promised if they would
submit one to recommend it to the Leg
islature of my state. But none was pre-
scented.
Since then I have investigated some
what, and / have discovered a few
facts which are quite a consolation at
| least to me. One is that the United
States Steel Corporation produced only
| 43.9 per cent. of the iron ore dug in
this country during the year 1901. 1t
produced 42.9 per cent. of the pig iron
900 per cent. OF the steel 1ngOtS and
castings, SOL per cent of the rolled
products. such as steel rails, structural
shapes, plates, etc, and wire, and 65.S
| per cent. of the wire nails. This pro-
portion is less than it was a year ago.
In this connection 1 might add that
this particular corporation on its own
| motion makes public many and per-
haps all the important details of it's
business, including gross and net prof
| ffG TfC f1v-
June 30, 1902, derived from the sale
of iron and steel and the gross earn
ings of its transportation companies
were in round numbers $500 900. 600. and
the net profits of the concern were
something like $780, 100000 1t therefore
| made a net profit of 26 per cent. not
upon its capital, but upon it's business
from the ore bed to the finished prod
uct at the doors of its factories.
The stock of this corporation is held
by more than $4,000 people So this
profit is thus divided and subdivided
And what do these stockholders do
with 1t? They, too, have been fed and
clothed. / speak of these things only
to show that the entire profit has not
been lost. There are compensations
even with high prices. We have at
least kept the money with us. 1t has
not gone hence, and labor has received
| perhaps not its due proportion, but
more than If the money had gone
| abroad.
But believe competition is in sight
| Last