The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-03-02
LATEST FASHION IN HOwLING.
A sociai.stic (hief Justice Rebuked by Q
Democratic Newspaper.

Il
A sociai.stic Chief Justice Rebuked by Q
Democratic Newspaper.
From the Hartford Daily Times.
All the old howlers and q great many
/ new ones are lifting up their voices against
the trusts-against largo combinations
| Of capital and OF labor. 1t Ia simply the
fashion to denounce the trusts and a
| great many people are doing it who don't
seem to know why they are doing IL, or what
they are saying
We cut out Of Providence paper last
week q discourse on the subject Of capital
and labor by the Chief Justice OF Rhode
Island. Judge Stiness, In which We found
such statements as these concerning capt.
talistic combinations and consultations:
This tendency Ia Inconsistent, with the nature.
traditions and safety OF q free people. II has
created a new order Of princes OF capital. with a
tendency 70 create also new class OF serfs Com
blnations that can control the business OF country
can control ~ Government. and this free people
will not endure Gross inequality breeds rest.
lessness and revolution. The days OF many mod.
crate fortunes are succeeded by days OF . few
colossal fortunes. until monafchs OF the Old World
are poor In comparison TO private citizens OF the
new. me cost OF living 10 the many. has in
creased dnproportonately TO the power OF earning.
AAo elnphc, conNuteu ilves Of our tAtnero nave
passed away. We have noted the growth
OF treat combinations with composure 90 long ~
they affected only such things the price OF sugar
oil. steel, beef. &C. When q whole nation found
itself a. the beginning OF winter without . supply
OF COAL and that rich and poor alike were In
the hands Of miners and ownes OF coal mines. the
question came ~ once: Is there no rcmedy."
II We are 70 make the law. We must follow the law:
and 50 men are thinking how the greedy clutch Of
power and gain can be stayed without . social
revolution.
The Rhode Island Chief Justice. talking
rank socialism to the members Of the little
club over In Providence, argued for more
Governmental interference with the af-
fairs Of the people and for less liberty. he
would have compulsory arbitration and
Governmental regulation Of prices. and he
talks about the need Of doing something
to stave of revolution.
Here 10 the Chief Justice OF a New Eng
land State, and Republican in politics,
declaring that the piling up Of few great
fortunes has put q stop to the accumula-
ton Of moderate fortunes-in the face Of
the fact apparent TO everybody that no such
thing has happened More men are be-
coming moderately rich in the United
States now. than ever before-ten times
as many as were doing 30 twenty years ago.
How can Chief Justice fail to see this3
Again. the Chief Justice says that the
growth Of great combinations has affected
the prices Of sugar, oil. steel. beef, dc.
Suppose he were called upon to prove that
statement, what would he do? Can he
produce a scintilla OF evidence that the
Sugar Trust has made sugar cost more than
il did before the trust was formed, or would
cost IL there were no trust,
Certainly not.
Again. as to oil. we often hear IL init
mated that the price Of petroleum products
Is advanced regardless Of the question OF
supply and demand, and frequently the
statement is made by those who know
better. Chief Justice Stiness knows bet
ter He did not stop to think what he
was saying.
In the case OF steel. the price was sd-
vanced to the top notch before the great
combination was formed. The increase
was purely the result Of the operation OF
the law OF supply and demand. Without
this increase In the price the United States
Steel Corporation never could have been
organized.
The charge that the Beef Trust arbi-
trarily put up the price Of beef last year
is equally groundless. a. we have reoently
demonstrated. The beef concerns could
not help themselves. They were con-
fronted with a great surplus Of demand
over supply. and they conducted them
selves exactly as they would II there had
been . thousand Of them instead Of only
about half dozen.
Would 1t not be well for lecturers and
other persons to do little thinking before
uttering any more outcries against COM
Of capital?
trusts" may be exceedingly objection
able. but why charge against them sins
they have not oommitted-why stir up
socialistic discomfort by gross misstate-
ments Of fact?
And. after all. isn't II little ridiculous |
for those who complained 40 loudly about |
low prices only few years ago to be max
ing such fuss because the thing has come
about which they clamored for viz, a
considerable decrease in the purchasing
power of the American dollar3