The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-03-01
CHAMPIONS THE TRUSTS
GEORGE r. EARLY SAYS THEY ARE
NOT AS BLACK AS PAINTED.
Man Who Hitched His Wagon to Dan
Reds Star Regards the Future
ALPHABETICALLY.

Is now in that position graphically termed
ION Easy street." has been In the city for
several days renewing old acquaintance
and incidentally keeping his eyes on some
legislation pending before the General As
sembly. Mr.. Early is at present connected
with the claim department of the Ameri-
can Tin Plate Company, which has large
interests in Indiana, and he has been CIV
ing his attention to the BILL killed I'm the
Senate. that prohibited foreign corpora
lions from holding coal lands In Indiana.
The company with which he is Identified
has acquired coal properties in this State as
a protection against the giving out of
natural gas.
Mr.. Early, as might naturally be expect
ed, does not agree with some of the popular
conceptions. or misconceptions of trusts.
He sees sermons in stones and good in
everything"-even in the thing known as
trust. Last evening at the English he
got started on this theme and he quickly
waxed warm and eloquent In his argument.
There has been a great deal sale upon
the subject Of trusts. so-called, both for
and against Them" he began. 1.-The OPP
position has usually taken violent form
Of expression. not unlike that which CEN
sured the famous crime OF 1873, but which
has since been condoned by the American
people, with the exception OF Mr.. Bryan,
who Is now generally supposed to be in a
hopeless minority, although within to
borrow from an Old friend, Barcus. to suffer
the annoyances and vexations and speech
making necessities incident to presidential
candidacy-but I am drifting away with
Mr.. Bryan.
TWO CAUSES OF HOSTILITY.
1.-The hostile sentiment against trusts,
which is thrilling the cookies of the Demo-
cratic heart, is due principally to two
causes. First, the inherent and uncon-
trollable passion for opposing on general
principles; the second cause Of opposition is
due chiefly to a Misrepresentation as to the
nature and operations of trust.
What Is generally termed a trust is not
a trust. for trust implies a trustee and a
beneficiary. The trust as the word is now
commercially used is corporation organ
lied for the purpose of carrying on a bust
ness, which has heretofore been conducted
Smaller corporations' The trust or new
corporation is formed by each man, or set
of partners, or stockholders of smaller cor
porations, selling their respective properties
10 the new corporation or trust and receiv-
ing in payment therefor certificates of
stock in the trust new corporation, or
cash, as the case may be, but usually
stock. This is a lawful proceeding, for the
reason that every man has constitutional
right to engage in any lawful business, and
so have two or more men perfect right to
form a partnership to conduct a lawful
business, and likewise have a set of men a
right 10 form corporation, under the laws
of the States, to conduct lawful business
The man, the partners and the corpora
ton have not only the right to conduct
lawful business. but they have the right to
dispose of their respective businesses and
in the manner involved in the formation of
trust or new corporation. 1t would be
manifestly absurd to say that man or
firm or corporation should not be permitted
to dispose of business as a whole. II
they not permitted to do So how
could they quit when they wanted to If
they were still solvent? Shall we saw that
man or woman may be divorced from
each other and yet man may not be d.
vorced, so to speak, from his business?
USUAL OBJECTIONS.
THE usual objections to trusts are. first.
that they not compelled to reveal to
the public an account of their operations:
second. that they usually raise prices;
third, that they stif1e competition and d.
minish the opportunities for individual eff
fort.
Certainly a man has a right to possess
alone the secrets OF his business-the
amount of his sales, the expenses, the
bills receivable. the bills payable, net earn
ings, etc. No one has a right to know
these facts excepting the man himself
or one from whom he seeks credit The
same rule OF right applies to a firm or a
corporation. But, you say, if one buys
the stock of a trust he may pay too much
for 1t, because he doesn't know what it is
really worth, because there has been no
public statement of its operation. Carlyle
once enumerated the population of England
remarked lxr
fools Without any intention of personal
reflection, suppose the same ratio will an
are going to legislate for the benefit of
unwise people for their guidance in maxi
ing investments, We shall have an inter-
minable session of legislatures. A man
who has sufficient intelligence to seek shell
ter during a shower, If he is not eouipped
with macintosh a friends umbrella
Will fully inyestigate the value of any, prop
ample facilities for putting a wise guy
next as Bill Devery, of New York would
say.
TRUSTS AND COMPETITION.
do trusts stihe competition? 1t is an
old saying that competition is the life of
trade. Trade has no life without profit.
Competition is more frequently the death
of business. 1t is unhealthy for business
men when production exceeds consumption.
Excessive production means stagnation of
business, lower prices, lower wages, en-
forced idleness, a curtailment Of the pur-
chasing power of the wage Garner and gem
eral commercial depression. Individual
concerns in their greed for business over
produce and industrial activity ensues, with
all of its calamitous effects. A trust regll.
lates the production of its products so that
the sale of the same may be made at a
profit, thereby causing more constant en-
ployment regular wages and the avoidance
of industrial panics. But competition is not
destroyed. for if a man thinks favorable
of business he may buy the stock of the
trust and share in its profits without beins.
obliged TO invest directly in an entire en-
terprise, and thus avoid all the worry and
vexation of a business under personal con-
troll. The workmen may, too, become
shareholders in the trust of business, a
thing they could not do under individual
management.
There seems to be a disposition on the
part of legislators of luxuriant growth of
hair to assume unfriendly attitude to-
ward foreign corporations There is prob
ably no State in the. Union that has not
been benefited by the influx of foreign cap
ital and the legislator should not forget
that the foreign investor assumes as much
risk III investing his capital in foreign
State the State incurs I'm having him 90
so. Capitalists are usually pretty slick
people, but they never slide knowingly on
II