The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-04-17
MERRIAM ADDRESSES
CREDIT MEN
Continued From First Page.

that they arise from perfectly natural
causes and are the logical outcome of
machine production, improved trans
portation facilities, plentiful capital
and of increased competition, which
has forced the managers of industrial
enterprises to reduce the cost of pro-
duction to a minimum-and further
that the expense of transportation and
sale of products is much less under
the industrial combination than under
the former system-a great saving be-
ing effected in the cost of production
and general plan of operation.
Those who oppose the formation of
Industrial combinations are strenuous
in their efforts to secure such legiSla-
ton as will materially restrict the OPP
Grafton and management Of these vast
corporate enterprises. They maintain
that the captains of industry WHO,
with their mighty power of concern
trat1ng wealth, are constantly extend
ing the field of their operations, are a
menace to society, not only in an in
dustrial way, but also from a social
standpoint. They declare that these
enterprises are veritable monopolies,
with the power of compelling the peo-
pie to pay higher prices for the neces-
sites of life than would obtain under
the competitive system; that they
stretch out their mailed hands to reach
the very sources of government itself,
controlling legislatures, congress, the
courts and great civic bodies; in short,
that they are an incubus on the whole
social structure, endangering the very
existence of the republic"
Concentration a Ballast.
Il cannot help coming to the conclu-
sion that the concentration in few
hands of so large a number of the in
dustrial concerns throughout the coun-
try must have an effect like ballast on
a ship, to steady the situation that the
evolution which has gone on so con-
stantly during the last half dozen years,
by which all sorts of productive insti-
tutions have been welded together, has
resulted in placing the management of
these large concerns in the hands of
men of the highest experience and of
great financial strength
This is emphasized by the further
fact that certain industries, like the
iron and steel, controlled as they are
by a comparatively few men, owning
the raw material and the transportation
facilities, and finally producing the
manufactured article must be in a bet
ter situation to restrict the output and
adjust supply to demand, with less loss,
than could possibly be expected We're
their constituent companies resolved
into original ownership, with conse-
quent competition and cost of admins
tration. In, other words, is it not a fact
that the iron and steel industry, that
the sugar industry, that the combina-
lions producing various articles of ne
cessity will be enabled, by their finan-
cial strength as we'll as by their able
management, to adjust the affairs Of
their corporations to changing condi-
tions, and thus put off, or at least
not ITrT O. i
which has been so common in our coun-
try as far back as 1897?
IF I am right in this hypothesis,
there is much that is advantageous to
the business interests of the country
in this one regard; that the aggrega-
tons Of capital engaged in manufact-
uring productivity will result in ad-
justfng supply and demand and in
avoiding the great cry which comes up
makes slaves Of his workmen, when
ever the day of industrial panic comes.
is 1t Touch of Socialism.
Does this mean that there is to be a
reaignment of ideas on the subject of
private ownership? Has there come
another evolution which practically OBJ
literates the tradition of centuries, that
a man may do what he chooses with
IL,
and must we be prepared for greater
changes? The conclusion is irresistible
that in the central government rests
the power to determine that the indi-
Vfdual or the corporation transacting
any business that Is interstate in it's
character cannot hold, maintain or
operate any property that results in
injury to the public. Surely such a
contention in effect materially tends to
centralize power in the national gov
eminent.
Solid Prosperity.
''The farming community is in a hap
by condition of mind; the harvests
have been boustiful; prices have been
remunerative, without regard of To-
cality, and for the future we are ad-
vised of the prospective record-break-
ing winter wheat crop in store for the
farmers of the Middle West and South.
and sounds of joy are heard on all
sides. Farm lands have risen in price
with rapfdity, too rapidly likely. indi-
eating that the returns to the land
owner have resulted so profitably as
to raise the investment value of all
Well situated agricultural property. The
transportation companies cannot haul,
with their present equipment, the
freight offered. Nothing need be added
to this statement, as 1T tells the whole
story. More equipment means, of
course, the employment of an army Of
workmen, to produce cars, engines,