St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1904-08-24
THE DEMOCRATIC AND RE
PUBLICAN POLICIES


On the Trust Issue-The One Effective Be-
cause Right in Principal-The Other
Pure Humbug, Costing the Average
American Family $50 Year
What we call a trust depends on a
monopoly, natural or artificial With
out such monopoly, no combination of
capital can harm the public, or indeed
do anything but good by effecting
economies that benefit all by lowering
prices. If it attempts to make prices
extortionate, competition at once
comes in as a regulator. The natural
monopolies, as a benign Providence
has distributed Natures blessings and
resources, are very few. Substantially
oily which has been created for them by
governmental power, first in the tariff
and second in discrimination by rail-
roads, which operate by delegated
governmental powers in the right of
eminent domain, or of taking any
citizens land for their own use, just
as the government can. How wickedly
the railroad Determinations have oper-
ated is illustrated by the development
of the Standard Oil Trust. Roughly il
lustrated, they charged the Standard
Oil Co. $l.OO for freight when its COM
petitors were charged $500; and not
only that, but the Standard Oil Co. was
given the extra $1.0O which it's competi-
tor paid. Of course no competition
could live under such methods, and OF
course they were nothing, in law or
ethics, out robbery on the public high
way, which railroad is ny virtue of its
power of eminent domain.
Genera,4y the trusts, which are organ
lied behind the tariff wall to the porten-
tious extent we showed last week, have
this extra guard in the way of high
waymen's methods. By means of it they
have prevented the fulhlment of re
one valid excuse for high tariff, that
though it might bring extortionate
prices for a time, the domestic compe-
tition it's big profits would invite would
come in to reduce them lower than
ever.
All that is necessary to put an end
to the whole trust evil is-as the
Democratic party is pledged by its
statesmanlike speech of acceptance
first, to lower to reasonable point the
tariff on every article whose production
is in the hands of a trust, and Sec
ond, by adequate legislation to stop
these railroad Determinations. The
first could do no possible harm to any.
body, and only stop robbery, because
our manufacturers are already beating
the world, and our trusts are selling
their goods in Europe at third or a
quarter less than they do at home. What
they are thus collecting in robbery of
the American people, as nearly as it can
be computed, is $l,250,0O0,0OO a year
or $50 for every average family.
When the Democratic party was in
power, in 1887, under the first Cleve-
land administration, there was passed
in the Inter state Commerce act, what
was intended and believed to be suf-
fcient legislation against railroad
Determinations. The Supreme Court has
since by it's decisions taken all the
virtue and effectiveness out of the law
The Interstate Commission, and es-
pecially it's able Vermont member,
Charles A. Prouty, has year after year
pointed out how the law can be amended
to meet these decisions and accomplish
its purpose, and year after year has
pleaded with Congress for the necessary
legislation. But the Republican party
has refused to do the first thing. AS
with the tariff, it Stands pat" for the
trusts.
In the meantime it tries to fool the
ldW-WuICu
Senator Hoar says in his Autobiography
Mr.. Sherman introduced by request,
never even read, probably, and never
pretended to expect to amount to any
thing-and which carried to its logical
end, would mean that any three grocers
or other tradesmen in a town who
should agree on prices would be guilty
or a crime.
The whole of the Republican policy on
the trusts is that while steadily build
ing them up by wrongful stretches OF
governmental power, it will pretend to
break them down by another stretch OF
governmental power, that is totally i'm
practicable as well as wrong. This was
admitted, practically, by Attorney
General KnoX's announcement, immedi
ately after the decision in the Northern
Securities case, that the government
-''would not run amuck" In other
words, he said substantially, what is the
fact, that honestly carried out, this law
would break up four-ffths of the rail-
road systems of the country.
As a part of this humbug the present
administration got out an injunction
year ago against the beef trust, but that
trust has gone on Just the same robbin9
consumers of millions upon millions.
The Republican party has organized
also a Bureau OF Corporations, to
gather information about trusts. II
put George B. Cortelyou at its head
and after he had been there long enough
20 learn the secrets of the trusts suf
fciently, it transferred him to the
craftsmanship of its national committee
to utilize this information in frying fat
out of them.
With the lines so plainly drawn be-
tween the programs of the two parties
there can be no question which an intel
ligent citizenship will adopt.