The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-04-09
ANTITRUST
TA'.1|U'TES
DR.. Clark OH How to Manage
and Govern the Great SSiJs
Monopolics. S
LAST or THOMAS LECTURES.

Socialism Would be Rulnotis,
and That's What Government
Ownership Would Mean.
! The Indictment weather probably kept
sonlo people away from Richmond Collcge
! last right. but large and very attcn-
| tive audience heard the last OF the course
Of lectures BY Or. John 49, Clark, OF Co
lumbin College, on the general theme,
| '"rhe Problem OF Monopoly" The sub
| ject OF the concluding lecture was Anti
trust Laws, DR.. Clark said in part;
Squarely III the foreground, rs wol
approach tho problem OF controlling
trusts, We flrd tho problem OF controlling
railroads. Discriminating charges for
1 transport ton are such a bulwark of the
monopolies' power that there. Is no do
stroying that power while they nre toll
| 5erated. IT law in America were some
thing more than the suppression Of q
| pious wish or record, what good lners
wart, cnactng law that should forbid such
discriminating charges aid provide pe1l-
3nltics in case 8or tlsobcdicnce. would nc.
complsh the problem If law were self
executed that would be enough. Il.
would not be necessary to apply the pen
nlties, for the railroad corporations here,
as in other countries. would say TO the
official, IN the language popularity attri-
buted to,tle coon and the familiar story,
Of David #5 Crockett, Don't shoot; Ill
| come down. sl5 III
''rtEE gPE,OPIyEI BE BLOW ED. =
unhapnlly that Is the last phrase that
describes the railway situation i lis q
case Of Invoking tile government to re-g
strain corporations. while The govern
ment is stillElaregly5 in the power OF corr
porations. 1t Is impossible for these
bodies absolutely to control the statute
books. The famous expression. the peo-I
! pie be 49,, dlsregarded tells what the
corpora tons can do whcr 1t comes to
| executing laws. and sometimes when IT.
! comes toamaling them. But q complete
and open disregard Of tho people Is not
safe. even for the power that IS behind
tho machine, which itself is behind the
legislature. We are dealing here With
/ the power that is lbeni,d the throne, in-3
/ deed. Ultimately that power Is the peo-,
i pie but immed lately behind the throne
i is another powel>-corporate3$ sweal tn
/ which #thrusts itself between the public
i and what the public wants. and ut will
take energy and more union than the
I public has ever attained to deal with It.
My thesis Is that personal discrimina-
4 tons Oh the railroads must be stopped,f
I and that the common carriers must treat
ri
recognized principle of railroad legisla-
ton Ioreghts may be cassi fled. and
! some kinds of goods may be carried
more cheaply than others. Hauls' may
be classified and the long hauls may be
1 made cheaper by the mile thar is tho
/ short one. But for freight Of a given
kind, hauled for n given distance. the
| charge for one man should be the same
l as that for another. and there should be
4 no possible favorltsm for tho big corpo-
rations.
WHAT GOVERNMENT CAN DO.
Can we secure this against thu deadly
opposition of the corporation itself? It
would be, a sad confession to admit that
| we absolutely cannot. Government by
| tho people should he able to do harder
| things than to make railroads behave
| Themselves and IL only we had gov
eminent by the people In an unqualified
sense. We could certainly get what we
| want But admitting our weakness and
| confessing that the corporations have
! laid q heavy hand on the governing pow
| err we may do well to ask whether there
| is not some way bs- which the opposition
! of the railroads themselves can be mod
| flied; and. as a matter of fact there
! Is such way. 1t. Is to undo something
! we have done ourselves.
The temptation to make discriminating
| charges for transportation Is terribly
great, SO lOnB Us TalIIOduS 3ils5 IlOGttti-
| lowed to control their earnings. 1t Is
Of enormous advantage to one through
! line To get the business OF his great ship
FER as is a typical trust. What would
| IT, not mean to any American railroad 10
control a large part Of the shipments OF
| the steel trust? Freight that can be de-
| pended on day by day throughout the
| year that comes not in carload lots, but
by traln-load after load. Is worth
10 1,o r,rT or
can offer TO make all big in order to
go: yet this policy may be fatal to the
| fortunes of the smaller shipper.
WIN RAILROADS OVER.
1t comes to this by trying to prevent
! the railroads from being monopoly
/ that have put them under terrible
| temptation to mako monopoies. Because
| wo force them to somo extent to COM
| pete With each other, we put them where
! they are doing ,nucl, to exungusn com
! petition among producers. and their
struggle to get freight away from each
other, Is through line freight terms, Of
i for terms to tho trusts which rivalry TO
the trusts cannot get. md these rivarics
| must at all hazards be kept commercial
~ alive. They are protectors Of the pubs
lie, they are the friends Of the wage
i enrners, they are the friends of the ag-
riculturallst, aud In a general way, they
i are tho prcservers OF economic freedom.
1 Can we keep them alive? Possibly we
can, in spite of tho fact that the rail-
road does It's best TO kill them, We
surely can IL We can make It to the In
terest of the railroad to assist IFS. IL we
: can get tho railroad on our side instead
OF on the other side, the thing Is done,
The logic of this is that we should per-
( nit railroads to combine When their
earnings are pooled, they have no in
,icontive TO get freight away from each
other. 1t is as well then for one rail-
road 10 carry the steel or the coal or
the oil or the flour as for another 10
do IT. Every railroad in the combine is
benefited. Whoever. does the carrying, and
fl Is distinctly best for all that the great
rWets, which now mean such dcndly mis-
chief, should he forever suppressed. Al
low railroads to combine freely, either in