Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1904-03-24
TOO MUCH POWER
WILL THE TRUST LET THE REST
OF US STAY7
Is the Question Asked by Representative Mar.
tin, Of South Dakota. In Congress.
Power 70 Fix Prices Too Great to Confer
on Any Body Of Men.

on Any Body Of Men.
In his speech in the house OF repre-
sentatives Mr.. Martin of South Dakota
said: II am not one who goes into hys-
terra every time the word trust is men,
toned. The trust has come to stay.
The question is: Will the trust let the
rest Of US stay?
Commenting upon this statement, the
Chicago Record Herald says:
"This Is the whole trust question in
a nutshell. No one doubts that the
trust has come to stay, The public is
now pretty we'll informed regarding the
genesis of the trust. 1t ia disposed to
take cane view Of the industrial com.
bination, recognizing it as an evolution
OF conditions which called for cheap.
ening of the processes Of production and
distribution, and for an invasion OF for
eign markets against formidable compel
itors.
"But the question is: will the trusts
let the rest OF US stay?' Will they COM
pletely and entirely disregard the con-
sumer? Will they combine in such a
way as to fix and control. the prices Of
manufactured products? If they do.
tie monopoly thus created is so clearly
menace I'd the people as to leave no
doubt as to the necessity for federal
regulation and control of such COM
bines."
If it be true that the trusts have come
to stay, then why protest against the
inevitable consequences Of trust sys-
TEN? The Record Herald confesses the
serious results of the trust system when
it Gays: "The question now is; will
the trusts let the rest Of stay'?"
II the trust has come to stay, then so
long as human selfishness exists the
men in charge Of the trusts will use
their power for selfish advantage. They
will say just what they will pay for the
things they must buy on the one hand,
and on the other will say just what
must be paid for the things they sell j.;
and the people will be ground between
the upper and the neither milestone.
If the situation has progressed so far
that the question now is: "Will the
trusts let the rest Of us stay? ?" then it is
high time the ''rest of us" were doing
something in the way of self defense.
Relief is not to be obtained by telling
these people they may conspire in re-
straint OF trade.s that they may destroy
the laws OF competition. provided their
conspiracy and their defiance are carried
only to reasonable" extent. The coal
barons and the beef trust magnates have
not, in their opinion, been unreasonable
and yet the people have complained
bitterly of the actions of these men.
The public interests suffer whenever a
few men have the power to fix prices.
Private monopoly is intolerable and
cannot be defended, even though the
defense be made on the plea that the
trusts are a part of evolution and have
come to stay. If they have come tc
stay, then the people are at their mercy
and the question will continue to be
"Will the trusts let the rest Of us stay?'
Whether they will let the rest Of us stay
depends upon how much the traffic viii
bear.
When Nick Biddle told Andrew Jack
son that his bank had made and un
made United States senators, and coult
make and unmake a president, "Old
Hickory" replied: "If your bank cal
make and unmake senators and cal
make and unmake presidents, then i
has too much power, and by the Eternal
III veto your charter"
Admitting that the trusts have grow
to such enormous proportions that tn
question now is: evil the trusts lie
the rest of us stay?" then intelligen
men must understand that the trust
have altogether too much power anf
instead of being tolerated, instead of be
ing recognized in any degree. the
should be destroyed by the strong arIu c
the law.