Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1904-08-27
THE DEMOCRATIC AND RE
PUBLICAN POLICIES
On the Trust Issue-The One Effective Be-
cause Right In Principal-Ths Other
Pure Humbug, Costing the Average
American Family $50 Year


What we call trust depends on
monopoly, natural or artificial. with,
out such monopoly, no combination OF
capital can harm the public, OF indeed
do anything but good by eile"tng
economies that benefit all by lowering
prices. If it attempts to make prizes
extortonate, competition at once
comes in as regulator. The natural
monopolies, as benign Providence
has distributed Natures blessings AMI
resources, are very few. Substantially
all our trusts rest on artificial monop-
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 dev' '"p,"rnt
of the Standard Oil Trust. Roughly H.
mstrated they charged the Standard
Oil Co. $l.0O for freight when its com
petitors were charged $500: and not
only that, but tine Standard Oil Co. was
given the extra 81 90 which its competl-
tor paid. OF course no competition
could live under such methods. and of
course they were nothing, in law or
ethics, .ut robbery on the public high
way. which railroad is ~ virtue of its
power of eminent domain.
Generany 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 fulmment of .e
one valid excuse for high tariff. that
| though it might bring eNtortlonate
prices for time. the domestic rompe.
tition its 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 it,
record, its platform and Judge p"rkcr''
statesmanlike speech OF acceptance
first, to lower to a reasonable point tht
| tariff on every article whose production
is in the hands of trust. and sec
ond by adequate legislation to stoI
these railroad determinations. TIT
first could do no possible harm to any
body, and only stop robbery. because
our manufacturers are already beatn:
the world, and our trusts are seilin!
their goods in Europe at third or
quarter less than they do at home. Wha
they are thus collecting in robbery o
line American people. as nearly as it cal
be computed, is 81 00O0OO0 year
or $50 for every average family.
When the Democratic party was II
power, in 1887, under the first CleNe
land administration, there was passed
in the Inter state. Commerce act, wha
was intended and believed to be sui
fcent legislation against rallroa
Determinations. The Supreme Court ha
since by it's decisions taken all tn
virtue and effectiveness out of the law
The Interstate Commission, and e'
pecally its able Vermont member
Charles A. Prouty. has year after yea
pointed out how the law can be amendc
to meet these decisions and accOmplis
its purpose, and year after year ha
pleaded with Congress for the necesSar
legislation. But the Republican part
has refused to do the first thing a
with the tariff, it islands pat" for I'll
trusts.
In the meantime it tries to fool tn
people with the Sherman law-whic
Senator Hoar says in his Autobiograph
Mr.. Sherman introduced by reques
never even read, probably, and nevt
pretended to expect to amount to an,
o thing-and which carried to its logic
end, would mean that any three groce
/ or other tradesmen in town wi
8 should agree on prices wcMld he guilt
h or crime.
1 The whole of the Republican policy c
the trusts is that while steadily bull
Q ing them up by wrongful stretches
. governmental power, it will pretend
break them down by another stretch
q governmental power, that is totally il
y practicable as we'll as wrong. This WI
admitted. practically by Attorne
n General KnOxs announcement, immet
d ately after the decision in the Northe
|, Securities case, that the governme1
I "would not run amuck." In oth
v words, he said substantially. what is Il
;. fact, that honestly carried out. this Ia
10 would break up four-fifths of the ia
% road systems of the country.
.e As a part of this humbug the prese
!, administration got out an injunction
D. wear ago against the beef trust, but tn
# trust has gone on Just the same robb'1
as consumers of millions upon millior
Is The Republican party has organic
o. also a Bureau of Corporations,
re qnther information about trusts.
4 nut George B. Cortelyou at its hea
,t and after he had been there long enou
ID to learn the secrets of the trusts 5,
70 fciently. it transferred him to t
1 IL oe mi