The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-02-12
CURLING THE TRUSTS
sayoyard in the Washington Post

| Sayoyard i'm the Washington Post
| The late Nelson Dnglcy. Jr.. was ar
exceptionally able and Singular.
pure man. Democrats conceded tina
be was laborious thinker aud Re
publicanS regarded him as ripe
Statesman. Both believed in his sim
cerity and his patriotism. Judged by
the results of his Work--nOt an al
| Ways infalliblc criterion, however
we are bound to assign him place
| among the foremost practical political
economists Of our history. Free trad
ers may assail the principle on which
he operated, and hurl against it all
| the logic of Walker and Carlisle, and
| storm it with all the eloquence of Me-
| Dutfic and Hurd, but for this people,
| for these times. the all-Sutficicnt, the
! all-conclusiVc answer is--the country
| is prosperous under the Dingley tariff.
No man gave more diligent and con-
| ScientiOuS thought to a study of those
monopolies we call trusts than Mr..
| Dinglcy, ana no man understood them
more thoroughly, He saw that it was
| in their power to render incalculable
| benefit to the country, and at the same
| time he recognized that they might
| become a scourge to the masses and
| a menace to the republic itself just
| as il is given to every responsible in
!
| reprobate. so it is given to q trust to
| be a blessing or curse. In editorials
| in his newspaper in Maine. and in
| public utteranceS i'm Congress and out
| of Congress, Mr.. Dingley, with all the
| earneStness of d pure man, and all the
| zeal of a sincere patriot, beSought the
| trusts to deal fairly with those from
whom they bought and with those to
| whom they sold. He was not an ora
| tor. He had none of the graces Of
rhetoric, none of the tones of the clo-
cutionist; but when he discussed this
question he did il with yearning, an
importantly. and u pathos that was
the trucst eloquencc.
But the trusts would not heed.
Hotfoot after the dollar. how could
they heed the admonition and the
supplicatior of this excellent man?
And so they became bad" trusts
bent on gain and callous to all the
warnings Of prudence and deaf to all
| the promptings of humanity. They
exacted tribute when they bought III
| a market that afforded them no COM
petitiyc buyer and they eXtorted tri-
butte in Il market that afforded them
no competitive seller Thus prices
were low when they bought and high
when they sold. and they were as irre-
sponSiblc as the Roman proconSulS
who fetched and carried for such ty
rants as Callgula aud Nero. The calf
i'm the pasture of the farmer was
marked and sold at the price fixed
by the beef trust and the breakfast OF
tho artisan cost the price fixed by
that same combination. Had IT done
these things like an honest man and
conscientious Christian, invoking thu
law of supply and demand. observing
always. as buyer and as seller. the
golden rule. the beef trust would have
been Il blessing. It preferred to be Il
robber and criminal.
Now the American people have
made up their minds about the trusts.
They are terribly in earnest and DO
not intend TO be argued with They
intend TO smash every last child Of
monopoly among them. and if the
Constitution of the United States gets
i'm the way. so much the worse for
the Constitution of the United States
that is to say. if nothing but public
ownership is the remedy, public OWL
ership will come. 1t is greatly TO be
hoped that all other remedies will be
exhausted before this one is invoked
Ii is the glory of the Anglo-SaXo that
he will not long tolerate injustice and
oppression. More than three centuries
ego Queen Elizabeth granted to GER
tain merchants Of London privileges
that empowered them to deal cXclu-
sively in certain imported mcrchan-
disc. Instantly the Commons were
aroused 10 Indignation and to protest.
TIL" plain people did not care how
many Scottish queens or English earis
she beheadcd or how many of the no.
biity she imprisoned or banished.
but they did not intend TO be robbed
by mouopolicS created by letters pa
tent, and they let her majesty know
it, She saw something in their looks
and tones that commanded her re-
spcct and that she feared. grand
daughter of the final victor OF the
War Of the Roses though she was.
She was insolent and she was profane,
but She Cancelled the patents
The beef trust EFFORTS more from
the American people every month
than those monopolies granted BY
Elizabeth would have been able II
gather from her subjects in five wears.
gather from her subjects in five years,
In 1910 the English Commons rebel.
Cd against their King fought hin
seven years, finally beat him. captureu
him. and struck the crown from tht
head and the heal from the should.
cr5'' Of this most EirtuouS man who
ever sat on the English throne be
cause he levied ship money all over
the realm when he haG q right to levy
which were washed by the sea. All
the ship money Charles proposed 70
collect would not pay q single quar-,
terly dividend Of the Standard Oil
Trust The stamp tax against which
our fathers rebelled was only a pit
tancc. but it dismcmbered the British
Empire after the most disastrous wal
in the entire history of the English
people. The beef trust collects Off
the American people every day of the
week more in cXtorttonatc profits than
the stamp tax would have yielded 10
the British treasury III Il year.
There is only one thing certain
about it and that is that the people
are now ready TO deal with the trusts.
aud they intend 10 postpone eycry-
thing else until they are robbed Of
their power for evil or made to DO
good. President Roosevelt is in ac-
cord with public opinion on this sub
and tho SllDrpmp Court of the