The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1905-04-08
DAILY PAPERS: BEING
b[ED by PAPER TRUST
Chicago Tribune Protests in
Vain Against White Paper
Trust Extortion.
In It's Anger It Arrays the
Lofty Financier and Po-
litical Socialist.

Cleveland, Ohio, April 6-Max Hayes.
the clever writer on economics, who
always has a good way for putting
things, makes a timely reply to the
Chicago Tribune, when it rises to in
Quire.
Has monopoly come to stay?''
The Tribune along with the rest Of
the newspapers, is being bled good
and deep by the white paper trust
these days. They very naturally do
not like their medicine, and are rails
Ing considerable of a howl against the
trusts, more particularly the white
paper trust. The Tribune says:
There is one point where the lofty
financier and the lcwly Socialist come
together in loving harmony. They
both believe that monopoly Is an in
evitable outcome of machinery, end
factories, and railroads, and the other
features of modern Industrial life. The
Socialist, of course, looks to the state
to absorb all monopolies into itself.
The trust financier, so far as he talks
at all on the subject, looks for an in
definite continuance of the present sit
uation, with all the important COM
modtties of the market in the control,
to considerable extent, of combina,-
'tions which make competition unnec-
essary. This divergence in opinion
with regard to the outcome of the con-
dition that now exists does not impair
however. the agreement of opinion with
regard to the inevitability of monopoly.
Both the trust fnancier and the Social
list say that monopoly has come to say.
"The average American citiben in
not convinced. In the first place he
would hate to be convinced, and in
the second place no facts are yet in
hand which constitute an adequate
proof.
The reasop why the American cit-
1zen does not wish to regard monopoly
as inevitable is that the idea Of mo-
nopoly is in itself distasteful to him.
When he buys paper he does not like
to be obliged to go to one fixed place
for it. 1t makes him feel like slave"
The pape rtrust, like other combina-
tfons, has operated quite successfully
for some time. irrespective as to the
tastes or distastes of the average
American citizen" who s. pretty nuck,
Eo jI11Il =
hates to BE c6nvinced of q cond 6 Ion III
IL quite likely that he viii continue t0
be easy picking until such time as he
gets over his mulish prejudice and
looks a cold fact in the face.
The monopoly problem has now been
before the average American citizen,
so-called, for some years, and no peo-
pie, excepting perhaps the Russians,
have been more ruthlessly plundered
by an unbrided plutocracy, and vet
your "molders of public opinion" the
daily newspapers, have the sublime
cheek to innocently ask: HAS monop-
oily come to stay!"
If it will please these snug Intel.
lectuals," employed on capitalistio
newspapers for the purpose of casting
an air of doubt upon every progressive
movement that tends to interfere with
class privilege, by engaging in aca-
Gemic discussion and asking silly ques-
tions, we might as we'll volunteer the
stay; that as it has been impossible to
bust trusts in the past ten years, they
will voluntarily go into liquidation and
pass out of existence, and that the
trust magnate sare just pining to re-
turn to an era of competition, low
prices and small profits.
The thing for people who swear by
the daily newspapers educators to do
is to sit down quietly, fol dtheir hands
and everything will be lovely and tho
goose will hang high. =,