The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-01

A Lonely Friend Of Corporations shame
leasly Defends Them.

Beasly Defends Them.
To rHR EDIroR or TUE BUN-4Sir: There
II just now q good deal Of reproachful COM
ment on the absence OF old fashioned hon
esty, whatever that IL. among men OF au-
thOrity In commercial AFFAIRS. But why
specify2 Il there any honesty Of any sort
Rnywheref Take. for instance. the railroad
rate law. which 10 In such universal favor.
II doesn't appear to be honest. either accord
Ing 20 the wee small voice or Webster's Cn-
abridged. Nobody will contend that II In
honest to conlscate another's property,
either In whole or In part: but people excuse
and tustlfy railroad confscatiOn upon the
grounds Of such and such" and so and so. "
II In not TO be doubted that the gentlemen
who formerly sailed the long. low. rakish
craft upon the spanish Main Justified their
calling In much the same way. For con-
science In a. universal a. the vermlform
appendix, but q mighty sight more elastic
and more easily Quleted. The gentlemen OF
the spanish Main possessed the damnin
evidence that the ships they robbed were
common carriers. = which Ia SUFFICIENT provo
cation for robblng anything. They could.
moreover, point to much classical epiRram In
support Of their method Of making q living.
such a Necessity knows no Law" ITO the
vlctors belong the spoLls': The greatest good
OF the greatest number, &C.. to say nothing
OF the less poetic but equally fetching logic.
You have got It and we have got use for II. I"
The latter is as good an argument as l have
yet heard in support OF taking the control
OF the railroads away from their owners and
turning II over to the politicians. To be
sure. there Ia the contention that control"
OF the railroads In necessary 10 head on Gov
eminent ow nership. But what In there In this
contention? The Government ownership idea,
altf ough idlotic. 10 infinitely more honest
than the former. because every Government
ownership scheme yet devised oontem-
plates giving something to the owners In
exchange for their properties and having
whatever injustice 1t may involve over with
at one swoop.
or course, not quite everybody favors the
rate law. A few scattered millionaires and
thinkers are against it. There is also q small
percentage Of misguided hands" who have
somehow been buncoed Into believing that II
the railroads dont max money they cannot
keep on raising wages. Then there Ia an
other class. perhaps smaller and Of less conse-
auence than either Of the others. the members
Of which, owning no railroads and holding
no railroad jobs. are nevertheless enTer-
tanning q sort Of sneaking hope that some
time or other they may be enabled to faste en-
onto q small segment OF a railroad or some
other abominable pront making device. and
who wish to perpetuate an order OF society
that will insure to them or their children or
their chiidren's children should that sort OF
lightning ever strike any OF them-certain.
peaceab bic enjoyment Of such possession.
am not soing to lay myself open TO the
charge OF bias by suggesting that any one
Of the above motives Ia indicative Of superior
virtue. Plainly self-interest has got the
stranRle hold on almost everything under
the sun. 1t even ultimately crowds aside
envy, Of which por popuH usually 30 loudly
smells. There Ia indeed little in sight TO sug-
gest old fashioned Observation-Disclosures that is.
And I believe that self-interest Ia going to be
the means OF saving the situation. for the
situation Ia sorely in need Of saving II Justice
or common sense il going to cut any ice in
the future Of this country. The present
craze to regulate prices and restrict profits
is but q relic OF the Dark Ages. and like Its
predecessors in centuries past II will In all
proba bility soon run itself into the ground
through ats own xtravaganc The OFFICIAL
knockers, flushed and protrudant with the
plaudits OF the green eyed majority, are
strenuously Celebrating plans to keep most
everybody from making money. Even the
best thing can be overdone. The average
anti-octopuser is nightly pleased to see the
railroads cinched for discrimination and the
paper trust cinched for fixing thin e 30 that
there could be no discrimination. THE
average anti-octopuser is deficient in the
sense OF humor.D He also chuckles with elee
when no reads Of the plans Of divers statesmen
to put a crimp in Rockefeller; he heehaws
with vIeOr when he hears that the Ice man
IL In Jail. He views with growing satisfac-
ton the tolls tightening about the coal trust.
the steel trust, the beef trust. the sugar trust,
the lead trust. the theatre trust, the drug
trust. the laundry trust. the peanut trust. Sc,
I'D infnfNm, dd dckussIUm- 1nsllyS it
hits his own particular graft. and then there
is bad languaGe and a revision Of opinion.
The Official knockers are careful to be
looking the other way when the cotton farm
ers pile up and burn their product In order to
create a scarcity and force a higher price for
a necessity Of life. They concede that the
wheat farmer Ia doing the sensible and proper
thing-which he certainly ls-when he boards
his product for higher prices. But the coal
man. he Is q criminal when he does the same
thing. II IL all a matter Of votes. But in
their zeal to propitiate the class which has
everything to gain and nothing to lose they
are overlooking the fact that this country,
under the stimulus Of the railroads, the cor
porations and the trusts. has not only grown
richer than any other on earth. but that its
wealth is being more evenly distributed
among Its people than anywhere else under
heaven. One hundred tn ousand stockhold-
ers OF a single corporation!-th steel trust,
which institution. by the way. In its COM
paratively short existence has done more 20
promote confidence in commercial integrity,
more TO discourage price nuctuation and dis
elimination and to enforce reasonable and
stable prices. more to concillate. encourage
and benefit labor than any conceivable laws
could accomplish in a hundred years. And
there are hundreds Of thousands OF holders
of railroad and Industrial securities all over
this country, and the lumber Ia increasing
in greater ratio than the population. This Is
what will save the situation. The buncombers
may sOon bump up against a big surprise.
G. +. TsCHUDI.
MAYfToU. Col. August 20.