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

A Lonely Friend o. Corporations name
.leaalY Defends Thenl.

70 rHE EDITOR or The sUN-sir: There
In Just now q good deal Of repfoachful COM
ment on the absence OF old fashioned hon.
esty, whatever that Ia. among men OF Ru-
thority In commercial Affairs. But why
specifyr Is there any honesty Of any sort
anywhereP Take, for Instance. the railroad
rare law. which " In such universal favor.
10 doesn't appear to be honest. either accord
Ing to tho wee small voice or Webster's I'M
abridged. Nobody will contend that II 10
honest to coniscate anOthers property
either In whole or in part; but people excuse
and Justify railroad conhscation upon the
grounds Of such and such and $50 and So
IL 10 not to be doubted that the gentlemen
who formerly sailed the long. low. rakish
craft upon the Spanish Main justified their
calling lP. much the same way. For con-
scIshceS SIS A. universal as the vermlform
appendix. but q mighty sight more elastic
and more easily quieted. The gentlemen OF
the spanish Main possessed the damning
evidence that the ships they robbed were
common carriers, = which Is SUFFICIENT provo
cation for robbing anything. They could.
moreover, point to much classical epigram In
support Of their method Of making q living.
such as Necessity knows no law: ITO the
victors belong the spoils"; The greatest good
OF the greatest number" &C. to say nothing
OF the less poetic but equally fetching logic.
You have got IL and we have got use for II. "
Inc latter Ia as good an argument rs i have
yet heard In support OF taking the control
OF the railroads away from their owners and
turning It over to the politicians. To be
sure. there is the contention that control
OF the railroads Ia necessary to head on Gov
eminent ownership. But what is there In this
contentionl The Government ownership Idea.
Although idiottc. b infinitely more honest
than the former, because every Government
ownership scheme yet devised contem-
plates giving something to the owners n
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 mlllionaires and
thinkers are against It. There Ia also q sinai
percentage OF misguided hands who have
somehow been buncoed into believing that II
the railroads don't make money they cannot
keep on raising wages. Then there ls an
other class. perhaps smaller and Of less conse-
Quence than either OF the others, the member
Of which, owning no railroads and holding
no railroad jobs. are nevertheless enter
tanning a sort Of sneaking hope that some
time or other they may be enabled to fAsten
onto a small segment OF a railroad or some
other abominable profit making device. and
who wish to perpetuate an order OF society
that will insure to them or their children or
their Children's children-should that sort Of
lightning ever strike any Of them-certain.
peaceable enjoyment OF such possession.
am not going to lay myself open to the
charge Of bias by suggesting that any one
OF the above motives is indicative Of superior
virtue. Plainly self-interest has got the
strangle hold on almost everything under
the sun II even ultimately crowds aside
envy. Of which vor popuH usually 80 loudly
smells. There Ia indeed little in sight to sug.
gest old fashioned Observation-Disclosures that Is.
And I believe that self-interest is going to be
the means Of saving the situation. for the
situation is sorely In need OF saving II Justice
or common sense is going to cut any Ice in
the future OF this country. The present
craze TO regulate prices and restrict profits
Is but a 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 its own extravaganza. The oficial
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 cinohed for fixing things so that
there could be no discrimination. THE
average anti-octopuser ls deficient in the
sense Of humor.) He also chuckles with Rlee
when he reads Of the plans Of divers statesmen
to put a crimp In Rockefeller: he heehaws
with vigor when he hears that the ice man
Is in Jail. He views with growing satlsfac-
tion 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, &c.,
dd minimum, dd jdckdssiWm-and finally Ii
hits his own particular graft, and then there
Is bad language and a revision Of opinion.
The official knockers are careful TO be
~ - - a.
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 il doing the sensible and proper
thinR-which he certainly he boards
his product for higher prices. But the coal
man, he is q criminal when he does the same
thing. 1t In 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 IL being more evenly distributed
among Its people than anywhere else under
heaven. One hBndred thousand STOCKHOLM
ers OF a inRle corporatiOn!-Lhe steel trust.
which institution. by the way. In Its COM
paratively short existence has done more TO
promote confidence in commercial integrity.
more to discourage price iuctuation and dis.
elimination and to enforce reasonable and
stable prices. more TO cOnciliate. 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 number is increasing
in greater ratio than the population. This Is
what will save the situation. The bunoombers
may soon bump up against a big surprise.
G. +. TsCHUDI.
MANIToU. Col, August 20.