The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1906-12-04


upon the consumers Of his commodity.
It Is therefore clear to my mind that
the law should place this entire '.rlsI
Of a trade upon the employer.
Capital and Labor Disputes.
Records show that during the TWEEN
ty years from Jan. /, 1881, to Dec. 81,
1900 there were strikes affecting III.
500 establishments, and 6,105694 EN-
ployees were thrown out Of employ
ment. During the same period there
were 1,o05 lockouts, involving nearly
10000 establishments, throwing over
100000 people ont OF employment.
These strikes and Iockouts involved an
estimated loss to employees OF $307,-
100000 and to employers Of s143,0O0,-
600, total Of S450000,000. The public
suffered directly and Indirectly prob
ably as great additional loss.
Many or these strikes and lockouts
would not have occurred had the par
ties to the dispute been required to
appear before an unprejudiced body
representing the nation and, face to
face. state the reasons for their con
tention. The exercise OF d Judicial
spirit by dssinterested body repre-
senting the federal government, such
as would be provided by a commission
on cancellations and arbitration, would
tend to create an atmosphere Of friend
illness and cancellation between con
tending parties,
Control OF Corporations.
II cannot too often be repeated that
experience has conciuslvely shown the
lmpossibility Of securing BY the actions
Of nearly half hundred different state
legislatures anything but Ineffective
chaos in the way OF dealing with the
great corporations which do not oper-
ate exclusively within the limits Of
any one state In some method, wheth-
er by national license law or In other
fashion, we must exercise, and that at
an early date. far more complete
control than at present over these great
corporations--a control that viii, among
other things, prevent the evils Of ex-
cessiye overcapitalization md that viii
compel the disclosure by each big cor
poration Of Its stockholders and OF It's
properties and business, whether own
ed directly or through subsidiary or
affiliated corporations This win tend
10 put stop to the securing Of inor-
dinate profits by favored individuals at
the expense whether Of the general
public. the stockholders or the wage
workers. Our effort should be not SO
much TO prevent consolidation as such
but so to supervise and control 1t as
to see that 1t results in no harm TO the
people
Combination Of capital. like comblna
ton OF labor. is a necessary element,of
our present industrial system. II Is
not possible completely 70 prevent 1t
and II 1t were possible such complete
| prevention would do damage to the
body polite What we need is not
yalnly TO try to prevent all combina
ton. but to secure such rigorous and
adequate control and supervision 81
the combinations as to prevent their
inJurlnz the public or existing in such
form as inevitably 10 threaten injury,
for the mere fact that combination
has secured practically complete con
troll of necessary Of life would under
any circumstances show that such
combination was 70 be presumed to be
adverse to the public interest. 1t Is
unfortunate that our present laws
should forbid all combinations instead
Of sharply discriminating between
those combinations which do good and
those combinations which do evil. Re.
bates. for instance. are as often due to
the pressure Of big shippers tas was
shown In the Investigation OF the
Standard Oil company and as has been
shown since by the investigation Of
the tobacco and sugar trusts as to the
Initiative of big railroads. Often rail
roads would like 70 combine for the
purpose OF preventing big shipper
from maintaining improper advantages
at the expense Of small shippers and
Of the general public Such combina.
ton, instead Of being forbidden by law.
should be favored In other words, it
should be permitted TO railroads to
make agreements. provided these agree.
ments were sanctioned by tile inter
state commerce commission and were
published With these two conditions
complied with 1t is Impossible to see
what harm such combination could
do to the public At large
Inheritance and Income Tax.
The national government has long
derived its chief revenue from a tariff
on imports and from an internal or OK
else tax. In addition to these. there is
every reason why, when next our sys-
TEN Of taxation is revised. the national
government should impose a graduated
inheritance tax and, IL possible, grad
uated income tax.
am well aware that such subject
as this needs long and careful study In
order that the people may become IA
miliar with what Is proposed to be
done, may clearly see the necessity Of
proceeding with wisdom and self re-
strnint and may make UP their minds
just how far they are willing 70 20 II
the matter, while only trained legisla-
tors can work ont the project Ia neces-
sary detail. But feel that In the near
future our national legislators should
enact a law providing for a graduated
inheritance Tux By which steadily In
creasing rate Of duty should be put
upon all moneys or other yaluables
coming by gift, bequest or devise TO
any individual or corporation There