The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1908-08-25
different kind % employment.

different kind % employment
THE business n,sn of the country
have felt the pressure of the trusts.
The retailer has been compelled To en-
:tr into contracts which restrict lis
management of his own affairs. he mad
found the terms of sale and payment
changed to his disadvantage and he
has been forced to carry more and
ere of the risks OF trade. He is con-
v,nced that his chi; SAFETY is in The
democratic pla1 Which lays the axe at
tIc root of the tree.
1.-The travelling men naturally take
especial interest in the trust question,
because the more complete the mon1p
oily secured by corporation the less
they are needed. We have no more in
telligent class than the representatives
of commerce, and their retirement
from the road would mean serious
loss to the country while a few pro-
moters would be the only persons ben
Gifted, they gaining by the capitalize =
ton of the salaries saved by the elm
nation of competition.
"Mr. Taft either misunderstands or
misrepresents the democratic position
in regard to the determination of the
principle of private monopoly. In his
notification speech he says:
"'Mr. Roosevelt would compel the
trusts to- conduct their business in a
1soy nj
of their operation and the maintenance
OF the prosperity of the country of
which they are an important part;
while Mr. Bryan would extirpate and
destroy the entire business in order 10
stamp out the evils which they. have
practiced'
Here is a confession by Mr.. Taft
that he regards the trusts as necessary
to the nations prosperity, for he de-
clares that they play an important
part in the maintenance of prosperity.
and he charges that l would 'extirpate
and destroy business in eXtirpating and
destroying the principle of private mo-
nopoly. Surely, his study of the trust
question has been very superficial if
he sees danger in the restoration Of
reign Of competition.
Let us take an illustration. Suppose
the democrats succeed in the enact
ment of a law in harmony with the
democratic platform-a law requiring
license before it is permitted to con-
troll 25 per cent of the business in
which it is engaged Would this 'eX-
tirpate and destroy the business OF the
country? AS already stated but a very
small per cent of the corporations
would be affected by this law, and
those affected would be the ones that
have been giving the officers of the law
so much trouble during the last IS
years. AS the licensed corporation in
creased its business from 25 per cent
to so per cent. it would be under the
watchful eye OF the government, would
be compelled to make such reports as
the government required, would be
prohibited from watering it's stock
and would be required to sell to all
customers upon the same terms, due
allowance being made for cost of trans
pOrtation. Would it 'extirpate and de-
stroy' business to require these licensed
corporations to do business on an hon.
est basis and to be reasonable in their
business methods? Would not the
benefit accruing to the SO small cor
pora tiOnS thus protected from con-
science!ess methods be enough to off
set any evil effects that might follow
from such restraint Of a few big cor
pOratiOns? Is business so dependent
upon dishonesty and unfairness that
it would be 'extirpated and destroyed
if morals We're introduced into it
When the licensed corporation
reached a point where it controlled
One-half of the business in which it
was engaged, it would, according to
the democratic plan, have to stop ex-
panding. Would it 'extirpate and de-
stroy' business to put this limitation
upon the greed of a few corporations
Surely our plan could not injuriously
affect corporations that might here
after seek to establish a monopoly
How It Would Work.
But possibly Mr.. Taft thinks that it
would 'eXtirpate and destroy business
to apply the plan to existing monopo
lies. Let us see: Suppose we have
corporation now controlling IS per
cent Of the output of the article in
which it deals, and through this con-
troll, regulating the price and the terms
of sale. How would the democratic
plan affect it? A date would be fixed at
which the law would take effect. and
on or before that date the corporation
would be required to apply for a Ii
cense. The evidence would show
that it controlled a larger proportion
of the product than the law permitted,
and it would be compelled to sell off
enough of it's plants to reduce it's out
put to so per cent of the total pro-
duct. 1t would then comply with the
law, obtain its license, and proceed
to carry on its business in accordance
with the law. Would it 'extirpate and
destroy business to compel such a.
corporation to dispose of enough of its
plants to reduce it's production to so
per cent? The people would still need
the article which it produced, and the
plants which it was compelled to sell
would become Independent plants COM
peting with it. This competition
would reduce prices and the reduced