The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1908-05-15
FROM THE
SECRETARY TAFT ON TRUSTS.
MR.. BRYAN'S PAPER

SECRETARY TAFT ON TRUSTS.
Secretary Taft IS rapidly disclosing
his ignorance on the trust question.
for to believe him ignorant Is more
charitable than 10 believe that he does
not intend to interfere with the trusts.
although his language would justify
even this belief He takes Mr. bryan
to task for fayoring the determination
Of trusts, and says that to eSturmiuatc
trusts would be to oXtcrminatu Indus.
try. The secretary desires to regulate
ana control trusts. But has his party
not been regulating" and control
ling for some II years now And
have We not more trusts now than We
hl; when ;ho regulating and control
liic began? The trust family Is a
family big enough 10 satisfy the prosi.
dents ideas of the size Of q family
and the birth rate is greater than the
death rate. The administrator has
commenced suit against a few trusts
but not against many, and III" trusts
are stlll gentle enough tu come up and
eat out Of the hand Of the adm!uIstra.
ton What has been done Ia regard
to the steel trust? Did It not swallow
mp the Tennessee Coal and Iron Com.
pauy? And was It not given out that
the swallowing was done after the ad.
ministratiOn had been consulted? Is
the steel trust fighting Secretary TAFT
And what about the international Har.
vestcT Company? Have the farmers
secured any relief yet? And what
about the paper trust? The steel trust
has something like $1,000 OoUO00 Of
water IN It's stock It can afiord to con.
tribute ten millions to the Republican
campaign fund. because It can get
back many times that out Of a Repuh-
lIcan victory. aud this Is only one
trust out Of the many How can the
people hope to regulate or control
trusts when the trusts. by the election
Of their tavorite TO office, ar" able to
control the government?
The determination If trusts IS not
the determination OF business. II. for
instance. a single corporation has a
monopoly Of the production Of a neccs.
sary OF lie, and has ten factories In
different states for the production Of
this particular article. the extcrmina.
tiOn OF this trust would mean the
selling of Of enough factories to re-.
duco the production Of this one cOrpo.
ration to n point whore IL would no
longer nave monopoly But this
would not mean closing up Of the fac
tories. The people would still need
the article and the article would
still have TO he produced But the IN
dependent factories coming into com
petition with the original corporation
nov no longer a monopoly would
reduce the price Of the article, and the
people At large would get the benefit
Of the reduction. with n reduction In
price. the people could buy more Of
the article produced, and this would
increase the demand for labor and
new factories would spring up or ex.
listing factories would be enlarged
with a number Of factories competing
for laborcrs, the lab0rcr's chance Of
employment would be better. and his
wages would be higher Then, too,
with a number Of factories competing
for raw material the price Of raw ma.
tcrial would increase. In other words.
the determination of the trusts. IN.
stead Of destroying business. would re-.
store business to healthy condition,
while 1t reduced the price OF the prod.
uct. increased the price Of raw ma.
toral and improved the condition Of
the laboring man. Competition is the
natural condition, and the cNtermina.
tiou Of the trust would restore compe.
tition. Monopoly is an unnatural con.
dition. and the Republican party has
fostered monopoly and thus built in.
dustry upon a false basis 10 the deerl.
ment Of all of the parties concerned
except the monopolist, and he has
been demoralized by his unearned
wealth while the rest OF the people
have been victimized by the practice
of monopoly.
Secretary Taft ought TO study the
trust question a little more, or discuss
It less, for each speech reveals his
lack OF familiarity with the subject
or his lack of sympathy with the PEG
pie ut large