New-York tribune., 1908-01-11

and capital If did not take up the aouses. 81 .hicb
some of the combipers of capital and some OF he sne
sroT time to time guilty and did not consider FUR
ther the remedy for the restraint OF lnese tba
Eor tho sak ke of clearness in examining INTO tils
character ter Of corporate evils and abuses which need
restraint and 1ba into We ndustra corporations
organized for the purpose Of and other
porafions organized for the transportation Oh pas
sengers and goods.
INDUSTRIAL CORPORATIONS
Let us deal first with industrial eofPoratl1hhS % nnhc
for conferrng the franchise necessary IN the "a.
corporation Of such companies & is the puonc Dehen'
The temptation to the managers. however Wnen n
competition and maintain prices. and thus to deny
to the public its proper share IN me h rnoTsfe
owners all the profit derived from improved iaclii
'es One 81 method Of suppressng competition is by
agreements between all the large d a
in the same BUSINESS 10 n she sav secret
and are difficult for public officials to obtain proof
and are successfully prosecuted this method is en-
Joined and, abandoned and the independent i cor cor
ens to Prices & % Are into one o
the producing capital in single industry is placed
under control.
excluded by ingenious contracts of sale with mid
dlemen distributors and retail dealers, who are CO.
of retail prices and withdrawal of all patronage
through the knowledge and fear that the trust in
times of active demand for its products will either
prices to those who do not comply with its de-
mand.
ABUSES OF RAILWAY CORPORATIONS.
The second class of corporations is, the
railway and transportation companies-have mis-,
ped their IF bese to OF
the largest elements going to make up the selling
price of commodity in any part of the country is
facture. If one business concern can secure lower
of freight in the transportation of its mer-
eoapd IN rs "a
will necessarily drive the latter out Of business
concerns controiling enormous shipments, and able
between competing roads to determine which
induced and sometimes coerced the railway COM
p te wng H f1e % ew or to h
conditions of the larger concern as to make it i'm,
live. The rebate of very small amount hun
dredweigh Of goods shipped by any one Of the
dividends on the eapital invested nv The evils .Sf OF
words, unjust discrimination.
NEED OF CHECKING ABUSES.
their terms of employment directly by such viola
tions of law by combinations of capital as have
another way The maintenance Of such unlawful
GnopofI of the Is esss fr he OF @ and % M g fs
reduces the Purchasing power of the wages which
This is a serious detriment to them and real
reason why they should condemn such corporate
them out. It is that they should sympathz
terprises, because they employ enormous numbers
of wage earners and lawfully and normally in
drawn but they Should and do Vigorously sustain
the policy OF the tb IN % DPngg @ and M
quiring them to conduct their business in accord
ance with the statutes of their country
1 have already said that they should discrmi-
nate in respect to legislation affecting their cor
cause it burdened the enterprise from which they
would invoke With the utmost emphasis, their ap-
proval of the present Interstate commerce law as
needed to keep the railroads within the law
VIOLENCE IN INTEREST OF CAPITAL.
In rare instances corporate managers have en-
side of labor controversy. They have justified it
on the ground that they were simply fighting fire
dynamite they would dynamite in return.
argument No amount Of lawiessness on the part
of the labor striker justify the awlessness on
recurrence of civil war and anarchy.
second abuse which employers are sometimes
listing by which laboring men, solely because they
against c9npromise in a labor M Dispute % are taggsd
Of labor are forbidden on penalty of business os-
tracism to give them means of livelihood This
Counterpart Of the boycott or. indeed. it is itself
boycott in one form. to which shall make ref
What are the abuses which not infrequently pro-
seed from some of the members of united labor?
They are, first, open violence and threats of yio-
ence to prevent the employment Of other % working Ia+
on strike, with the hope that they will thus pre-
OF course this is the most effective method, if
successful, of bringing the employer 10 terms. If
the demand for labor is such that many persons OF
Of the labor union. are idle it will be easy for the
employer to replace tn the strikers They hey will be
It follows. therefore. that the wisest time for
ed Frea Or eand o OF to nd IS IS n for h
employer to replace those who leave him. But if
only two ways by which the strikers can accom-
Violence to those who would take ther. places.
by persuading them in the interest of all labor
benefits of the common fund for support during
tbd empogef n his seS y Sn the a
Violence and threatened violence are of course
suasion not amounting in effect to duress is law
BoYCOTTs
Another method by which wage earners some
times attempt to coerce their employer into acqui-
escence in their demands is what is called boy
poyes and their fellows of their union attempt
of all association from their former employer by
threatening the rest of the community that if they
poyer they will visit each one OF them with SIM
This is cruel instrument and has been declared
to be unlawful in every court with whose de-
mission which was selected at the instance Of
President Roosevelt. and which had upon it such
DeaWare and Mr. clark the president Of the
great labor organizations Of the country and other
ital-men selected by agreement between the en-
ployerS and the employees in that great Contro-
versy-used the following language in respect to
less violent, but not less reprehensibe. form of
attack upon these rights and liberties of the citi-
Zens which the public opinion of civilized coun-
tries recognizes and protects. The right and lib
erty TO pursue lawful calling and TO lead peace
full life, free from molestation attack. concerns
the comfort and happiness of all men, and the
denial of them means the destruction of one of the
greatest if not the greatest of the benefits which
the social organization confers, ,--.. - -,
of evil omen and unhappy origin is a form of