Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1909-05-12

he profits go into the hands of a
'ew men, people will prefer compe-
;ition without reasoning as to its
lost. Yet no sane man who has de-
voted any thought to the subject
will deny that competition is ex-
pensive and that it is wasteful.
Did you ever study the history of
the Harvester War; the fiercest
commercial struggle that ever took
place on American soil? For years
the different companies poured out
money in torrents to get ahead of
it's competitors. Hordes of agents
swarmed over the country; old ma
chimes were bought by competing
companies to get them out of the
field; every means, fair and unfair,
was resorted to in this mad strug-
gle. Who paid for all this right
full waste? The farmer certainly
paid his full share of it, for all the
companies would have failed. Now
all that waste IS Eliminated; the
cost of marketing the machines,
which under the competitive system
was the greater part of the whole
cost, has been reduced to a mini
mum. The farmer is not bounded
to death by agents. but can now 60
in and peacefully select his machine
when he wants it. AS an actual
fact, the farmer is in this instance
better off than he was under the
competitive system; but what gals
him is that the big saving under
the new system goes into the hands
of a few persons. That is why
Minnesota has now decided to erect
a state manufacturing establish
ment for making farm machinery.
And that is the only logical solution
of the problem. Competition is
costly and unsatisfactory; private
monopoly is intolerable, for it is
not just and right that a few men
shall have the privilege of charging
what they please for their products
with no recourse from their dicta.
Hence public monopoly must step
| in and take the place of the private
monopoly. The people will then
get things at actual cost. for if
they pay more than that the residue
goes into the public treasury and
will be used for public purposes.
There are certain classes of in.
dustries that from their very nature
are monopolics, such as lighting
and water plants, telephone ex-
changes and other public utilities.
Except at terminal points, this also
holds true in regard to railroads.
The Great Northern and the North
ern Pacific might as independent
companies have competed for bust
ness at points touched by both rail
roads; but if the competition al
such points caused a loss to the
companies, the people at the thous'
ands of non-competitive points paic
for it. The railroad is therefore
essentially a monopoly, and ought
to be a public monopoly. We have
recognized the good sense of max.
ing public monopolies of water anc
light, and are gradually coming
around to see that the same should
be the case in regard to local tele
phone exchanges. Gradually We
will come to see that this is the on
ly practical way of settling the pri
vate monopoly question. Let u!
quit bucking the inevitable econo
mic law and then quit the foolish
attempt to regulate concerns
that are powerful enough to exis
in direct violation of nationa
law. Let US adapt that economic
law to our use instead of letting
John D. and his cohorts have mo
nopoly of it's use.
"But that is socialism," you say
Perhaps; what difference does F.,
name make, anyway. We are al
socialists more or less, some know
ing it and others in blissful ignor
ance of the fact. The other day
heard man declaiming agains
socialism with vehemence tina
threatened to burst a bloodvessel il
his alleged brain. Yet that mai
pays six dollars into the school funt
Of the city, and sends six children
to school, which costs the distric
sos. Who pays the other $l02
Society, or that part of it located
in this district pays part of it
The settler on state school land 10
Gated hundreds of miles away pay
part of it. Society recognizes tina
it is it's duty to provide an educa
tion for every child. and it taxes it
self for the public good. Isn't tina
socialism? Socialism simply mean
that society as a whole, or some re
cognized entity of it, does SOM
thing that it can do better than tn