The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1909-03-19

Will have to talk more convincingly
than he has yet talked to keep the
majority of our people from holding
to the Evans views.
1t is easier to prescribe for the
evils of modern life than to admin
lister the prescription. Years ago
when Boston was in the midst of
heated controversy as to means of
transit and the merits of elevated
railroads. subways and surface
tracks We're vigorously argued, good
old DR.. Bartol-whom Phillips
Brooks Willingly characterized as
"moth-eaten old angel proposed
remedy for the municipal disease
of congested traffic. 1t was wonder
fully simple, if only the citizens
would take it. "Let us hear no
more" said the confident doctor, of
the impossible and dangerous
crowds, the discomfort of Slow, ov-
|erloaded cars, the impeding of one
vehicle by another. There is too
much gadding and going. Let people
bide at home" But the people heed
ed not the admonition, and subway,
and elevated railway and electrical
traction became accomplished facts.
So with a thousand other complica-
tons of modern life, our problem is
not to prevent them, for they are al
ready upon us, but to alleviate them
The crowded tenement must be off,
set by the free, open playground;
the dirt and noise of railway trains
must be reduced to the minimum;
the evil Of the slums must be held
back by sanitary regulation and in
spection. To the development of
these works of alienation women are
especially called 1t matters less for
the next half century what new
fields they enter than what old fields
they make safer and pleasanter. It
is of no use for them to raise the
cry of the past, LET people bide at
home The world will not heed
that command. But when women
workers for social benefit try to les
sen noise and dirt and crowds and
unproductive toll by methods suited
to conditions as they are, the world
will accept their service gladly, and
will crown it with deserved praise,
Alexander Graham Bell, the noted
inventor, undertakes in the March
Worlds Work, to answer the ques-
ton, when does profit become u.s.
ury?" with the object of finding a
true principle for the regulation of
trusts. eve have arrived at a crit
ical point in our history" begins
Prof. Bell. Competition as an ell
ement in business is going out and
monopolies which are opposed to
| competition are coming in. Individ-
ual producers no longer count" He
says that the great problem of the
age is what to do with the trusts
which extend their operations be-
yond the jurisdiction of state gov
eminent. He judges from history
e1eaI IuS u uoIo dl natural process
| OF evolution, and that man cannot
| combat a law of nature. He believes
that any combination that reduces
the cost of production and distribu-
! ton is essentially beneficial, even
though it does not lower prices. 1t
is only when prices are raised above
the competitive level, he NrguesA
that injury to the public begins. The
hurtful thing is not the combina.
ton itself, but the power which II
potentially possesses to raise prices
in public even though it does not dc
so. He says that there should be
some recognized relation between
the cost of production and the
amount of profit. Everything be-
yond an equitable return upon the
capital invested should be regarded
as usuary and forbidden by law
| Summing up, Mr.. Bell says that de
struction of the trusts is out of the
question, that government owner-
ship is doubtful remedy with many
objections, and that the immediate
problem is to control by suitable leg
islation the amount of profit they
can legally receive from the public