The Washington herald., 1911-10-15
AUGUSTUS A. STANLEY A REAL INVESTIGATOR

ger unhesitatingly admits that such is
the case. In a colloquy with me on
the floor Of the House of Representa-
tives he declared that he was no more
hostile to the creation of trusts than
he was to the Atlantic Ocean, the Mis-
sissippi River, or to anything else, as
he expressed. that is the natural out
come Of conditions The fixing of prices
by the government, he asserted, would
be a first step toward the national
ownership Of the trusts He went on
to explain that If he had a right to
say how much should be paid for my
house. that he would have a share in
the house, and he was logically sound.
Would Control the Prices of Labor.
Whenever the government establishes
prices for the products Of a corporation
it will Of necessity be compelled to limit
the prices which the corporation pays for
material and labor. Ownership would
certainly follow. Instead of government
al management of the trusts-as monopo-
listic corporations are termed-for the
benefit of the men who own the trusts.
giving them the profits, &C., we should
have, by the demand of the people, gov
ernmental ownership of the trusts and
the distribution of the profits to the pub
lie. either in a reduction of prices or of
taxes. The Socialists go no further.
Apparently men like Gary and Berger
are, up to a certain point, in agreement.
But II may be asked: DO the capitalists
who say they think the government
should regulate prices actually believe
they themselves would be required to
surrender that power? Leave Judge
Gary out of the matter. He is not in my
mind. I want to be impersonal. AS an
investigator of the steel corporation. I
must remember that my position is in
part judicial. Isn't it possible then, and
the question applies to no Individual that
such captains of industry as advocate
government control of prices believe they
can control the government? And, con-
trolling the government by their near
ness to the seats OF the mighty. fix prices
as heretofore? No; the regulation Of
prices would not end the evils about
which there Is so much complaint 1t
would lead to socialism. as have said,
or a government dominated by central
lied capital. 1 am an individualist
believe in competition. Business is for
man and not for the state"
But" said. hasn't competition al
ready been destroyed and the old COM
mercial law Of supply and demand an
nulled?"
SOIipCAlNIOll' II 10 Cucs ldS DeSn lenl-
porarily suspended. Men say that the
law OF supply and demand is obsolete,
that old conditions have passed away
and that the customs and experiences Of
are valueless and ridiculous in
the twentieth century. AS we'll might it
be declared that the law OF gravity has
gone out of fashion-that modern civili-
zation has become too swift and sensible
for Newton's ancient discovery: that an
apple from a tree will go up instead of
down, or fall halfway and stop. The
law OF supply and demand is as irrev-
ocable as the law that governs the cir
culation Of the blood or the system by
which the planets move. l admit that
for the time being II isn't working. Con-
ditions are unnatural The shock in con-
sequence is felt in all kinds of business.
MonopoIies Not a New Invention.
Competition has been halted in the past.
are not a new invention.
Queen Elizabeth. who reigned in the
time OF Shakespeare. Bacon. and Ben
Jonson. gave exclusive privileges to her
generals and courtiers and they sold them
10 merchants and others. Prices went
up and Hume says severe restraint (the
word you see. Is Old was put upon
trade and industry. Monopolists con-
trolled salt, iron, steel. leather. coti
,oal, wood. glass. yarn. paper. and beer.