Evening journal., 1911-08-09
ASSAnING COMPETITION.

TEN, Mr. George W. Perkins, former partner Of
Picrpont Morgan, brings grst to the Socialist
mill
No follower Of Marx and Engels could make
hercer assault on the evils of the competitive sys
tenn than Mr. Perkins did in address delivered
before the Michigan college of mines the other
day. 1t will be recalled that Mr.. Perkins some
time ago retired from active business in order to
devote himself to the study Of social problems He
would let the trusts follow their natural inclina-
tons under the supervision of the government.
Competition, exclaims Mr.. Perkins, has brought
us the sweatshop child labor, lack of employ
ment, panic and failure. He pictured the jugger-
naut Of competition as the Socialists fond of
pioturng the juggernaut of capitalism, as they
call it, They the same.
Every argument used by Mr.. Perkins will be
used and has been used by the Socialist speakers
on the street corners. You can hear talk similar
to that of Mr. Perkins at every Socialist meeting
with this difference Mr.. Perkins urges REM
edy government control and regulation of the
trusts not ownership; while the Socialists urge
government ownership and the cooperative COM
monwealth. Mr. Perkins proposed remedy is
kind of state socialism, not exactly the real thing.
Even in the face of attacks so strong as that
made by Mr. Perkins, the competitive system will
not be battered down. There are those who
admit the evils portrayed by the financier, but they
will suspect that Perkins and Gary and similar
captains of industry think that it would be we'll
for Uncle Sam to regulate the trusts and the
captains would rule Uncle Sam. If this
could be done the hnanciers would then have
everything, industrally speaking, completely to
their liking
Socialists would say that with the people in con-
troll the inequality of fortune such we have
would disappear; that there would be no million
aires. Mr. Perkins idea Of government control
would not on the other hand, interfere with the
inequality of fortunes.
But as strongly as the competitive system may
be hit, there are men who revert TO the days Of
not so long ago when there many factories
humming with industry in this city for example,
when there not much talk of dullness and
they cannot help believing that the concentration
of industry in the form Of trusts and the massing
of great capital, big factories succeeding smaller
ones is a potent cause of industrial dullness
The object of competition is to diffuse as
many products as possible among the people
for as low price as possible. Competition does
not, properly speaking, mean huge profits, rather
the reverse.
The defenders of trusts point out the econo-
mics effected by trusts and show with much truth
that under the trust method products could be
made cheaper. Even So but the manipulators Of
trusts do not put this into practice.
AS has been shown by testimony during the
sugar trust and other trust investigations the ac-
tua practice in most trusts is really to limit the
output OF prooucts ana force up prices. Instead
OF profuse production and the wider distribution
of the products of industry at reasonable prices,
we have limited production with higher prices
reversal of natural order.
Before Mr. Perkins can gain headway with his
defense of trusts and trust methods he will have
TO show that the trust method Of industry results
in the wider diffusion of the products of industry
and labor among the people, which would mean
otcourse their increased happiness and we'll being
Admiral Togo has escaped the perils of manv
a hard fouuhf eoo hottIo h,,. -