New-York tribune., 1911-10-29

organized and controlled than 1t was when
weak establishments unsettled the situation
bv ruinous reductions in prices and inevi-
table failures.
Before the creation of the United States
steel Corporation he continued snali
concerns went into bankruptcy every time
business slackened The old way-in the
GAYS of competitiop-was TO rush INTO
vanishing and falling market with slauSh-
Ter sales Of steel rails, pig iron ana every
thing else Even the Carnegie company
large as it was. used 10 slash prices right
and left. Now there are hardly any small
establishments to fail
Thus men lost their employment under
the rule Of competition. towns became
stagnant merchants suffered Landlords
could not collect their rents When the
little furnaces and rolling mills were
bought or closed. however. and the iron
and steel business was concentrated INTO
strong hands. price cutting ceased. failures
stopped men continued in their employment
part Of the lime at all eyents-snd the
surplus stocks OF iron and steel were sent
20 Europe
The year ls0i" Judge Gary declared,
would have been fun OF danger under for
mer conditions. / cali it up merely as an
illustration II was then that we sold large
quantities Of steel in foreign countries
when we dumped it,. some OF our critics
said upon strange markets al lower price
than we charged at home. We did cut tile
price to Europe. II was either cut or lose
the chance of sale. Demand fell away in
this country. We had to 90 abroad or close
many Of our mills and furnaces. So we
kept our men at work by a temporary con
cession TO foreign buyers
The opinions Of those who believe that
competition is destructive alike TO labor
and capital we're never stated in more can
COR or with more persuasveneSs than by
Judee Gary Doubtless he voiced the
thoughts Of his associates. Mr.. Rockefeller
boasts that his workmen never strike, and
that his company Is bringing in money
from the four corners OF the earth with
which TO enrich the United States. Sull,
competition is a living principle. very
necessary condition in the minds Of mill
i,ns Of the people. including President Taft
even as II was i'm 1850
At tie passage of the sherman law there
were. perhaps. but three large industrial
corporations which have lived and done
ard OIL Company. incorporated in 1882:
swift X Co. meat packers, Incorporated in
1855. and the American Cotton OIL Com
pauy. incorporated in 1889. There were
trusts in kerosene. sugar, beef whskey
transportation, lumber, coal. cottonseed OIL
cordage. fence wire and cast-ron pipe
some of them large, but most of them
small. as trusts are measured now.
Tie National Lead Company, capital
$50. 900. 600. combination Of twenty-six
white ! al wcrks Smelters, and so on, hav-
iue no Tear of the new law. was incorpo-
rated fla 1891: also the American Sugar
Refining Company acquired the
plants OF the Sugar Refneres Company.
formed in 1NS7-which was capitalized al
500 100000. The General Electric Company
with an authorized capital of $4,000 600,
was INCORPORATED in 1S92 as was the United
States Rubber Company. msIer Of rubber
tires. boots and shoes. with an authorized
capital of $4,000, 000. Following came
trusts in chemicals. s5S.0O0.O00; leather
$4,000 600. lirseed oil, $4,000 000; woollens
ana worsteds $50 600 0O0; paper, $45.O00,0 600;
biscuits 81. 900 000: steel. $3.50 600 600: cans
sSS.00o. .000. railway cars. 10000. 600 loco
motives $50. 200, 900. powder 80, 600 600.
agricultural implements, $4,000, O0o, and
many others.
Meanwhile. The Sherman law was not
dead Most OF the time. however. ii was
sleeping Now il is standing up and fight
iug man fashion. "The department (of
Justice Attorney General Wickersham
saws reassurinely. taking his ewes from his
antagonists for a moment and looking at
the country. "is not inausurating a cam
paign against the business interests or an
indiscriminate attack on al large prosper
GUS concerns" But he purposes 20 enforce
the law. yet with care not TO iniure un-
necessarily any interest"
The debates OF twenty-one years ago
gray morning of the trust era-are Of pc
culidr significance just now. John Sher-
man was strangely excited IF We will
not endure a king as political power" he
said in the Senate. we should not endure
a king over the production transportation
and sale Of any Of the necessaries Of life.
If We would not submit TO an emperor. We
should not submit 10 an autocrat of trade.
with power 10 prevent competition and 10
fix the price Of any cor"modity Trusts"