Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1912-09-21

nlSn, tnat some eNtOrtions nave re-
suited from some schedules of the
tariff, but while they are ready to
tinker, they are not ready to alter in
any essential particular the system by
which special advantages and privi-
liges in industry have been built up in
this country, They stand for the sys-
tenn, and in their embarrassment de-
clare that the tariff is not the cause
of high prices, at any rate not the
chief cause.
They are very vague about what
the chief cause Is, because as a mat
ter of fact the chief cause Is the ma
nipulation of prices by the trusts. And
they are tender also towards the
trusts They know that the trusts prac-
ticc monopoly, that monopoly was the
object OF the trusts; but they throw
| up their hands in despair when ii IS
suggested that monopoly may be de-
stroyed. and reply: No. It Is very un-
fortunate but IL has come to stay
Business nowadays must be big. 1t
| cant be big in any one industry with
out controlling, and control must
mean mastery of the markets. This
is the only way of efficiency, and we
will not stand in the way of efficiency
in modern business.
The railroads, we all admit, are
in their very nature mOnopolislc. We
accepted that fact when we began TO
regulate them. Every economist
knows the familiar proof that compe-
tition is not often feasible and is
sometimes financially wasteful In the
field of transportation, when railways
have been developed along the short
est and most serviceable lines; but
they also know that this class of
small, and that there is no analogy
between the regulation of railways
and the regulation of artificial mo-
nopoly created by deliberate combina
tion and agreement, based not upon
efficiency but upon control of a par
ticular product and particular
markets.
prices have risen all over the
world, but much faster and very
much higher in high tariff countries, |
where monopoly was protected. than |
in low tariff countries. where compe- |
tition excluded monopoly. And the |
chief cause of high prices in America |
Is that the markets are controlled.
They can be controlled because the
tariff screens them from the economic
forces which establish prices in the
of the world at large.
mo wonder, therefore, that the
leaders of the republican and progress
sive parties are saying less about high
prices. They dare not, or VIII not, go
. cfrptpht ut nf hiph nrinag |
In this country in the remedies which
they propose. Government regulation
will shield monopoly as well as guide
It. and reauIa ton is not freedom.
THE net result is that both these-t
parties have TO all intents and pur-
poses abandoned the central issues OF
The campaign. The democrats alone
are bold enough and far sighted
enough to see that they must tackle
frankly and directly this question:
Upon what principle shah tariff du-
les be laid, and by what means shall
be prevented?
''They understand the interests of
he country quite as we'll as the gen
lemen who have played providence
o those interests for their own bene- ,
it understand them but they see them
rom another point of view, and they ,
Inspect this human providence and
Iistrust it, ,
They see as clearly as anyone else {
ees, that business must in our day, , t
'e done upon n great scale, but they {
now that there Is size which is
atural and size which is unnatural
n business. The size which is unnatu-
al is built up upon certain kinds OF /
greements certain kinds of practices, +
ertain understandings with regard to t
ontrol which are seldom economical | d
nd whose object Is not efficiency. O
he right and wholesome kind of size il
ONES from natural growth. from the :
evelopment of Il business managed
nth brains, with the closest study OF
Efficiency and economy. with sort
statesmanlilSc knowledge of the
larkets of the world. and that kind "
size no wise or weil-informed man
ears or is jealous Of. II
Monopoly is always in the long u
un, weak and inefficient and the lead D
RS of the democratic party know per- IL
actly well that they are serving the
usiness interests of the country much
etter, much more intelligently, than II
lie leaders of either of the other par II
es, because they mean so to regulate u
and free the conditions of u
usiness in this country as to substi- u
ite the efficient for the merely pow u
rful. 1t Is futile to stand for the
iuses of our present wrongs and u
eakly propose to control and mode p
tie the results, and yet that Is all N
lat our opponents suggest. u
They even propose to remedy the &C
suits by the very means by which 81
ley were produced. namely the part u
arship of the government in the ca
anagement of big bus'ne |, for W
v part, can never bring myself to OF
;cept the proposal that the govern ca
ent by regulation shall act through al
e trusts for the people. The contract w
tween the government and the peo- ca
g in such a case Is too remote ana ~
direct This is no way in which TO ~
store the confidence of the people.
is only a way in which to provide
G people with new guardians. guard Jo
MS interested above all things In hf
aking a profit out of their guardian an
ip. political profit be il observed, ma
well as an economic profit. ] won In
r what the regulation is to accom-
Ish for the working men through tia