Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1912-08-08

lation. the influence of the idea that
the government was the grand dis
penser of favors. the maker and I'M
maker of fortunes. and of opportuni-
ties such as certain men have sought
in order to control the movement of
trade and industry throughout the
continent. 1t has made the govern
ment n prize to be captured and par
ties the means of effecting the capture.
1t has made the business men of one
of the most virie and enterprising ma
tons in the world timid, fretful, full
of alarms; has robbed them of self
confidence and manly force until they
have cried out that they could do
nothing without the assistance Of the
government at Washington. 1t has
made them feel that their lives de-
pended upon the ways and means
committee of the house and the finance
committee of the senate lin these later
years particularly the finance commit
tee of the senate). They have insist
ed very anXiously that these commit
tees should be made up only of their
friends until the country in its turn
grew suspicious and wondered how
those committees were being guided
and controlled. by what influences and
plans Of personal advantage. Govern
ment cannot be wholesomely conduct
ed in such an atmosphere. Its very
honesty is in jeopardy.
For what has the result been?
Prosperity? Yes. If by prosperity you
mean vast wealth, no matter how dis
trbutcd, or whether distributed mt all,
or not; If you mean vast enterprises
built up to be presently concentrated
under the control of comparatively
small bodies Of men. who can deter
mine almost at pleasure whether there
shall be competition or not. The nation
as Il nation has grown immensely rich
But what Of the other side of the pic
ture? 1t is not as easy for us to live
as it used to be. Our money will not
buy as much. High wages, even
when we can get them. yield us no
great comfort
Tariff Causes High Prices.
Moreover, we begin to perceive some
things about the movement Of prices
that concern us very deeply and fix our
attention upon the tariff schedules with
more definite determination than
ever to get to the bottom of this mat
ter. We have been looking into it at
trials held under the Sherman act and
In Investigations in the committee
rooms Of congress, where men who
wanted to know the real facts have
been busy with inquiry, and we begin
to see very clearly what at least some
of the methods are by which prices
are fixed. We know that they are not
fixed by the competitions of the mar
ket or by the ancient law Of supply and
demand. which is to be found stated in
private arrangements with regard to
what the supply should be and agree
ments among the producers themselves.
Those who buy are not even represent
ed by counsel. The high cost of living
is arranged by private understanding.
We naturally ask ourselves. How did
these gentlemen get control of these
things? Who handed our economic
laws over to them for legislative and
cOntractual alteration? We have in
these disclosures still another view of
the tariff, still another proof that not
the people Of the United States, but
only very small number Of them,
rt in, hnt eli fn,,
The trusts do not belong to the peri
cd Of infant industries. They are not
the products Of the time, that old la
bOriOus time, when the great CONT
nent we live on was undeveloped, the
young nation struggling to find itself
and get upon its feet amidst older and
more experienced competitors. They
belong to a very recent and very So
phisticated age, when men knew what
they wanted and knew how to get 1t
by the favor of the government 1t
Is another chapter in the natural his
tory of power and of governing
classes" The next chapter will set us
free again.
am not one of those who think
that competition can be established by
law against the drift of world wide
economic tendency; neither am l one
of those who believe that business
done upon great scale by single
organization-call it corporation or
what you Willis necessarily danger
Gus to the liberties, even the economic
liberties, of great people like our
own, full of intelligence and of in
domitable energy. l am not afraid Of
anything that is normal. I dare say
we shall never return to the old order
of individual competition and that the
organization Of business upon a great
scale of cooperation is, up to certain
point, itself normal and inevitable.
Sherman Law Amendments.
Power in the hands of great bust
ness men does not make me appre-
hensive, unless 1t springs out Of adj
valtages which they have not created
for themselves. Big business Is not
dangerous because it is big, but be-
cause its bgness is an unwholesome
Imitation created by privileges and ex-
emptions which 1t ought not to enjoy.
The general terms of the present
federal antitrust law, forbidding
combinations in restraint of trade"
have apparently proved Intellectual.
Trusts have grown up under its ban
very luxuriantly and have pursued
the methods by which so many OF
them have established virtual monop-
olies without serious let or hindrance.
1t has roared against them like any
sucking dove. l am not assessing the
responsibility: am merely stating the
fact. But the means and methods by
which trusts have established mOnop-
olils. BE- aoy,: hacainn L naIyn II will