The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-08-06


tural products paid by the consumer goes
IN the pockets, not of the farmer, but of
various middlemen; and it is probable
tnat over half of what is thus paid to
middlemen is needless, can be saved by
wise business methods introduced through
poth law and cuStom), and can therefore
be returned to the farmer and the cor
sumner. Through the proposed interstate
INDUSTRIAL commission we can effectively
10 away with any arbitrary control by
combinations of the necessities of life.
furthermore, the governments of the ma
ton and of the several states must COM
pine IN DONG everything they can to make
the farmers business profitable, so that
ne snall get more out of the soil, and ell
JOY better business facilities for market
ing what he thus gets. In this manner
MS return will be increased while tae
price to the consumer is diminished The
summation of the middleman by agTicul-
turaI exchanges and by the use of i'm
proved business methods generally, the
development of good roads. the reclama-
tlon of arid lands and swamp lands the
Improvement in the productivity of farms
the announcement of all agencies which
tend to bring people back to the soil and
10 make country life more interesting as
well as more profitable-all these move
ments will help not only the farmer but
the man who consumes the farmers pro-
ducts.
There Is urgent need of nonpartisan ex-
pert examination into any tariff schedule
winch seems to increase the cost of liv-
ing, and, unless the increase thus caused
is more than countervailed by the benefit
to the class of the community which
actually receives the protection, it must of
course mean that that particular duty
must be reduced. The system of levying
tariff for the protection and encourage
ment of American industry so as to Sc
cure higher wages and better conditions
OF life for American laborerS must never
be perverted so as to operate for the i'm
poverishment of those whom it was intend
ed to benefit But in any event, the effect
any householder can satisfy himself of
THIS fact by considering the increase in
price of articles. like milk and eggs,
Where the influence of both the tariff and
the trusts is negligible. No conditions
nave been shown which warrant us in be-
lievlng that the abolition of the protective
tariff as a whole would bring any SUBJ
stantial benefit to the consumer while If
would certainly cause unheard of imm1-
d1ate disaster to all wage-workers, all
business men, and all farmers and in all
proba bility would permanently lower the
standard OF living here. In order to show
the utter futility of the belief that the
ment of free trade would remedy the con-
ditfon complained of, all that is neces-
sary is to look at the course of industrial
events in England and in Germany dur
ing the last thirty years, the former I'M
der free trade, the latter under a pro-
tective system. During these thirty years
1t is a matter of common knowledge that
Germany has forged ahead relatively 10
England and this not only as regards the
employers but as regards the wage-eaTn-
ers-in short as regards all members Of
the industrial classes. Doubtless, many
causes have combined to produce this re-
suit; it is not to be aScribed to the tar fl
alone but, on the other hand, it is evident
that it could not have come about If
protective tariff were even a chief cause
among many other causes of the high
cost of living.
1t is also asserted that the trusts are re-
for the high cost of living. L
have no question that, as regards certain
trusts, this 1t true. l also have no QueS-
ton that it will continue to be true just as
long as the country confines itself to act
ing as the Baltimore platform demands
that act. This demand is in effect,
FOR the states and national government to
make the futile attempt to exercise forty
nine sovereign and conflicting authorities
n the effort jointly to suppress the trusts
while at the same time the national gov
arnment refuses to exercise proper con-
rol over them. There will be no diminu-
ion in the cost of trust-made articles so
ong as our government attempts the i'm
possible task of restoring the flint-loCk
conditions of business sixty years ago by !
ruSting only to a succession of lawsuits |
nder the antitrust lava method which |
t has been definitely shown usually re- |
ults to the benefit of any big business |
oncern which really ought, to be dis |
olved, but which cause disturbance and |
istresS to multitudeS of smaller concerns. |
trusts which increase production-unless !
hey do it wastefully as in certain forms |
f mining and lumbering-cannot perma- |
emily increase the cost of living; it is the /
rusts which limit production or viii n, |
Without limiting production, take advan- |
age of the lack of governmental control, |
nd eliminate competition by combining |
o control the market, that cause an in 1
rease in the cost of living There should |
e established at once, as 1 have else |
There said, under the national govern
lent an interstate industrial commission, !
yhich should exercise full supervision |
yer the big industrial concerns doing an
Interstate business into which an element |
f monopoly enters. Where these con-
erns deal with the necessaries of life the |
commission should not shrink, if the |
ecessity is proved. of going to the extent ,
Iafr he,i
onditions that create or determine mon
poly prices.
By such action we shall certainly be
BILE to remove the element of contribu-
Dry causation on the part of the trusts
nd the tariff towards the high cost OF
wing. There will remain many other
lements. Wrong taxation, including fail
re to tax swollen inheritances and I'M
sed land and other natural resources
ED for speculative purposes, is one of
leSe elements. The modern tendency to
ave the country for the town is another
cement; and exhaustion of the soil and
oor methods of raising and marketing
cement. as I have already shown. An
Their element is that of waste and ex-
-avagance, individual and national. No
Tvs which the wit of man can devise will
vail to make the community prosperous
the average individual lives in such
ashton that his expenditure always ex-
aeds his income.
National extravagance-that is, the ex-
enditure of money which is not wal
lnted-we can ourselves control and to
ome degree we can help in doing away
18th the extravaganza caused by interna-
onal rivalries.
These are all definite methods by which
can be accomplished in the di-
sction of decreasing the cost of living.
IL taken together will not fully meet the
tuation. There are in II elements which
) yet we do not understand. We can be
ertain that the remedy proposed by the
emocratic party is a quack remedy. II
just as emphatically a quack remedy
was the Quack remedy, the panacea,
lie universal cure-all which they pro-
)sed sixteen years ago. 1t is instructive
compare what they now say with what
ley said in 1896 only sixteen years ago
ley were telling us that the decrease in
ices was fatal to our people that the
IL in the production of gold. and. as d
nsequence, the fall in the prices of COM
ODDITIES, was responsible for our Ills.
H..