The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-21
GOVERNOR WILSON'S DAY IN COLUMBUS IS
 STRENUOUS WINDUP
 TO WEEKS SPEAKING
(Continued from Page one)


 their cause. He said the leaders of the republican and progressive parties were abandoning this issue which is the central one of the campaign. An analysis of ''bg business" as assisted by the protective tarff was made by the speaker who said in part:
 The leaders of the republican party and the leaders of the third party have astonished the whole country by practically abandoning any serious at tempt to meet the main issues of the campaign The leaders of the third party in particular interest us anew every day by seeking new issues and shifting the ground of debate. At the outset they declared that the real ls- sues of the present contest was the high cost of living, but they have laid less and less emphasis upon that be- cause they have seen that they can not seriously attack that question with out attacking the questions of the tar fir and of the trusts in a very different way from that in which they are actu- ally approaching them.
 Both the republican party and the third party subscribe explicitly and ardently to the principle of protection They admit that there are defects in practice, that some duties are too high. that some extortions have resulted from some schedules of the tariff, but while they are ready to tinker they are not ready to alter In any essen tial particular the system by which special advantages and privileges in industry have been built up in this country. They stand for the system and in their embarrassment declare that the tariff Is not the cause of high prices, at any rate, not the chief cause
 Vague About Cause
 "rhey are very vague about what the chief cause Is. because as a mat ter of fact the chief cause is the manip- ulation of prices by the trusts. And they are tender also toward the trusts They know that the trusts practice monopoly, that monopoly was the ob- ject of the trusts: but they throw up their hands in despair when it is sug gested that monopoly may be de- stroyed, and reply, No, it Is very un- fortunate, but 1t has come to stay Business nowadays must be big. It can't 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 mod ern business"
 ''rhe railroads. we all admit, are in their very nature monopolstic. We ae- cepted that fact when we began to reg u1dte them. f4NefE economist KNOWS the familiar proof that competition is not often feasible and is sometimes financially wasteful in the field of transportation, when railways have been developed along the shortest and most servceable lines; but they also know that this class of natural monopoles is comparatively small, and that there Is no analogy be- tween the regulation of railways and the regulation of artificial monoply created by deliberate combination and agreement, based not upon efficiency, but upon con trol of a particular product and partic- ular markets.
 Prices have risen all over the world. but much faster and very much higher in high tariff countries. where monopoly was protected, than fin low tariff coun- tries, where competition excluded monop- oly. And the chief cause of high prices in America k that the markets are con trolled. They can be controlled because the tariff screens them fnom the economic forces which establish prices in the mar kets of the world at large.
 No wonder. therefore, that the leaders of the republican and progressive parties are saying less about high prices. They dare not. or will not, go straight at the cause of high prices in this country in the remedies which they propose Govern ment regulation will shield monopoly as well as guide it. and regulation is not freedom.