Carson City daily appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1907-1930, 1912-10-26
TWO BIG ISSUES,
SAYS GOLFERS
NE Tariff and the Proper Treat
ment of MonopoIies.

Golfers Is out for Wilson and Mar
shall. 1t refuses to support Theodore
Roosevelt, plus George w. Perkins,
Meridge H. Gary and the rest OF the
STEEL trust-harvester trust magnates.
Its open opposition to the third term
tApket was indicated in the issue of
Sept. IA. In the issue Of Sept. 81 its
1sAsons for ~espousing the Democratic
cause are clear and ~forceful.
The leading editorial, THE Wastes !
q Competition" says:
"More and more the campaign is
coming down to two pressing issues, !
the tariff and the proper treatment of
monopolies. Golfers actively dis
agrees with the view Of monopoly be-
ing urged by Messrs, Roosevelt, Per-
hns and Gary.
"They talk a great deal about the
wastes of competition. The necessary
wastes of competition are relatively
Insignificant, and the wastes of unfair
and destructive competition are wholly
unnecessary. They will be largely
eliminated when competition is regu-
lated.
1.-The La Follette-Lenroot and the
hw and the Newlands-Cummins pro-
yosais for an interstate trade commits
sion are all directed in part to that
end. The remaining wastes of compe-
tttion may be l1kened to the wastes of
democracy. These are obvious, but we
know also that democracy has com
pensations which render 1t more eff
eient han absolutism. So it is in in
Austry. The margin between what
men naturally do and what they can
DO Is sc great that the system which
urges men on to effort is the best sys-
TEN.
1.-The necessary wastes OF monopoly,
o. the other hand, are Some
Of these can, Of course, be eliminated
by regulation. An efficient interstate
trade commission, acting under appro-
pirate legislation, could put an end to
much of the oppression of which trusts
have been guilty. 1t could prevent un-
Just discrimination. 1t could prevent
ruthless and unfair use of power; but
4 government commission would be
Dowerless to secure for the people the
low prices commonly attendant upon
competition.
las no means exist for determining
whether greater net earnings are due
to greater efficacy in management or
to excessive profits. large net earnings
would be followed by compulsory re-
duction of prices, which in turn would
create a ems Of injustice suffered.
paralyze individual enterprise and pro-
duce unprogressive, slipshod manage
ment. The attempt to secure lOl0
prices through price firing Would
prove as impotent as the statutes
| sohich hare sought to protect the pub
| nc in railroad rates BY limiting the
dividends.
"The Interstate commerce commits
sion has beef invoked as an argument
In favor Of licensing monopoly. That
commission has stopped many abuses;
It has practically put an end to cor
rupt and corrupting discrimination in
| rates; it has protected the shipper
i " ORRl SoiOA o1Ao6oASS IN IA
Justice; it has prevented unreasonable
advances in rates; but it has secured
! comparatively few notable reductions
In rates, except those involved in
stopping discrimination between per-
sons, places or articles. 1t has been
| poUerless to reduce operating costs,
and greater reductions in rates can
come only toith reductions in the cost
Of producing transportation. The in
Justice and corruption attending the
earlier railroad period were extremely
serious. But we must not forget that
the stceeping reductions in American
operating costs and rates belong to the
earlier period of competition among
railroads. In the ten years from 1889
to 1899, while competition among the
railroads was active, the freight rate
lpper ton per mile was gradually re-
| duced from .941 to .724. The years
1899-19OO marked the great movement
for combination or community of in.
terest" In the railroad world as well
las in the industrial world. The freight
rate per ton per mile began to rise. In
leach Of the eleven succeeding years it
was higher than in 1899, and in 1910
z x4s -"
George w. Perkins, apostIe OF the
economic and social efficiency of mo-
nopOly, quoted to h senate commit
tee on interstate commerce the state
ment that:
1.-The corporations that Mr.. Edison's
business inventions had made posi-
bic were today capitalized at 81, OO0,-
OO0, 0O0.'
1.-The Inventors guild, an association
in which Mr.. Edison is naturally prom
inent, said in a memorial addressed to
the president:
1T is a well known fact that mod
ern trade combinations lend strongly
toward cOnstancy of processes and