Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1912-10-09
Two BIG ISSUES,
! SAYS GOLFERS
The Tariff and the Proper Treat
ment OF Monopolies.
WON'T TIE TO. ROOSEVELT
sAct!veiy Disagrees" With His Views
About Trusts and WASTES of Com
petition" and Supports the Candi-
dacy of Wilson and Marshall.

Snail. II refuses TO support IneOQOre
Roosevelt, plus George W. Perkins.
Elbridge H. Gary and TIE rest of the
steel trust-harvester trust magnates.
It's open opposition to the third term
ticket was indicated in the issue of
Sept. Il. In the issue of Sept. 81 its
reasons for espousing the Democratic
ccuse are clear and forceful.
The leading editorial, "'The Wastes
of Competition" says:
"NIore 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
Ens 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.
"The La Follette-Lenroot' and the
Stanley bills to perfect the Sherman
law and the Newlands-Cummins pro-
posals for en- interstate trade commits
sion are all directed in part to that
end. The remaining wastes of compe-
tition may be likened to the wastes Of
democracy. These are obvious, but we
know also that democracy has COM
pensatfons which render it more eff
cient than absolutism. So it is in in
dustry. The margin between what
men naturally do and what they can
do is 50 great that the system which
urges men on to effort is the best sys-
TEN.
"Trne necessary wastes Of monopoly,
on the other hand. are enormous. Some
of these can, of course, be eliminated
by regulation. An efficient interstate
trade CON mission, 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
q government commission would be
powerless to secure for the people the
low prices commonly attendant upon
competition.
GAS 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-
duetion of prices, which in turn would
create a sense Of injustice suffered,
paralyze individual enterprise and pro-
duce unprogressive, slipshod manage
ment The attempt to secure loto
prices through price fring Dould
prove as impotent as the statutes
f0hich hGve sought to protect the pub
Tic in railroad rates By limiting the
diuideads.
"The interstate commerce commits
sion has been invoked as an argument
IN favor Of licensing monopoly. That
commission has stopped many abuces;
1t has practically put an end to cor
rupt and corrupting discrimination in
rates; 1t has protected the shipper
from oppression and arrogance and in
justice; it has prevented unreasonable
Gdpances 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
poa1erless to reduce operating costs,
and greater reductions in rates can
come only 1oith redGcticaS in the cost
of producing Transportation. The in
Justice and corruption attending the
earlier railroad period we're extremely
serious. But we must not forget that
the Saoeeptng reductions in American
operating costs cad rates belong to The
cartier period OF competition among
railroads. IN the ten years from 1889
to 1899, while competition among the
railroads was active, the freight rate
per ton per mile was gradually re-
duced from 941 to .724. The years
l18991900 marked the great movement
for combination or community of in
iterest' in the railroad world as well
as in the Industrial world. The freight
rate per ton per mile begcn to rise. In
each CT the eleven succeeding years 1t
was higher than In 1S99,t and in 1910
It was .753.
"The deadening effect Of monopoly
Is illustrated by it's arrest Of inven-
ton The shoe machinery trust, form
ed in 1899, resulted In combining, d.
rectly and indirectly, more than 100
shoe machinery concerns. 1t acquired
substantially monopoly of all the es-
sential machinery used in bottoming
boots and shoes, as we'll as many 9TH
er machines. 1t believed itself unas-
sailablc, and shoe manufacturers had
come to regard their subsection TO the
trust as unavoidable. Nevertheless, in