The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1912-08-08


iutely withdrawn and every part OF our
laws of taxation shall have been trans
formed from a system of government
al patronage into system OF Just ana
reasonable charges which shall tail
where they will create the least pur'
den. When we shall have done that,
we can fix questions Of revenue and oil
business adjustment In new spirit
and with clear minds. We shall theh
be partners with all the business men
OF the country. and day OF ireer
more Gable prosperity shall nave
dawned
Control Of the Trusts.
The governor spoke of how recent
investigations have revealed the con-
nection between the tariff and the
movement OF prices, and this brought
him to the subject of trusts, concern
ing which he said in part:
am not one OF those who think
that competition can be established
by Law against the drift OF a world
wide economic tendency; neither am
| 4
ness done upon great scale by
single organization-call II corpora
ton, or what you willis necessarily
dangerous to the liberties, even the
economic liberties. OF great people
like our own, full OF intelligence and
OF indomitable energy. am not
afraid OF anything that is normal
dare say we shall never return to the
old order OF individual competition,
and that the organization OF business
upon great scale OF cooperation h.
up to a certain point, itself normal and
inevitable.
Power In the hands OF great bust
ness men does not make me apprehen'
sive. unless It springs out OF advan'
tages which they have not created Tor
themselves. Big business Is not dan
gerous because It is big. but because
its bigness is an unwholesome inna-
tion created by privileges and exemp-
lions which It ought not to enjoy
While competition cannot be created
by statutory enactment. Il can In large
measure be revived by changing the
laws and forbidding the practices that
killed It, and by enacting laws that
will give Il heart and occasion again.
We can arrest and prevent monopoly.
II has assumed new shapes and adopt
cd new processes In our time, but
these are now being disclosed and can
be dealt with.
Concentration OF Credit.
But the problem and the difficulty
are much greater than that. There
are not merely great trusts and com
binations which are to be controlled
and deprived OF their power to create
monopolies and destroy rivals; there
is something bigger still! than they
are and more subtle. more eyasive
more difficult to deal with. There are
vast confederacics (as | may perhaps
call them for the sake OF convenience)
OF banks, railways, express compa
MES, insurance companies. Ihanufac
turing corporations, mining corpora
tons. power and development com
panies and all the rest OF the circle
bound together by the fact that the
ownership OF their stock and tn,
members OF their boards of directors
are controlled and determined by com
paratively small and closely inter
related groups OF persons who, BY
their Informal confederacy, may con
troll, II they please and when the!
Will. both credit and enterprise.
There is nothing Illegal about thes'
confederacies. so far as can per
ceive. They have come about yer.
naturally. generally without plan o
deliberation, rather because Their
was so much money to be invested
and It was in the hands, at grea
financial centcrs. Of men acquainte'
with one another and intimately aF
gociated in business, than becaus
, anyone had conceived and was carry
ing out plan OF general control
r but they nre none the less potent
force in our economic and financial
, system on that account, They ar
part OF our problem. Their very eJ
istence givestise TO the suspicion @
, a money trust" a concentration @
, the control OF credit which may at an
I sme become infinitely dangerous I
Z free enterprise. II such concentri
Z ton and control does not actually el
list. It Is evident that 1t can easily b
p set IN and used at Will. Lows mus
, be devised which will prevent this,
p laws can be worked out by fair an
A free counsel that will accomplish tha
!. result without destroying or seriou
r ly embarrassing any sound or legit
q mate business undertaking or nece
sary and wholesome arrangement.
4 Question Of Conservation.
g or conservation and allied matter
J. Governor Wilson said:
do not know any greater questlo
than that of conservation. We hay
e been a spendthrift nation and mu
e now husband what we have left. "
J. must do more than that. We mu
Il develop. az well as preserve. our W
3 ter powers and must add great W
h terways to the transportation FACT
d ties Of the nation, to supplement Il
e railways within our borders as VIC
., az upon the Isthmus. We must revi,
e our merchant marine, too. and MI u