New Ulm review., 1912-10-16

: the plea made = few years ago IN =
: behalf Of the tariR. The argument
was used that the tariff should be
revised by It's friends. We were
: told that 1t would not be safe to
entrust it's revision Of the tariff
to its enemies. We fell In with
this specious plea. We know the
result. The friends Of the tariff
: revised it upward.
The Expert Commission Dodge.
But this betrayal Of our confidence
raised q storm of protest Then they
bethought themselves of that old de-
vice called . tariff commission. They
said that the tariff was too compll.
Gated ! question to be dealt with by
you and me, or by our Representatives
In Congress. Il required commjs-
sion Of experts. And SO they created
q commission to investigate and report
not to Congress, which has the pow
or to make tariffs, but to the Presi-
dent, who has no such power. The
President could make such use of their
report as he pleased. II it suited him,
he could pigeonhole the report and
refuse to give it out, or refuse to make
any recommendation with regard to IL.
This was safe method for them. II
they could control one man, the PreSi
dent, they had nothing to fear. Their
profits were safe. They had fooled us
with thir device once before.
ss =
When the demand for tariff re-
duction became too urgent to be
ignored in the eighties, tariff
commission was appointed with
power to investigate and report,
this time to Congress. The COM
mission was appointed. It investi- >
gated, and then it investigated :
some more, and after much delay =
and while other important issues =
engrossed the attention of the =
country, it reported to Congress.
Congress promptly pigeonholed
the report, and we have heard
nothing from it since. That was
about thirty years ago.
And now they believe that we are
ripe to be plucked again in the Same
way. It Is for you to say II you will
swallow the hook. If you do, you will
know what to expect.
Industrial Commission eunco Game.
1t is not strange, therefore, that the
trust magnates should seek to stem
the rising tide of indignation against
the extOrtions of the trusts by SINH
lar device. Those who have been
watching the trend of events have
been looking for this to happen. We
knew that Il was coming whenever
there was real danger that the people
would demand relief 80 strongly that
must be done to appease
them until their attention could be
drawn to something else. And, sure
enough, within the past year they have
put forth scheme to regulate trusts
and fix the prices of their products by
a commission.
=
George w. Perkins fathered the
scheme, and the President of the :
steel trust adopted 1t as his own.
Those who own or draw profit
y from the trusts are all in favor
of regulation. They expect to
control the appointment of the
: regulators.
The bare statement of such plan,
when advanced as a remedy, ought
to condemn it. If we are to be treated
to dose of regulatory flimflam, cut
on the commission pattern, we want
none of it. The proponents of this
plan cite the work of the railroad
commissions in support of their enter.
prise. 1t is time that our would-be
leaders came down out of the clouds
of theory long enough to contemplate
the cold, hard fact that railroad regu.
latiOn as we have been trying to carry
it on means the regulation of the peo-
pie by the railroads. One thing the
commission system of regula.
ton has accomplished: 1t has practi.
cally destroyed the little competition
between the roads that we previously
had, and to that extent it has been Of
the railroads.
Fixing Prices Through Commission
Impossible.
No one not blinded by self-interest
can fail to see how impossible is the
to fix the prices of trust-made
goods through a commission. Practi-
,ally everything manufactured in this
country is controlled partly or wholly
~ some trust. The scheme, then,
means the fixing, by commission, of
he prices on nearly everything.
=
Imagine, if you can, commits =
sion fixing the prices of hundreds
and thousands of commodities
manufactured in this country, fix
ing them, not permanently, but "
from day to day, to meet the fluc-
tuating needs of supply and de-
mand. It is too absurd to have
originated in good faith outside Of
bedlam. A commission charged
with this impossible duty would
be buried so deep under the ac-
emulation Of complaints that it
would never see daylight, and the
trusts would reap a harvest that
would throw all their previous per-
formances into the shade.
How II Would Work.
1t is law of Nature that all things
man ncluded-proceed along the
ne of least resistance. Such COM
iSSiOn being cOmpOSad Of men would