Lower coast gazette., 1913-11-22

is no use of our deploring the situation, that
big business" has come to stay. Perhaps it
has, but still "big business created as our
present plutocracy has been created by mon
o%polistic control of the business in which they
are engaged, by driving out all competing
houses unless they render abject submission at
once. If that be the kind Of big business"
then we would like to see Senator Parkerson's
bill become one of the articles of the %constitu-
ton and have the big business driven out of
existence.
The fact is that the big business" fattens
up a few great controllers and reduces the rest
of mankind to a lower and subordinate level. It
destroys the opportunities Of thousands Of men
to rise into controlling positions from the fact
that the big business creators hold that they
can get along with verv few dominant men and
don't need them.
These great stores, and particularly the de-
partment stores, that sell everything from a
beefsteak up to china ware and French silk
goods have done an immense harm to the ger
eral trading capacity of the country. These
parties with their large capital handle immense
quantities of goods and drive other parties out
of business and yet in the long run it is found
that such concerns are of no particular advant-
age to any community. Any business needs to
be only sufficiently large to control sufficient
capital to buy goods to advantage at the places
OF their production. to transport them to the
places of their distribution and to be able to
distribute such product satisfactorily in the COM
munities where the distributing establishments
are located. The dry goods business, or a gro
Gerry business, or a hardware business or jewelry
boots & shoes, etc., do not need to be built in
any such tremendous quantities. There is a
limit in cost of manufacture of such materials
and that limit would properly be say in a man
ufacturing establishment, the number of peo-
pie who could be properly controlled with one
foreman with adequate knowledge of the en-
tire business and capable Of directing it. Years
ago it was thought in New York city that a SUI
gar refinery turning out 800 barrels of sugars
per day was a reasonably large refinery and
ought to succeed. A few establishments grad
ually grew up to double and triple and even
quadruple that, but still a very few Of them.
The struggle was to attain excellence in quality
and effectiveness and management of the bus
mess prUitably, rather than to run into i'm
mense quantities. The tendency has been in
the latter direction and now we find in the par
ish of St. Bernard the great Chalmette sugar
refinery turning out ten to twelve thousand
barrels Of sugars per day, with a possible ca
pacity Of Ia to Is thousand barrels, and all un-
der the charge Of one excellent manager as
chief engineer of the whole establishment and
thara,,sl1, a--r.1o.,4 ~
every piece Of machinery within the limits Of
the works. 1t is possible that the great Chal-
mette refinery may turn out sugars more cheap
ly than a refinery half or third Of the capacity.
but it is generally admitted among engineers
that there are mechanical units of usefulness
beyond which no economy is reached by their
increase in number. We comprehend that a
sugar refinery of half the capacity of the Chal-
mette establishment under first class control
could do just as good, just as effective and as
economical work as does the great Chalmette
establishment itself. In dull times the great
establishments are frequently compelled to shut
uOWlI AOl tOIl6 pIAAo0o Qiiu tA1V A1lSlOClAC1A lO0SCo
in maintaining great organization and at the
same time doing no productive work makes the
relative work Of such establishments greater
than Of the smaller ones. In other words. the
smaller establishments unless they are crushed
out Of existence by the monopolistic tenden-
cies of the larger ones, can be more certain Of
having continuous business than can the larger
ones. In the Far East they use elephants for
piling lumber and for various other utilitarian
purposes, utilizing them as beasts Of burden,
but not with sufficient success to lead to their
general use in any considerable part Of the
world or even in the tropics. They are units
that are too large and clumsy for useful indus.
trial work.
The Sears Roebuck concern in Chicago is an
elephantine establishment which reports sales
Of perhaps a hundred millions of dollars worth
Of goods per annum, interfering very seriously
with the development Of the mercantile ele-
ment throughout the entire country and upon
which the country's progress has largely de-