The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1913-05-07
GIVES HIS
Interesting BOOK
He Discusses Tariff, Trusts
and Welfare Of American
People.


try. This is the new part OF the pro-
tective doctrine-'plus a reasonable
profit" 1t openly guarantees profit to
the men who come and ask favors Of
congress. The old idea Of a protective
tariff vas designed to keep American
industries alive and therefore keep
American labor employed. But the
favors OF protection have become so
permanent that this Is what has hap
pened: Men, seeing that they need not
fear foreign competition, have drawn
together In great combinations. These
combinations include factories az 1t is
a combination of factories) Of all
grades, old factories and new factor
les, factories with antiquated machin-
cry and factories with brand new ma
chinery; factories that are economical
ly and factories that are not economi-
cally administered; factories that have
been long In the family, which have
been allowed to run down, and factor
les with all the new modern inventions.
As soon as the combination Is effected
the less efficient factories are generally
put out of operation. But the stock
issued In payment for them has to pay
dividends, and the United States gov.
eminent guarantees profit on invest
ment In factories that have gone out
Of business. AS soon as these combi-
nations see prices falling they reduce
the hours Of labor, they reduce produc-
ton, they reduce wages, they throw
men out of employment-in order to
do what? In order to keep the prices
up In spite Of their lack OF efficiency.
Tariff Raises Prices.
There may have been a time when
the tariff did not raise prices. but that
time is past The tariff is now taken
advantage Of by the great combina-
lions In such a way as to give them
control Of prices. These things do not
happen by chance. 1t does not happen
by chance that prices are and have
been rising faster here than In any 9TH
er country. That river that divides us
from Canada divides us from much
cheaper living, notwithstanding that
the Canadian parliament levies duties
on importations.
Did you ever look into the way a
trust was nader 1t Is very natural,
In one ~sense-in the same sense In
which human greed is natural. IL 1
haven't efficiency enough to beat my
rivals then the thing ! am inclined to
do Is to get together with my rivals
and say: Don't let's cut each others
Threats. Let's combine and determine
prices for ourselves-determine the
output and thereby determine the
prices and dominate and control the
market" That Is very natural. That
has been done ave- since freebooting
was established. That has been done
ever since power was used to establish
control. The reason that the masters
OF combination have sought to shut
out competition is that the basis of
control under competition is brains
and efficiency. l admit that any large
corporation built up by the legitimate
processes Of business. by economy, by
efficiency, Is natural, and i am not
afraid Of It. no matter how big 1t
grows. 1t can stay big only by doing
its work more thoroughly than any
body else. And there Ii q point Of big
ness-as every business man I'm this
country knows, though some OF them
will not admit it-where you pass the
limit of efficiency and get into the
region OF clumsiness and unwieldiness.
You can make your combine SO exten.
sive that you can't digest 1t into a
single system. You can get 80 many
parts that you cant assemble them
as you would an effective piece of ma
chinery. The point OF efficiency is
overstepped In the natural process of
development oftentimes, and Il has
been overstepped many times In the
artificial and deliberate formation OF
trusts.
A trust Ia formed in this way: A
few gentlemen promote" it-that IL
to say, they get 1t up, being given nor
nous fees for their kindness. which
fees are loaded on to the undertaking
In the form Of securities Of one kind
or another. The argument Of the pro-
moters is not that every one who
comes into the combination can carry
on his business more efficiently than
he did before; the argument Is: We
will assign to you as your share In the
pool twice. three times, four times or
i've times what you could have sold
your business for to an individual COM
petitor who would have to run It on
an economic and competitive basis
We a afford to buy 1t at such . 6g-
ure because WI r shutting out com
petition. We can AFFORD to make the
stock Of the combination half 4 dozen
times what it naturally would be and
pay dividends on II, because there win
be nobody to dispute the prices We
shall Ak.
How Trusts Prosper.
Talk Of that az sound b~usiness7 Talk
Of that a. inevitablef II n based upon
nothing except power. It IL not based
upon ef1ciency. It b 40 wonder that
the big trusts are not prospering In
proportion to such competitors a. they