Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-10-19

| the new conditions with singular ease
and elasticity, because the new condl-
| lions are in fact more normal than the
| old. The revenue lost by the import
| duties was replaced by an income tax
| which in part shifted the burden OF
| taxation from the shoulders Of every
\ consumer in the country. great or
small. to shoulders more certainly able
! to bear it.
We had time to learn from the ae-
| tual administration of the law that the
| revenues resulting from the double
| change would have been abundant had
it not been for the breaking out OF the
| present war in Europe, which aHects
| almost every route of trade and every
| market in the world outside of the
! United States. Until the war ends and
until it's effects upon manufacture ana
| commerce have been corrected we shall
] have to impose additional taxes to
| make up for the loss of such part OF
| our import duties as the war cuts OH
| by cutting off the imports themselves
a veritable war tax. though we are not
| at war: for war, and only war, is the
cause of it.
! TT is fortunate that the reduction Of
the duties came first. The import
| duties collected under the old tariH
constituted 4 much larger proportion
| of the whole revenue OF the govern
ment than do the duties under the
new A still larger proportion of the
| revenue would have been cut Off by
the war had the old taxes stood and
| a larger war tax would nave oeeh
necessary as consequence NO mis-
! calculation, no lack of foresight has
| created the necessity for the taxes. but
| only great catastrophe worldwide
| in its operation and effects.
| Laws to Kill Monopoly in the Seed.
| with similar purpose and in like
| temper the Congress has sought. in
the trade commission bill and in the
| CLAYTON bill, to make men in a small
way of business free to succeed as
| men in a big way, and to kill monopoly
in the seed. Before these bills were
passed the law was already clear
enough that monopolies once formed
were illegal and could be dissolved by
, direct process of law and those who
had created them punished as for
crime. But there was no law to check
the process by which monopoly was
built up until the tree was full grown
and its fruit developed. or, at any rate,
until the full opportunity for mo-
nopoly had been created. With this
new legislation there is clear and suf-
ficient law to check and destroy the
noxious growth in it's infancy.
.'MonopolieS are built up by unfair
methods of competition, and the new
trade commission has power to forbid
and prevent unfair competition, wheth-
er upon big scale or upon little:
whether just begun grown old and
| formida BILE. Monopoly is created also
by putting the same men in charge of
variety of business enterprises,
whether apparently related or unre-
lated to one another, by means of in
terlocking directorates. That the
Clayton bill now in large measure pre-
vents. Each enterprise must depend
upon it's own initiative and effective
ness for success, and upon the intelli-
gence and business energy OF the men
who officer it. And so all along the
line: Monopoly Is to be cut off at the
roots.
Incidentally. justice has been done
the laborer. His labor is no longer
to be treated as if it We're merely an
inanimate object of commerce discon
nected from the fortunes and happi-
dealt with as an object of sale and
barter. But that, great as it is, is
hardly more than the natural and in
evitable corollary of law whose OBJ
tive as against any kind of private
domination.
The accomplishment of this legisla-
ton seems to me singularly signi-
called upon to name the particular
point of principle in, which it differs
from it's opponents most sharply and
in which it feels itself most definitely
sustained by experience. we should no
doubt say that 1t was this: That We
would have no dealings with monopoly,
but reject it altogether; while our OPP
ponents were ready to adopt it into the
realm of law, and seek merely to regu-
late it and. moderate it in its opera
ton. 1t is our purpose to destroy
monopoly and maintain competition as
the only effectual instrument of bust
ness liberty.
Created a Democracy of Credit.
1--WE have seen the nature and the
power of monopoly exhibited. We
know that it is more apt to control
government than to be controlled by
it; for we have seen it control govern
ment, dictate legislation. and dominate
executives and courts. We feel. that
our people are safe only in the fields
of free individual endeavor where
American genius and initiative are not
guided by few men as in recent years,
but made rich by the activities of a
multitude. as in days now almost for
gotten. We will not consent that an
ungovernable giant should be reared
to full stature in the very household
of the government itself.
..In like manner by the currency bill