The labor world., 1921-12-17

proposed in the ordinance now before
the council and lot the rest Of the
city suffer along a. it has in the past,
paying its regular tribute to greedy
King Coal.
MONOPOLY AND PRIVILEGE
Privilege enjoyed by the few at
tho expense of the many is the chief
cause Of most Of our social and econ
omic ailments. Privilege Is tho par
ent Of monopoly. No monopoly
could weather the gentlest business
gale without the protection Of privi-
lege. It couldn't met the competi.
ton of honest, unprotected business
anywhere and survive for a day.
There is no efficiency in monopoly.
It is extravagantly conducted and It
can afford to be, for it has nothing
to fear 50 long Al it enjoys it's privi'
lege. Monopoly, through privilege,
has cheated the operation Of the law
of supply and demand, that is so far as
such q law may regulate prices.
Monopoly controls output, checks it
or multiplies it at will, and 50 long as
there is money in it. There would be
no "tapitalism'' to be feared in the
world today, if there were no private
monopoly, and remember, there would
be no private monopoly without a
special privilege Of some sort to sus-
tain it.
Thomas Jefferson wanted a govern
meut in America founded on: the con,
cept Of ttequal rights for all and
special privileges to none.". We long
ago departed: from: that principle. A
railroad grant or 4 public service
franchise is q special privilege. A
mineral. waterway Or cattle-range
concession is q special privilege. A
high protective tariff is q form Of pri-
vilege. A patent: right is another,
out. of which many, very many,
abuses have grown.
When the government issues q pa.
tent to an inventor it becomes a
party to monopoly. But, it is said, if
tho government did not protect an
inventor by a patent there would be
no inducement for inventions. Oh,
but there is another way Of encourag.
ing the inventor and protecting his
invention, and that is; for the govern
ment to take over the patent on any
article to be Of general use or Of pub.
lie benefit, lease the right to use it to
any and al who: may desire to uti.
lize it, and reward the inventor from
the returns ON such lease. Would. not
such plan protect the inventor bet!
ter than he il now protectedi
Few men< ever realize very much
on their inventions, The men who
finance them usually get the; cream o1
the returns they yield, the invento,
in many instances is frozen out en-
tirely. Take that wonderful inyen
tion, the cash register. One Ameri
can firm has world monopoly on it
The inventor died the other day in
New York, and he had just $40 cash
tc his name; which he had saved from
his salary as designer and drafts
man for. a printing press manufactur
ing company.
Charles Zallud invented the first
cash register, he also discovered pro
cesses by which modern newspape,
fast-color printing became possible. A
number of men>were made fabulously
wealthy as result of zalluq's inven'
tive genius, but not one Of them at
tended his funeral or even sent con
dolences. It was said Of him that
while he was q great inventor, he
lacked Financial genius" Had he
possessed the *'money-making talent
he probably would not have been an
inventor. That's q failing peculia,
tc men of his typo.
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