The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-08-23

Wall Street. Control is exercised now
directly, now indirectly. Sometimes
it is merely on the basis Of tacit
business alliance-and this is an inn
portant factor in the rule Of Eastern
finance capital over the West. have
already referred to the class Of
smaller local capitalists who grew up
with the developing West. These cap
itahsts have been dominated, of course,
by the big interests, and they are quite
prepared to continue in the role OF
satellites; nevertheless, they demand
certain freedom of movement. If
they are to remain at such an obvious
disadvantage in competition, if there is
to be a sort of internal customs barrier
constantly raised against them, they
will simply refuse to play the game.
LaFollettism carries with it threat
that the Wall Street buccaneers can
not afford to ignore. They are obliged
to find a way out, way which will
satisfy Western aspirations and turn
the LaFollette ferment into diffused
and meaningless equal rights" move
ment-without at the same time in
juring their own always paramount in
terests.
That is not so difficult as it may
seem. AS a matter Of fact, it is no
longer to their interest to impose Sec
tional restrictions on industry. Their
stake in the West is so great that the
capital involved can not wisely be
treated as colonial capital" The
West must become completely abb
sorbed into a unified American eco
nomic system That is the substance
Of the Western demands, that is the
desire of finance capital, and that is
the development which is actually be-
ing consummated.
All over the world, capitalism tends
to become national capitalism, with
the national tariff boundaries as
greatly extended as possible.
In the light of the changed eco
nomic relations between the East and
the West, the abolition of Pitts
burgh Plus became an issue of much
greater significance than may appear
to the casual observer. Instead Of be-
ing simple antitrust manouever, a
blow at price-fxing, the plan to do
away with Pittsburgh Plus is a move
for a homogeneous capitalist indus
try. Pittsburgh Plus did not disap-
rxrIo h. No1 T.
sion ruled against it, declaring it to be
in violation of both the Clayton Act
and the Federal Trade Commission
Act (The Commission just discovered
this last monthly Ebert H. Gary and
others, whose holdings are primarily
in steel, may oppose the ruling in the
Supreme Court; they may temporarily
defeat it; but the chances are that
Gary will have to take his orders from
the real bosses of the United States
Steel Corporation-the finance capital
lists of ]. P. Morgan & Co. The end
of Pittsburgh Plus is clearly in sight.
No one need suppose for a minute
that we are about to witness the ca
pitulation of monopoly. The capitalist
press editorializes sagely on "the de-
Capitalization that will now take place
in the steel industry" but the truth
is that, if the Pittsburgh Plus practice
is discontinued, there is likely to be
real squeezing out of "independ-
ents," who are able to compete in the
industry now only because of the big
margin of price protection assured
them by Pittsburgh Plus. The pass
ing Of Pittsburgh Plus means not less,
but more Capitalization. 1t does not
signify the end of monopoly price for
steel, but the extension of monopoly
price from sectional to a nationwide
proposition.
All over the world, capitalism tends
to become national capitalism, and
the national tariff boundaries are as
greatly extended as possible. The f.
nance capitalists have come into their
<urx, 4, 4ho TTuffnI Ckok1~ M. -. -.