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NOVEMBER 58HKjb1l
The Commoner.
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11
How the Trusts Can Be Crushed
Illegal combinations of capital,
known as trusts, exist, and find great
profit and no molestation in continu
ing to exist, in defiance of law. Yet
the law sh6uld bo supreme m a land
where the will of the people, expressed
through their representatives, is the
law, and the greatest as well as the
humblest should bow in submission
to it.
The congress of the" United States
ch. 647, Statutes 1897, known as the
"Sherman Anti-Trust Law" prohibits
trusts under a penalty of $5,000 and
one year's imprisonment, and that act
has been held constitutional by no less
than three well-known decisions. In
nearly all. if not all. the states, there
has been similar legislation. In North
Carolina, by an act' passed in 1889,
trusts were made punishable by a fine
of $10,000 and ten years' Imprisonment.
That act defines a trust as "any ar
rangement for the purpose of increas
ing or decreasing the price of any class
of products beyond the price that
would be fixed by the natural demand
or supply."
Yet trusts, thus doubly illegal, being
denounced by both state and federal
law, and whose managers for ?en
years past have been liable every day
to fine and. imprisonment, with impu
nity oppress the public and pile up the
wealth that "belongs to the many in
the overflowing cpffers of the few.
There should be faithful execution of
the law and an impartial enforcement
thereof against those who find enor
mous wealth in its habitual violation
as well as against those who violate it
from passion or need and without
profit. .-. .'.'.
"When the 'great' armies of Europe,
in the year 1814, in overwhelming num
bers were converging upon Paris, de
fended by a feeble bana under Napo
leon, an unexpected move of that great
genius disconcerted them so that an
immediate retreat was begun by their
vast forces. An unsigned note, in a
lady's hand, coming from Paris, was
delivered to the commanding general.
It read: "You can do everything and
you attempt nothing." That note
changed the face oil mo world. A
council of war was hold; the allied
army about faced and marched straight
on Paris. The great military monarchy
of Napoleon fell. So ;t should bo said
to the American people: "You com
plain of the evils the trusts inflict
upon you. You complain that the earn
ings of the producer and the profits of
the small dealer and the opportunity
for advancement to many aro all con
fiscated for the creation of a few multi
millionaires. Why do you complain?
The remedy is in your own hands.
You can do everything 'and you at
tempt nothing.
The people aro all-powerful when
tney really will it. At xme exercise of
their will they can take charge of this
government from constable to presi
dent. If members ot the state legisla
tures and congress are unfaithful, the
people should mark their course and
elect others. If statutes passed in the
public interest are held unconstitu
tional by judges, then the same people
who made the constitution (whether
state or federal) can amend it if really
necessary; or if the fault is in the
judges, remove them and put better
men in their places. The Bervant is
not above his master, and judges and
,all other public officials are servants of
tho people and thoy arc nothing more.
Tho statutes making trusts illegal
havo not been enforced. Then let tho
master, tho sovereign people, look into
it and see what public servants havo
been lacking in zeal to enforce the law.
Those who aro friendly to tho trusts
say that there aro no trusts. Tho de
fense made by these hirelings of un
lawful combinations of capital for no
man, unless receiving noncflt from
them, would defend them sounds llko
a pica set u: by a lawyer whoso client
was sued for damaging a kettle ho had
borrowed. His plea ran thus: (1) The
Kcttlo was not cracked when lie re
turned It. (2) It was cracked whon he
got It. (3) Ho never had tho blamed old
kettle. So the advocates of the
trusts say: (1) Trusts aro very useful
and beneficial. (2) They are a neces
sary and unavoidable evil. (3) There
are no trusts.
But everyone knows perfectly well
that there are trusts. Thoy dip Into
every dish and levy trlbuto on every
thing that Is eaten, worn, or otherwise
used. They have eaten up the Just
earnings of the toller and tho trades
man. They aro as voracious and as
thorough as the locusts of Egypt. They
are Illegal and oppressive. The people
can and ought to suppress them.
It will bo asked how this can be
done. An honest, faithful execution
of the laws already upon the statuto
books would destroy them; and this
faithful execution can be had when
ever the people will arouse themselves
to select only such public servants as
will faithfully execute those laws. But
it has been suggested that additional
enactments will bo useful. I would
not be understood as opposing any sug
gestions made by others who may bo
more familiar with the subject than
I, and who havo studied it mora pro- '
foundly; but I venture to Huggcst uomo
enactments that may woll be pasuod by
any legislature that la seriously hosfilo
to these cancers upon tho body politic.
First, I consider tho nature of tho
operation of these Illegal combinations.
They combine vast maaao of capital;
then, whenever thoy find nn hnnont
dealer or a competing manufacturer
making a reasonable profit on goods
similar to theirs, they put an agent,
or open a store nominally In tho name
of another, alongside of him and un
dersell him till thoy nave broken him
up or forced him to sell out to tho
trust; whereupon Immediately tho
price of tho manufactured article Is
put up to tho consumer, and tho prlco
paid to tho producer for raw material
Is reduced. Tho monopoly having no
longer any competition, tho producer
Is forced to tako an unjustly low
prlco and tho consumer is compelled
to pay an unjustly high one, and tho
opportunity of countless thousands of
men, who would havo boon doalcra
and manufacturers, to support tholr
families Is destroyed. Those donlers
and manufacturers would, hv tunir
competition, havo guaranteed Juat
prices to the crcatoror tho raw ma
terial and reasonable prices to tho
consumer; but the trusts dostroy both
classes alike, and put tho profits into
their own coffers.
The additional legislation that has
occurred to mo Is ns follows:
1. 'inc trusts, being Illegal, should
bo treated as all other outlaws and .off
bidden the use of tho courts to collect
debts duo them and for all other pur
poses. When thoy sell goods on credit,
or seek Injunction to restrain use of
a trademark and the like, tho defenso
that the plaintiff is a trust may bo
.NOW READY
. .Mr. Bryan's New Book.
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V A collection of the articles Written by Mr. Bryan while in Europe, Cuba and Mexico, to-
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gether with a number of recent speeches, and lectures never before published in
bok form. The character of the work is indicated in the following table of
- r.
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i.":
On the'High Seas.
Tariff De? ate in England.
Ireland and Her Leaders.
Growth of Municipal Ownership." s. ; r .
Thanksgiving Address (London, Eng.). w
France and Her People. - - '-5' "
Republic of Switzerland. .
Three Little Kingdoms,
Germany and Socialism.
CONTENTS
Russia and Her Czar.
Rome, the Catholic Capital.
Tolstoy, the Apostle of Love.
Notes on Europe.
Pearl of the Antilles.
Birth of the Cuban Republic. .
Mexico First Visit.
Our Sister Republic Mexico.
Value of an Ideal.
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A .Conquering Nation.
Attractions of Farming.
Holland Society Address. ' '
Imperialism
"I Have Kept the Faith."
(St. Louis Convention S'peechJ
Naboth's Vineyard. "
British Rule In India.
Phllo Sherman" Bennett.
Wonders of the West
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