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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (May 17, 1907)
A The Commoner, 3 MAY Hi 1007 ' &-. m legislation would be In the Interest of Innocent stockholders. Where two competing companies are brought together under the same board of directors, com petition is as effectively stifled as if there were -ari iron-clad agreement between the two or the' two were merged into one. If there is to bo a determined effort to suppress the trusts and re store competition among individual producers. It is Imperatively necessary that rival companies shall be prohibited from filling their boards of di rectors with the same men. While the states should protect the public in this respect It is not npcessary that the people of the whole country should be at the mercy of a few trust-creating states, for the power of congress over interstate commorce is ample to provide a remedy. The third form in which Uie trust appears is found in the combination of a number of sep arate corporations under a contract which controls the various parties to the contract and prevents them from entering into competition with eacli other. Tills is the trust at wliich the provisions of the anti-trust law were aimed, and It deserves less attention now lhan in the years past, because, oe ing the most familiar form of the trust, It Is most likely to be exterminated. All that need to bo said is as to the remedy. In the beginning the ex ecutive officers thought the civil part of the stat utes sufficient and attempted to break up the trusts by injunction. That pro'vlug unsatisfactory, re sort was next had to the criminal provisions of the law with the idea that a fine would be suffi cient. The fine has been shown to be ineffective and the president is turning more and more to ward the imprisonment clause. It is useless to attempt to prevent combinations by fines levied against corporations when the fines are small com pared with the sums made by combination. Im prisonment, however, Is a real punishment and the trust magnates will become scarce as soon as the penitentiary doors close upon a few of the large offenders. The fourth form which the trust assumes if; the single corporation which buys up enough fac tories to give it control of a given business. This is the form .which the future trust is most likely to assume and it is the most difficult one to reach The tendency at this time Is toward consolidation under a single corporation. The United States Steel company is one of the best 'Illustrations that ,we have -of this kind of a trust. It is a single corporation with a single board of directors, but It owns enough factories to .enable it to control -several different branches of industry. It has re cently acquired from the Great Northern railroad iron ore beds of enormous value. There is scarce ly an argument that can be made against a trust ,which can not be made against the United States Steel company, and yet no effort has been made to interfere with Its plans. It is doubtful whether any law-that we now have is sufficient to reach the case of the steel company and similar trusts operating under a single charter, but it Is absurd to denounce a contract betvye6n several different corporations and then consent to the consolidation of the parties to the contract into one corporation more potent for. evil than the separate ones could possibly be. Every argument that can be made against the principle involved In any other form of trust can . be made against the single corporation which se cures a controlling Influence over any line of busi ness, and no time should be lost in attacking the single corporation trust. Is a, private monopoly desirable? From the 'efforts that have been made to resist the prin ciple when It has appeared in the guise of a com bination in restraint of trade it would seem un necessary to present an argument against the private monopoly, and yet there are many who draw a line between the monopoly created by contract and the monopoly created by consoli dation. "A private monopoly is indefensible and in tolerable" so says the democratic national plat form of 1Q0O and this Is the only tenable ground .that the' opponent of the trust can occupy. The moment one begins to defpnd the principle of pri .vafe monopoly in any form he is lost. The mo ment he expresses n willingness to tolerate the principle of private monopoly in any form he takes' his place in the ranks of the trust defend ers. If the trusts are to be overthrown the oppo nents of the system must have downright earnests ness as well as upright intentions. Who will defend a private monopoly? Can a 'judge be trusted to sit in a case in which he has .a pecuniary interest? No one would think of an- . swerlng the question in the affirmative. Why? Because the bias of the human mind is universally recognized. No judge is fair-minded enough to decide a case when he is one of the parties to the suit. It is a settled rule of court to excuse a juror jwho has a pecuniary interest in the result of the uit, although he Is but one In twelve. The pri vate monopoly Is vicious In principle because thoie who act for the monopoly are judge and jury and decide each day against the public and in favor of themselves. Until human nature is so purged of Its dross that one's pecuniary interest will no longer influence his judgment, we dare not leave the public at tho mercy of those who establish ,k ' gain control of private monopolies. oooo EASILY ANSWERED 'The Washington Post is guilty of an inex cusable blunder in the discussion of tho initiative and referendum. It says: "If all the power, subtlety and craft of tho human mind should conspiro to invent a, scheme by which to work destruction to tho plan of dual government that has existed in this re public for more than a century, tho initiative and referendum would bo Invoked. Nothing could be moro effectual and nothing could bo so insidious. Government by constitutional con struction would do tho work like a meat axe; tho initiative and referendum would operate as the poisoned draught, and thus we may choose the block or the cup as the instrument of po litical death. Both are completo consolidation Both would totally extirpate state sovereignty. The dual form would be spared by constitu tional construction, but it would bo only the shado-vy. Even the shadow would cease to re mind us of departed liberty under tho irrespon sible despotism of the initiative and referendum. In the constitution it is writ that Now York and Delaware are equal in tho United States senate. Under the initiative and referendum Delaware and Albany county, New York, would be equal, the county, with 44,478 votes, having a slight advantage over Delaware, with 43,878 votes. The entire state of New York has 1,617,770 votes, and thus under the fad of tho initiative and referendum Now York would have more than thirty-nine times the weight in the gov ernment that Delaware would have. Pennsyl vania and Virginia are equal in the federal senate, but under the initiative and referendum Pennsylvania would swallow up half a dozen Virginias. Ohio would equal four 'Or five Ten nessees, and Illinois would overshadow nineteen Mississippis. Could anybody conceive a scheme more effectual to consolidate political power in the great and populous states? In 1904 the four states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois cast 4,935,000 votes. The other states of tho union forty-one in number cast 8,588, 518 votes. As the constitution is, New York, . Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois constitute four forty-fifths of the republic in the federal sen ate; under tho initiative and referendum they would be moro than one-third of the union. Where would the south stand? She would be as powerless in the grasp of the masses of the north as she was under the bayonets 'of recon struction. Will the intelligence of America sub mit to the slums of our great cities for review the statesmanship that results from tho doliber--atlons of the representatives of the people? Is that to be an issue?" The editor of the Post ought to know that, according to the constitution, the equal repre sentation of the states in the senate can not be changed without the consent of tho states, and that means that it can never be changed. There is no danger, therefore, of the smad states losing their influence. If the editor of the" Post had taken occasion to inform himself before writing the, editorial above quoted, he would know that the advocates,, of the initiative and referendum have never thought of depriv ing the states of their equal representation. In the plans applying the initiative and referendum to the federal government, the rights of the states are respected, and a vote to be binding would have to bo concurred in by a majority of the states as well as by a majority of the peo ple. The Post's scare is therefore not only with out foundation but ridiculously absurd. It was not necessary for it to parade its knowledge of tho population of Albany county and Delaware and its passionate appeal to the south Is an in sult to the intelligence of that section. The south will get tired after awhile of being treated by the plutocratic press as if it had no sense at all. The voters of the south are intelligent. They know the constitution and they also under stand the principles of government. They be lieve in a democratic form of government, and they do not neea to study the subject of gov ernment at the feet of the Washington Post. The manner in which the suggestions of the trust-controlled papers have been rejected by the people of the south is proof that they not only know what they want but that they know why so many of our large dailies usp misleading editorials. They know that tho owners of thcao papers are attempting to chloroform thoir road ors whilo tho beneficiaries of special privilege aro picking tho pockota of thoso roadors. Tho small states aro not afraid of tho In itiatlvo and roforondum. Montana, Orogon and South Dakota are small states, and yet, thoir people havo already declared themselves In fa vor of tho initiative and roforondum. Okla homa is not a largo state, and yet, tho Initiative and referendum aro a part of tho constitution. Maino is not a largo state, and yot hor peoplo voto at tho next election upon the adoption of tho initiative and roforondum. Now .Torsoy in not a largo state, and yot .one branch of her logislaturo came within four votes of endorsing tho initiativo and referendum. No, tho small states need not bo afraid of the initiativo and referendum, for whenever it is applied to tho federal govornmont tho rights of tho small states will bo protected as securely as thoy aro now protected by tho constitution thoy could not bo disregarded. The Post says that "tho south would be as powerless in tho grasp of tho masses of the north as she was undor tho bayonets of recon struction." Tho north would havo no greater relative Influence undor the initiative and rofor ondum than she has now, but tho people both north and south would havo moro influence over thoir govornmont, and that is why r.uch a bitter" protest is made by thoso who distrust tho people. Tho Post says: "Will tho intelligence of America submit to tho slums of our great cities for review tho statesmanship that results from tho deliberations of the representatives of tho peoplo?" So it seems that, according to tho Post, It is tho duty of tho representatives to do tho thinking for tho people and if tho represent atives betray the peoplo, tho voters aro not al lowed to express" themselves. The betrayal of tho public by city councils has led to tho adop tion of tho initiativo and referendum for the protection of the peoplo of the cities. Tho be trayal of tho peoplo by stato legislators has lod to tho adoption of tho initiativo and referendum in several states, -and the contempt uous indifference of the United State's senate to tho. wishes of tho voters Is operating in the na tion a? tho action of legislatures and city coun cil's has operated in eta' and city. OOOO KEEP IT DARK When H. H. Rogors of the Standard Oil trust was about to sail, recently, for Europe, ho vwas asked if there was "anything now in Stand ard Oil affairs." Mr. Rogers replied: "No, thank God for that." There is a great deal moro of genuine thanksgiving in this remark than some peoplo might imagine. ' OOOO AN AUTHORITY Referring to an article about to bo written by Senator Bevoridgo of Indiana, Senator Alli son of Iowa says: "Mr. Boveridge must be alert in this debate, for he Las In Mr. Bryan an able antagonist who knows how to evade as well as to assert." Parenthetically it may bo remarked that Senator Allison is an authority on "evasion:" ' OOOO DON'T YOU MIND - " I. Trouble don't you mind it, and don't you, mind " I the care, , - Push 'em all behind you, and dream of heavens fair. The sorrows that, like shadows, come falling 'cross the way Will fade before the sunbeams and blossoming of May. II. Don't you mind the thunder, and skies that threaten, low, Don't you mind the wind sighs that keep a-wall- ing so; For every sigh we hear, dear, there'll come a lilting tune For every bit of trouble there'll come the smiles of June! III. Don't you mind the grieving grief must play its part; . Tears must blind the sight, dear, ere joy creeps In the heart. Don't you mind the thistles that wound the weary feet We must know the bitter that we may know y 1iq sweet! Will F. Griffin, in Milwaukee Sentinel. ;uva:.JfttMrf.--r-'''-igfc--