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of the Sherman anti-trust law for a. corporation,
to attempt to destroy a competitor by selling at
a low and unprofitable price whore it has compe
tition, and at an exorbitant price where it has
no competition. In what respect is our plan
more socialistic than the plan which Mr. Taft
indorses? Merely in the fact that ours can be
enforced. According to Mr. Taft's logic, a plan
is not socialistic which is not effective, but the
same would be socialistic if made effoctive.
Why should a- corporation supplying twenty
millions of people for a corporation controll
ing twenty-five per cent of the total product
supplies one-fourth, or more, of our population
should such a corporation be pormltted to sell
at one price in one part of the country and at
another price in another part? What reason
can a corporation have for such discrimination?
Prices are not made as a matter of favorr when
a big corporation sells to the people of one sec
tion at one price and the people of another sec
tion at another price the cost of transportation
being tafcen into consideration there ia a
reason for it, and in almost every case the
reason is to be found in the effort to destToy a
competitor One of the most familiar methods
of the trust Is to undersell a small competitor
in the small competitor's territory the price
belnff maintained elsewhere until the small
'competitor Is driven to bankruptcy and then the
price is raised. That has been done over and
over again. It is open and notorious; and yet,
with the republican party in complete power at,
Washington,, what effort has been made to pre
vent tliis. This remedy, although vehemently
denounced by Mr. Taft, will appeal to the aver
age man as not only very salutary, but very
necessary."
THE NEBRASICA LAW
Special dispatch to the New York Herald:
Lincoln Neb. A six year test of the Nebraska
anti-trust law, in so far as It a'ffects local un
fair discrimination, has proved successful, In.
the opinion of the officials whose duty it is to
look to its enforcement. The original anti-trust
enactment of 1897, which was found ineffective,,
was materially amended and added to at the
legislative session of 1905 In what is known as
the Junkin. anti-trust law. Its strong point is
In prohibiting discrimination in the selling price
of any article. Tn other words, the anti-dis-crimination
section provides that prices must be
the same for any commodity' In every part of
the state, affected only by the difference in the
cost of transportation or quality of the article.
The wording of the statute is as follows:
"Any person, firm or company, association, or
corporation foreign or domestic, doing business
in the state of Nebraska and engaged in the pro
ductions' manufacture or distribution of any com
modity in general use, that shall intentionally
for the purpose of destroying the business of a
competitor in any locality discriminate between
different sections, communities or cities of this
state by selling such commodity at a lower rate
in one section, community or city than- Is
charged in another section, after making due
allowance for the difference, if any, in the grade
or quality and in the actual cost of transporta
tion rom the point of production if a raw pro
duct, or from the point of manufacture if a .
manufactured product, shall be deemed guilty
of unfair discrimination, which is hereby pro
hibited and declared unlawful."
The penalty provided for violations is a fine
of from $50Q to $5,000 or imprisonment in the
county jail not to exceed a year or both. For
feiture ,'of charters and ousters from. the state
In the case of both domestic and foreign cor
porations is provided following' trial and con
viction. ,
Under the original anti-trust law two success
ful suits were prosecuted by the state, first in
the case of 'the. grain elevator combine, which
was compelled to dissolve, and again In the case
of the "Nebraska "Lumber Dealers' association,
which after a bitter struggle was forced to dis
integrate. A number of suits under the antl-discriroina-tionsection
of the enactment have been Insti
tuted in the last three years, and in not a single
instance, so far as there Is record, has there
been a failure to convict. In a number of these
cases appeals have been taken to the supremo
court, witli the result that the highest tribunal
of the state has sustained the validity of the law,
. One pf the recent actions -was that in one of
the smaller tQwns where existed two grain buy
ing firms, one an independent elevator and the
other belonging to a company having a line of
levators in this and neighboring states. Both
firms at the outset paid practically the same
prlcep for grain, but on account of the better
The Commoner;
acquaintance of the independent dealer he wa
getting the bulk of th grain brought to th
town by the farmers. To meet this- condition,
the line company forced up the; price of grain
to a figure out of proportfon to the ruling prices
in the state for this one town alone, while other
elevators of the same company In nearby towns,
whore no competition existed, paid a price per
bushel much lower. The- effect was to, drive- the
independent dealer out of business, and suit
was brought under the anti-discrimination: sec
tion of the law. The Independent dealer won
in the lower court, and on appeal' the supreme
court sustained the? decision.,
Railroad companies1 at first fought the. statute,
alleging it was inconsistent, but so far as: known;
there has been no infraction, by the carriers for
twa years.
"T1D& OLD SHIP IS LEAKING"
At a republican convention, held? in Ne
braska at the time of the populist uprising-, a
famous republican, acting as chairman, warned
the gathered hosts that "the old ship is leaking;
now."
The Washington, correspondent for the New
York World describings the meeting of the re
publican, national, committee told of. the notable
developments in, this way:
"1. Turning of the cabinet room of the.
White house Into a battle ground fora- conflict
between two factions of the party over the selec
tion of the chairman of the committee on ar
rangements, for the next convention,, with the
president of the United States as an unsuccess
ful umpire.
"2. An open declaration of war by the antf
Taft men against hfs renomihation on the
ground that he can. not he elected.
"3. The abandonment of the "progressive"
and "new nationalist" issues In the fight against
the president and the resort to the old-time
methods for factional supremacy.
"4, The discarding of the boom for Senator
Robert Marlon La Follette of. Wisconsin and the
raising- of the standard of Theodore Roosevelt
by party chieftains who have been publicly
branded by him as reactionaries and stand
patters. "5. The official declarations of chairmen of
the republican state committees, of two states
that Mr. Taft can not be re-elected if present
conditions continue through the coming" cam
paign. "6.. The apparent inability of President Taft
to prevent an open breach in his party as a.
result of the aggressive attitude of his adver
saries who have assumed command of the move
ment to bring about the nomination of Col.
Roosevelt in order to prevent his own."
Surely it may be saEd of the national repub
lican party, "The old ship is- leaking, now."
Tina AMERICAN BEAUTY. HOSE, AGAIN
Away back in 190 & Rev. Newell Dwight. Hillls'
said: "The saddest word& that have been writ
ten in this generation were spoken before
Brown, university by a young man who is to
inherit one of the greatest fortunes in this
country. They were spoken: in defense of the
trusts. Listen to them: -
" 'The American .Beauty rose can be produced
in all its splendor only by sacrificing the early
buds th'at grow up around it The rose has,
1,000 buds: and in order to produce the Ameri
can Beauty the gardner goes- around it with a.
knife and snips 999 in order that all the
strength and beauty may be forced into one
bloom. In his economic arguments; this young
man brutally tells th working classes that
999 small business men must bo snuffed out of
existence in order that hfs American Beauty,
the trust, may be produced."
In a recent Issue the New York World printed,
this editorial:
"John D. Rockefeller jr., in his celebrated
Bible-class parable of the rose, instanced the
gardener's method of cutting off all but one
bud from the stem to produce the perfect
American Beauty, and showed the application
of the idea to the trust question. .
which the elder Rockefeller was evolved Into
the perfect rose of trust finance Is furnished by
the testimony of Albert and Leonidas Merrltt
beforo the Stanley Steel trust Investigating com
mittee. The testimony of the brothers illumi
nates -the methods by which it is alleged Albert
Merrltt was compelled by Rockefeller' calling
of a loan of less than $1,000,000 to surrender
at $30 a sharo stock which has since earned
dividends of $200 a sharo, and to sacrifice at
,a nominal figure a tenth Interest in a railroad
which last year is represented to have earned
.$8,000,0001 The negotiation the call loan
through; ministerial; Influences carries out" the
analogy of th$ parable
"The process Is doubtless somewhat painful
for the buds that are cut off. But It Is thus that
perfect roses are produced in horticulture and
In high finance. The point of popular, interest .
Is as to how far under the Shorman act the law
of the- garden, agrees, with, the. federal statutes-"'
A DEFENDER OF ORBEE -
The Joplhr Daily Globe, which used to-be' on
of the lea'ding democratic papers of southern
Missouri seems to have gone, over body and
soul to the trusts. In aw editorial, printed re
cently it pfesented an elaborate defense of the
steel trust. After defending, the: organization
and methods of the steel trust, the Globe con
cludes: "Industry; thought civilization,, can't go
back.. This; is? a day of big, visions; and bi,
achievements. It is a day of T3ig Business. If.
the world Is to live at its present standards the
business of the world must be conducted by big
men oa a' big scale. ,
"We- can't turn back the, clock. Wei can't,
stop it. And who would want tot dot. It. if be .
could? There isn't & yesterday anywhere alongr
the road of time that compares with today in
the vital respects of the world's- comforts pros-"
pecity, culture, happiness, opportunity.
"The. men who are- at the heati of the steel
corporation are master minds'. They ara lead
ers today because this; is a day of business;,
The counterparts; of just stfch minds were th
great generals In the days, of militarism, great
ecclesiasts In the days of ctairch dominance, th
warriors', bold in the days? of chivalry.
"The law may fetter genius' but it never
created talent.
"It is difficult to perceive what in the way of!
betterment it Is hoped to accomplish by the dis
integration of great industrial1 enterprises that
have yielded as- much, if not more, to- the world
than they have, taken from the world.
"What are the fortunes of a few multimil
lionaires as against the standard of living- which
the amassing of such fortunes has established?
"What must be the end of a propagandum
that holds an exceptional degree of success-a
crime?"
If the attorney for the steel trust had written'
the editorial it could not more servilely support
the great corporation which is how before the
court It is surprising that any paper in the
west should attempt to defend the steel trust.
Wall' street organs are under a sort of tev
rorism and little else can be expected of them
except praise of the great predatory combina
tions, but a paper published as far west as Mis
souri ought to be able to take the people's' side
of a great question like this. The argument
that the trust is- a natural development or neces
sary to the nation's progress is an argument
'that could be made just as well in support of
burglary, horse stealing- or any other kind of
crime. A" private monopoly is indefensible and
intolerable. This has been three, times the
declaration of the, democratic platform,, and the
truth of the. statement la becoming more and
more apparent.. Industry will: not go backward
when It Is. freed from the strangle grasp of
monopoly. Thought will not go backward when
it Is. "free frpm the coercion, of the. exploiters;
Civilisation: will not go back when the cora
mercial seas are ,f reed from the financial pirates
that new assume the right to plunder at will.
This Is a day of big visions, but one can not
claim that his vision is" large if he sees na
escape from the operation- of the trusts, and it is;
not a big achievement to defend grand larceny
It Is time to distinguish between the doing of
business on a large scale and the overthrow of
competition. The trust' magnate is not the first
genius who has felt .himself fettered by the law.
Nearly every Napoleon of finance has. made the
same complaint. It is fortunate that Jasper'
county has In "The Tribune"" an antidote for
the Globe's poison.
"BE SURE YOUR SINS WILL FIND YOU OUT"
Members- of the American beef trust have - re
ceived the following letter from the representa
tives of the British government:
"War office, London S. W In reference to
contracts of the army. In reply to your'letter
I am directed to inform you that pending the
ultimate result of the legal proceedings -In th
United States against certain meat-packing ,
firms, It has been decided by the British govern- '
mont that none of the firms involved shall D
invited to tender for army supplies. ". "-?
"N. S. B, OSBORNE, v'rVV
"Director of Army Contracts. '$'' J.
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