Cbe Conservative *
number of the replies. The great ma
jority of the writers , representing well-
known houses from Pennsylvania west
ward , agreed that the policy of reducing
duties and so warding off retaliation
from abroad was now preferable. These
writers held the point of view of the
manufacturer , seeking to build up an
export trade , and their testimony goes
to prove that machinery in this country
needs no tariff protection. This coun
try has grown great in manufacturing
because it can make iron cheaper than
any other if it chooses. It is the great
magazine of essential supplies timber ,
limestone , conl and metals , as well as exhaustless -
haustless stores of food at easy com
mand. Moreover , it is peopled by an
ingenious and energetic race the very
pick of the best stock in the Old World.
Since wo are so loudly told by the
trusts and combines and their organs
, _ and dependents
Punic of 18D3. , , . . . . ,
that it was the
very mild and modest curtailment of
their monopoly privileges in the tariff of
1894 that caused the business depression
of 1893 , it is worth while to stop for one
minute to inquire how that depression
really came about. The matter is well
enough understood , of course , by those
who remember the conditions of the
time , and therefore know that tariffs
had no more to do with onr trouble
than the Chicago fair had , and less than
the Baring failure in London ; but there
is no harm in setting it straight again.
Legislation enacted in 1890 for the
benefit of the silver-mining interest ,
joined with the dependent pension bill
and a large reduction of revenues by
putting sugar on the frea list the same
year , created grave uneasiness abroad ,
and a resulting apprehension lest silver
dollars might be forced upon creditors
by the United States led to withdrawal
of foreign capital from investments in
this country.
The return of our securities from
Europe is plainly shown in the large
trade balances of those years our specie
and merchandise going abroad to square
the account. This movement would
not alone have been sufficient to cause
trouble on this side for quite as much
foreign capital has been withdrawn in
the lost two years as in 1891 and 1892
without hurting us in the least if the
distrust had not extended to our own pee
ple. First , credit was withheld by those
who feared that what was advanced on
a gold basis might be repaid in depreci
ated silver ; then , by a natural perver
sion , credit was refused generally and
all kinds of money hoarded ; and the
crisis was upon us. The banks and bus
iness houses that first fell were those
most involved in speculations ; real
estate booms , mines and fancy stocks.
Manufacturing works did not fail or
j fv
lose credit until other concerns began , to
drag them down. These are the facts ,
as will be recalled by ? all whose mem
ories run back six years ; But it is so
easy to beguile people who do not re
member , that it cannot surprise us to
see interested men confidently main
taining that all that distress originated
with the manufacturing industries and
was due to the very moderate tariff re
duction then contemplated and after
ward made. " " " " -
This alliance of trust and tariff is now
so plain that no intelligent man can hold
a doubt on thd"
, , ,
Ill-Diabolism. , . . _ _ .
subject. Yet people
ple are perpetually trying to confuse it ,
and successfully confusing it for many
minds , by suggesting that associations
and combinations are not unknown in
free-trade England , and that many pro
ducts not covered by an import duty ( as
petroleum ) are subject to combinations
there. This is a fog that can be blown
away in a moment.
"Wo are not claiming that associations
of producers are under all circumstances
an evil , for we freely admit that they
must continue to exist that union for
business purposes is something that has
come to stay. The evil conies in when
the association is encouraged to oppress
fellow-citizens , by a monopoly which leg
islation has made and may uninake.Pr '
cisely the same organization may be a
flagrant evil if granted a monopoly , and
quite harmless if not so favored. Fur
ther , the monopoly that renders the
trust formidable may arise from other
sources possession of land , deals with
private corporations , and what not as
well as from legislation. But that does
not prove in any way that we ought not
to avoid using legislation to create mon
opolies. We see , too , why the trusts
and combines are so much more harm
less in England than here ; legislation
there does not put a weapon into their
hands to aid in reducing citizens to sub
mission.
A recent Iron Age editorial suggests
the danger of wage reductions as a re
sult of tariff reduction , but its argument
has exactly the same force against every
possible cheapening of trust-controlled
articles.
If asked , will you vote for the repeal
of every duty which creates a monopoly ,
every duty which by cutting off impor
tation from abroad cuts off all revenue
from the government and at the same
time enables the trusts to maintain
prices against consumers in this country ?
a negative answer can only come from
an ally of those trusts. He who sin
cerely opposes them will unhesitatingly
answer , yes. That is the test question.
There are good reasons for believing
that if wo only suppress the monopoly
features of those combinations and pre
vent their doing so much of their work
in secrecy , the community is not des
tined to suffer the injury from their ma
chinations that so many timid people
fear. The universe is governed for good
and that what ought to be will bo.
There seems to be an inherent tendency
to disruption in these organizations , ex-
plaiuable in several ways ; divergence of
views on the part of those participating ,
naturally arising from the reluctance we
all feel against surrendering the man
agement of our affairs into the hands of
others outside rivalries , which occa
sionally prove too strong to overcome
business losses , whose effect is always to
aggravate disagreements and strengthen
Rivalries.
Even the shrewdest calculator may bo
deceived as to general tendencies in
trade. It is somewhat surprising , for
instance , that this enormous amount of
gold mining and coining has not done
more to raise prices.
Even in this season of brisk douiaud
and heavy export trade , prices are , except -
_ , . cept in metals , still
Prlcc-s. , , . ,
i j
below the level of
May , 1898. Even in their own affairs ,
Jhe ; best judges may bo misled. Men
pputed able judges told us that the high
prices early in 1878 were going higher
yet with little prospect of over coming
down ; and wo all remember how the
latter months of that year opened their
oyes. Early in 1SSO the same views
Jwero held , and one iron broker was so
sure of an advance in February that ho
was quite willing to sell a lot of pig iron ,
then selling at $86 , for the price that
would prevail four months later. The
price he got was $22. There wore in
1880 no business disasters to explain the
reaction , such as those of 1878 , and it is
earnestly hoped we shall see none this
year. It is the general impression
among iron tneii that prices are going
higher. Edward Atkinson , the great
Boston statistician , thinks there will bo
a scarcity of iron for some time to come.
In a recent letter he says :
"Do you remember my prediction
made ten years ago that the close of the
century would find all existing furnaces
incapable of supplying the demand for
iron ? Prices may be rushed to an ex
treme and react , but can bo carried to no
point that will prevent or seriously re
tard the accelerating demand for two
or three years to come. "
None the less , and despite faith in
Edward Atkinson , and the favorable
conditions for a rise , we do not look for
a long continuance of oven the present
abnormal prices for iron and steel. The
large foreign shipments now made are
mainly to fill contracts dating from be
fore the rise ( coinciding , we must re
member , with high prices and scarcity
of iron in Europe ) and fewer new con
tracts for delivery abroad are made at
present rates. Also at homo , a check is
noticeable in new undertakings requir
ing iron and steel. This indicates
that the movement has reached an
upper limit ; and a reduced wheat
crop this summer , which now seems
probable , may make the reaction the
more marked. Although the demand
is likely to continue largo and at good
paying prices , the present conditon of
the iron trade is evidently too abnormal