-
. ,
Conservative.
TKUSTS AND TARIFFS.
liar 111 Till Trusts Hooted lit Special Legis
lation.
If nny evidence were needed to prove
the failure of protective tariffs , the
recent colossal combinations of capital ,
known as "trusts , " would furnish it.
Had it been possible for tariffs alone to
secure that monopoly to special interests ,
always the prime motive of their enact
ment , many of the so-called trusts
would have been unborn. Mr. Have-
meyer was right in declaring the tariff
to be their fruitful mother.
Against natural combinations of
capital for purposes of economy and
efficiency , no objection can be made so
long as they are not removed from the
field of competition by artificial laws.
No matter how ambitious their purpose ,
how skillful their organization , they
can harm only the projectors if unsuc
cessful. They are subject to the crucial
test of the world's rivalry and must live
on their merits or die. No matter how
well-intentioned their managers , dis
aster awaits them unless the laws of
trade are scrupulously obeyed. When
these laws are observed society gains by
the enterprise.
Department Stores Not Harmful.
Discrimination must precede denun
ciation. The great department stores ,
which it is the fashion to decry , are not
a menace but a boon to the community.
They flourish because they supply a
natural want , have little or no exemp
tion from competition , and , while en
riching their owners if well managed ,
also enrich their customers by reducing
the cost of goods. They are not menac
ing combinations and are not buttressed
by unjust legislation.
Cooperation in production and dis
tribution is perfectly legitimate and
deserves encouragement while ability ,
skill , foresight , and other valuable
human qualities are relied upon , and
when no element of special privilege is
allowed to enter. Far otherwise is it
with government-fed monopolies when
the law of equal rights and services is
throttled. The protective tariff , shut
ting out foreign competing products ,
overstimulates domestic industries and
gluts the limited market. Consequently
retribution is always in waiting.
"Woolen mills , for instance , multiply
their output when the tax on foreign
goods shuts out importations. By home
competition the temporary advantage is
soon lost. Both producer and consumer
suffer in the end , the one by decreased
consumption , the other by high prices ,
by this stupid defiance of the natural
law of trade. Resolved into a trust ,
however , manufacturers can again
utilize the tariff for more undeserved
profits. <
t
Each tariff must bo more drastic than
its predecessor , calling for "increased
stimulant. Its purpose is constantly
neutralized by the active law of freedom
which it disregards. The Dingloy tariff ,
the latest and most outrageous of the
many despotic acts of a democracy ,
early developed signs of failure , and a
foreign war was precipitated largely to
cover high tariff shortcomings and
justify new edicts for revenue. But the
higher the tariff wall , the more internal
monopolies are fostered.
The Chief Object of Trusts.
The chief reasons put forward to defend -
fond trusts are hollow and delusive.
Economy , cheapness , and public advun-
tage are not the true motives of these
combinations. The single object is the
enrichment of their promoters. To hide
this naked selfishness the pretense of
public benefit is used as a cloak. The
economies made accrue to the trusts ,
seldom to the people , and although the
occasional lowering of prices , owing to
improved methods and new inventions ,
is unscrupulously claimed as the result
of consolidation. So far are tariff pro
tected trusts from benefiting the Amer
ican people , it is the foreigners who are
favored at our expense , the surplus
product being marketed at low prices
abroad to maintain high prices at home.
To try and correct these evils by
special legislation is "ascidian folly. "
As well attempt to "create a soul under
the ribs of death. " Courts , legislatures ,
and the ablest legal talent are subordi
nated to these vast and powerful inter
ests. To evade penalty a trust can
change its form in a twinkling when
hard pressed. Laws can be construed
to favor auy violation , and the repre
sentatives of every artificial trust are
ably represented in legislative and ad
ministrative departments. No congress
or tribunal is impartial or independent.
Already the promoters of ill-timed
trusts are trembling. The public have
declined their bait and in a money pinch
the banks will question and throw out
unmarketed securities. Many of the
schemes are still-born. The undertaker
knows that his services will soon be
wanted. The most bitter opponent of
trusts , if he possesses his soul in peace ,
will find a more complete punishment
meted out to them than he can plan.
Kmorsoii Abhored Special Privileges.
Emorsou wisely announced the law :
"Wealth brings its own checks and
balances. The basis of polit ical economy
in non-interference. * * * Do
not legislate. Meddle , and you snap
the sinews with your sumptuary laws.
Give no bounties ; make equal laws
* * * The level of the sea is
not more surely kept , than is the equi
librium of value in society , by the de
mand and supply ; artifice or legislation
punishes itself , by reactions , gluts and
bankruptcies. "
The true safeguard against trusts is
not new enactments , but the repeal of
old ones which have established in
equality and injustice Land monopolies ,
public franchises appropriated to private
uses , trade restrictions for individual
interest , these are the roots of the in
jurious combinations of capital. Until
they are extirpated it is absurd to waste
time in pruning the branches of the
evil.
In the coming presidential struggle
both parties will make largo professions
of enmity to trusts , both platforms will
have alluring planks , but if now anti
trust legislation is the solo weapon of
attack no life insurance companies can
find risks half as favorable. The shrewd
managers will smile undisturbed , and
only the voter will take the humbug
eriously.
Demolish Tariff * mid Abolish Trusts.
If , however , it is seriously proposed to
knock out the underpinning of the trusts
by repealing all tariff duties laid upon
their products , the monopolistic smile
will change to an expression of rage and
the fight be full of meaning and desper
ation.
It will be averred that my conclusion
is erroneous because trusts flourish in
free-trade England. The statement is
not true. Combinations exist because
justified by skill , ability , and public ser
vice , though doubtless there are some
favored by land and franchise privileges.
But trusts , like the bulk of our Ameri
can conspiracies , having the power to
mark up their prices at will , because
legally exempt from foreign competition ,
do not exist. In Great Britain an arti
ficial advance of price at once invites
unlimited importations from all com
peting countries and cannot bo main
tained. The protective tariff is the
breeder of trusts , and the practical and
efficient way to abolish them is to de
molish it.
WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON.
Boston , October 5 , 1899.
To one who diligently
I.KAIIMNO
GLOK1FIKD. gently labors a b
the reading of
books all things are soon or late made
plain , neither is anything hid from the
penetration of 1m inquiry. In the
course of his researches into the annals
of that glorious potentate Fin Mac Cool ,
of Ireland , THE CONSERVATIVE'S Celtic
editor lias come upon an individual
named Bryan , possibly the first of that
name ; and the word bryau , it appears ,
signified in the primitive tongue of
Ireland "a word , a writer , a publica
tion. " Thus it is made clear that the
founder of the race of Bryans was
addicted to the use of words , and that
he was apt to rush into whatever was
the equivalent for that day of print.
Nothing is more wonderful than the
manner in which individual character
istics persist in families.
