Conservative *
profit and loss lies wifchiii the scope of
the dccinml part of a cent.
Aud it has come to pass that practic
ally unlimited means of production are
confronted by limited consumption.
Competition.
Obviously , when supply is steadily in
excess of demand , prices must tend
downward to the point whore only the
strongest can survive and the weak
must go to the wall. The struggle to
live and to sell is competition.
When the boom is on , the mill runs
full time. When reaction comes , the
mill slacks down to half time or no
time , and men are thrown out of em
ployment , while interest and rust eat on.
Competition moans liberty , it is said ,
and it is true ; but it means also liberty
to the sweater and the bloodsucker to
compete with the employer who wants
to pay fair wages. It means also liberty
to the tricky merchant who fails often
and grows rich to compote with the
merchant who pays his debts.
There is no doubt that one of the
causes impelling business into combiiia
tions is disgust and revulsion against
certain phases of competition.
Commercial Evolution and lemigogism
Producers have sought in vain to
bring about steady prices by adjusting
output to demand.
First there was the so-called "agree
inent among gentlemen. " Next there
was the trust combine , which took alarm
at court decisions and accepted the
statutory invitation ? of New Jersey and
West Virginia to incorporate under
their laws.
The modern incorporated trust is a
development of commercial evolution.
To say that trusts are due to party is
cheapest dcinngogism. However , there
is seldom an important phase of national
existence that is not taken advantage of
by demagogues as a means of getting
themselves elected to olflce.
Generation after generation has set
its stakes on the road to progress and
the world has moved up , moved by , and
moved on and set other stakes , but
crime and disease and the demagogue
are still in the procession. Short crops ,
destructive storms , a dry time in sum
mer , a flood in harvest , or an unseason
able frost are the demagogue's opportu
nities. He appeals to class cupidity anc
jealousy. He magnifies and inflames all
class differences and urges that the state
shall "constitute itself a kind of provi
dence to break contracts and regulate
anew the conditions of industry. "
The trust belongs to a group of mod
ern phenomena. It is one of the most
conspicuous results of a strong modern
terfiency to centralization. Trusts have
been forming so rapidly within the last
few years as to rouse the serious concern
corn of students and statesmen.
The newspapers assert that more than
-ten hundred million dollars wont into
trusts in 1808 , and that in the first three
nouths of 1899 more than twice that
sum was incorporated. The formation
of a million-dollar corporation has been
for some time a matter of frequent
chronicle.
III\VH Seeking to Regulate.
Monopoly is not a new thing under
; ho sun , and laws attempting to regu
late mankind in labor , trade and com
merce are not new. In the reign of
Edward III. (1849) ( ) was passed "the
statute of laborers , " which provided
that whereas in the recent pestilence
many workmen and servants had died ,
and whereas , many seeing the necessi
ties of masters , would not servo except
for excessive wages , therefore every
able-bodied person under the age of 00 ,
not having wherewith to live , on being
required , should serve him that did re
quire him at the wages that had pre
vailed in the twentieth year of that
reign. It provided , too , that victuals
should be sold at reasonable prices. By
subsequent laws in the same reign it
was sought to define and declare what
men should eat and what they should
wear.
In the reign of Elizabeth (1562) ( ) a law
was made whereby it was intended to
rate the wages of artificers , laborers and
other persons "according to the plenty ,
scarcity , necessity and respect of the
time. " In the reign of Edward IV.
statutes were also passed defining "the
length and breadth of cloth to bo sold. "
Later , when divers persons did begin to
make "ultra wares" not of "good stuff ,
and right making , " wardens were
created , whose duty it was to "survey
the workmanship of artificers. "
Laws ware also passed in the reign of
Edward III. creating and punishing
offenses known as engrossing , forestall
ing , regrating and badgering. By these
laws buying and selling at wholesale
and holding for a e ibsequent rise was
made a crime. In the reign of George
III. (1772) ( ) they were repealed because
it was said such laws had a tendency to
discourage growth and to enhance the
price of commodities.
In the reign of Edward VI. , because
it was said victualers had conspired to
sell their victuals at unreasonable prices
and artificers , handicraftsmen and
laborers had confederated in respect to
their work , it was provided that all such
persons should ba punished and all such
brotherhoods should be dissolved.
All these laws had become an obsolete
antiquity by Blackstone's time and were
never observed to any extent. The
weight of authority is that these ancient
English statutes did not come to us as a
part of the English common law.
Attempts were made during the perioc
of our revolutionary war to coutro
prices by statute. The continental congress
gross , under the date of November 22
1777 , among other things , recommended
that commissioners be appointed by the
different states to convene ' 'in order to
regulate and ascertain the price of labor ,
manufactures , internal produce , and
commodities imported from foreign
parts ; also to regulate the charges of
nholders. " Thereupon many of the
states passed laws "to regulate the
wages of mechanics and laborers , the
jrices of goods and commodities , and
; he charges of inholders , " and then
promptly repealed them. The attempt
by the state to fix arbitrary prices had ,
as stated by the governor of Rhode Is-
.and , resulted in "an almost entire stop
of vending the necessary articles of life. "
These attempts to regulate prices by
law were colonial war measures , and
failed oven as war measures.
Progress and Combination.
On the night of Ootobor 23 , 1781 , the
watchmen of Philadelphia , going their
nightly rounds , uttered the welcome
cry , "Ten o'clock ; starlight night ;
Oornwallis is taken. " Independence
had passed from a declaration to a fact.
From thirteen colonies wo have grown
to forty-five states , gridironed with
railroads , lighted by electricity , and oc
cupied by the most progressive people
on earth , and wo have been recently
adding to our possessions. We have
passed rapidly out of the period of a few
moderate but conspicuous fortunes into
a time of complex business activity
where millionaires are common and
Oroesus would be only well-to-do.
Invention and capital have harnessed
steam , electricity and gravitation. Hu
man labor has been replaced by machin
ery , the ultimate effect of which has
been to greatly increase human employ
ment. It is said that "iu England , before -
fore the invention of the spinning jenny ,
there were 5,200 spinners and 2,700
weavers. Ten years later there were
105,000 spinners and 247,000 weavers.
In 1838 there were 487,000 spinners and
and weavers. Today , taking the collat
eral industries dependent upon the cot
ton , woolen and flax industries , not less
than 2,000,000 persons are employed
instead of the 8,000 employed at the
time the spinners and weavers broke
the machines because they destroyed
labor. " In 1800 the weaver could buy
ten yards of cloth with a week's wages.
In 1890 he could buy 150 yards and work
thirty hours less per week.
The railroads displaced stage coaches
and freight wagons , and men com
plained because they were thown out of
employment. Now , the railroads of the
United States alone give employment to
750,000 men , not including the army
engaged in collateral industries.
The mighty enterprises which have
exhalted and embellished human exist
ence would not have been possible with
out combinations of capital.
But there is such a thing as too much
combination. Formerly , competition
meant combination. Lately , however ,
it has come to mean a job for some ex-
