Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1900)
'Cbe Conservative. MAKJOBIE. On nights Horono when moonlights' glow Spreads o'er the earth Its aubtlo spell , While shadows blond with silver lights And faint winds whisper , "All is well , " Then oft again comes one I loved , To live and move through evening dreams , And Marjorie , sweet Marjorie Is smiling in the moon's white beams. Toward me she comes from out the dusk , Her white form moves with shadowed grace , Now dim in shade , now clearly scon , Her face gleams from each silvered space. And if it bo o'er whitened lawn , Or through the long walk's winding way , My Marjorie , sweet Marjorie Brings radiance of joyous day. For , though my arms stretch out in vain , And though her voice ne'er greets my car , She speaks from shadows to my heart So surely is her presanco near. I grasp again my youthful hopes , I hold tiio aspirations high That Marjorie , sweet Marjorie Held with mo ere her life passed by. I know 'tis only fancy's play , Dear memories that flit in view , But all life's evil fades away And all its best shines out anew Whene'er the silent , silvered night Brings blessing with its charming dreams , And Marjorie , sweet Marjorie Comes smiling in the moon's white beams. MAUV FKENCH MOHTON. TRUSTS. The following able and scholarly dis cussion of the trust question is taken from the Davenport , Iowa , Democrat : Too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Competition , the life of trade , may be so exhausting as to be its death. Go-operation is the basis of civilization , but , carried to the extreme , and made universal by compulsion , it ends in so cialism and slavery. Moderation alone has no extremes and is safe. The progress of civilization is like a rising tide , advancing and then reced ing , but creeping higher all the while. In short , we go to extremes , with a sure reaction ; but we advance again , and the sum of the centuries is progress. In government we have so centralized the power that we have had despotisms ; we have BO divided it that we have had futile and chaotic organisms like Po land. In economics , also , paternalism has been carried to such extremes , in trade and labor regulations , as to fetter and strangle both capital and labor. On the other hand freedom of contract between employer and employee has gone so far as to result in the moral and physical degeneration of factory em ployees , calling for comprehensive inter ference by the state. In this country we have generally followed the "laisses faire" theory of personal liberty , mak ing notable exceptions in our tariff and factory legislation , and our recent sta tutes against trusts. In industrial matters we have been guilty of excesses , both in competition and cooperation. Unbridled competi tion , devoid of cooperation , is savagery pittiless warfare , leaving the survivors but little better off than their victims. It would render civilization , which is based on cooperation , impossible. Partnership. When two men work together , in stead of independently , whether they share products , as partners , or one re ceives wages from the other , we have the most primitive case of cooperation. The social instinct , as well as the gain in production over what would result from separate action , drove men to co operation , in some form , under the wage system , in partnership more or less extended , and also in companies or associations , wherein many men placed their capital under a single manage ment which employed wage earners. This last plan presents in its essence the modern corporation. A great advantage which insures its permanence , is that it enables men of small means , by join ing their capital under one manage ment , to-compete with very rich men , who otherwise would have a decided advantage , inasmuch as production and distribution can be carried on more ef fectively on a large scale. While these groups of cooperators have been formed the movement has stopped far short of universal coopera tion , and competition between the groups has been the rule. During the past thirty years this competition has often been carried to such on extreme as to be ruinous to the participants and injurious to the public. Competition , which stimulates the activity of the brain , bringing forth improvements in the mechanical arts and in business methods , increases the production of labor , making possible higher wages to the toilers , fair profits to the furnishers of capital , and lower prices to consum ers. Competition may produce these benefits without serious drawbacks , but if it goes to an extreme and becomes merciless , prices may go down so low that wages ore out and business con ducted at a loss , often ending in bank ruptcy. Disorganized business , ruined manufacturers and merchants , wasted capital , and idle workmen ore evils for which abnormally low prices do not compensate , especially as they may be succeeded by prices as abnormally high. The social body is dependent mpon the welfare of the units which compose it , and suffers indirectly but surely from injury to any of them. Inordinate and disastrous competition of recent years is due to various caus es , among which are cheap and speedy transportation and a decline in what may be called the human feeling in bus iness matters. Primitive Days of Competition. When transportation was expensive and slow the merchant and mauufactur- er had a limited field of operation. He was thoroughly acquainted with this field , knew the amount of goods that were consumed by the inhabitants , and also was personally acquainted with his customers , and on more or less friendly relations with them. To prevent com petitors at a distance from shipping in their goods it was only necessary for him to be moderate in his prices. There was little temptation for the outsider to establish a store or factory within the occupied territory , as he could clearly see that there was not sufficient demand to support two , and that the danger of his failure was great. In those cases where several men were in the same business within this limited territory they were usually per sonally acquainted , having mutual friends and common interests outside of their business. This tended to mitigate the fierceness of competition , and in sensibly led toward agreements , often tacit , for fixing uniform prices , often maintained so long as to have the force of custom. The price of a loaf of bread , a quart of milk , a glass of beer and other things , in this way became fixed. The personal acquaintance of the storekeeper or manufacturer with his customers and their families was also some restraint upon his selfishnessthe re straint being strong in proportion to the closeness of the social relation. A stranger might be robbed with impunity but not his own neighbor. If you have any doubt of the strength of this feeling visit the small summer resorts where , as a stranger , you must pay twice as much as the natives for everything. Our altruism has not gone very far be yond that of the ancients who consid ered a foreigner an enemy to be feared if strong and plundered if'weak. We still yield occasionally to the old im pulse to "heave a brick at the stran ger. " On the other hand the customer knew the shopkeeper who supplied his wants ; he not only knew the grocers , Jones and Smith , but he knew their families. He saw the little Jones and Smith children ; knew that they needed to be clothed and sent to school , was sorry for them when their clothes were shabby and their shoes out at the toes , and had no objection to Jones and Smith making a fair profit in their business , or to their agreeing upon uniform prices. In fact , he rather preferred that the prices should be the same. He expected law yers , doctors and dentists to have uni form fee bills for ordinary services , and approved of uniform prices for the services of barbers , hockmen and others. Conditions Change. The growth of cheap and rapid , trans portation , which was accompanied by corresponding development in the me chanical arts , has changed all this. It
