CAUSES OF MONOPOLY.
Most people agree that the Trust is the result of an evolutionary
development. If this be true, it is quite certain that the movement will
continue and that the Trusts will multiply in number and in size, and
thus even greater injury will be wrought than is now complained of, and
the problem will become the more complex and the more pressing for
solution. If the Trust is the result of a natural movement it is idle to
talk of such manifestly inadequate suggestions as tariff revision,
government ownership, the single tax, and publicity as Trust destroyers;
for, if it is natural, the Trusts will grow and thrive in spite of
these. But, should we listen for a moment to those who seek to
exterminate the Trust?
OBJECTIONS TO DESTROYING THE TRUST.
1. It performs the same function in civilization as improved
machinery--lightening and lessening the toil of the human family.
2. It organized the industries, eliminates useless labor, allays waste
and economizes in the use of nature's materials.
3. It makes less labor necessary, and therefore tends to reduce the
hours of work.
4. It makes enormously greater profits, comparatively, than individual
enterprises, and therefore makes higher wages possible.
5. It reduces the cost of production to the minimum and therefore makes
possible the lowest prices.
6. It is impossible to destroy the Trust without legislating against the
co-operative and partnership principle, and this would be futile as well
as demoralizing.
THE GREAT QUESTION.
If then we are not to destroy the Trust, and if we are not to adopt the
government ownership idea, and if the Trust cannot safely be let alone
because of the injuries it is now working, and because of the still
greater injuries which it threatens to inflict upon society in the
future, what shall be done with it? What can be done with this
unmanageable monster to destroy its faults and yet not spoil its
virtues? How can we conquer the giant without slaying him?
LOCALIZATION.
One more phase of the question requires consideration before proceeding
with conclusions. In Gloversville, N. Y., and near vicinity, about
three-quarters of the inhabitants are engaged in the glove industry, and
in Troy, N. Y., the same conditions obtain as to collars and cuffs. All
over the country, we find the inhabitants of certain localities devoted
almost exclusively to one industry, such as pork-packing, manufacturing,
fishing, and mining, and even in our cities we find certain sections
devoted exclusively to banking, shipping, shopping, dry-goods,
manufacture, and commission brokerage. The people of a certain town,
having for generations devoted themselves exclusively to the manufacture
of say, bricks, have become proficient and expert in that industry. They
have invented or obtained control of the best machinery, they have
trained their children from infancy to become proficient in the
industry, and they have ever been alert to seize upon the best and
newest ideas that always come to those who devote their lives and
fortunes to the perfection of any one thing. Besides, natural advantages
such as water power, accessibility to navigable streams, climatic or
geological conditions, and geographical situation often attract and
confine the people of a locality to one industry. Racial limitations and
advantages also determine to some extent what calling a man shall
follow. The thick-skulled negro would not be a success in the icy
regions of Alaska, and the oily Esquimo would be a failure in the cotton
fields of the South. Again, nature has adapted certain regions to the
growing of cotton, or tobacco, or fruits, and in others it has deposited
vast quantities of coal, or iron, or oil.
These, in brief, are some of the facts which render irresistible the
conclusion that localization of industries and specialization of men is
the natural and inevitable condition of the future.
Now, if every locality shall in the future have its specialty and other
localities will not compete with it, as we have shown they often cannot,
then locality monopolizes that specialty.
Thus the people of Gloversville will probably obtain a monopoly of the
glove industry, likewise the people of Troy of the collar and cuff
industry, the people of Wilkes-Barre of the coal industry, and the
people of Omaha, Kansas City or Chicago, of the meat-packing industry,
and the people of Haverstraw of the brick industry--not only because of
their training and experience, but because of natural adaptation, or of
geological or geographical advantages.
Here, then, are natural monopolies at many points, and we may as well
legislate to stop the tides from rising and falling as to resist this
natural economic movement. While not necessarily a Trust, it partakes of
the nature of the Trust in effect, and it may properly be classed with
the Trust for all present purposes.
Thus, monopoly results from two known causes: the operation of the laws
of co-operation, and the operation of the laws of localization and
specialization.
INTERDEPENDENCE OF MEN
Since one can no longer make his own shoes alone and must summon the aid
of thousands of his fellows in this simple industry, so must he have the
assistance of many more thousands of his fellows to supply him with the
numerous other articles needed for his comfort. In exchange for their
aid he gives his own labor in his chosen calling, and thus does he and
every other man become a necessary unit in the vast universal
organization. All men and all industries are interdependent. Without
the steel industry, the shoe industry fails for want of nails, eyelets
and machines. Without the paper industry the steel industry fails for
want of paper, car-wheels, books, stationery, the mails and the
telegraph. Without the silk and cotton industries the glove industry
cannot thrive, and so on throughout the entire list.
SOME PARTY HISTORY IN PASSING.
Thomas Jefferson, the father of the present Democratic party, was an
individualist. He was opposed to the expenditure of public money in
repairing highways, to building state canals and to establishing even a
national university. He was strongly opposed to the government ownership
principle, and maintained that that government is best which governs
least. The keynote of his philosophy was "free individual enterprise."
Alexander Hamilton represented the opposite school of political
philosophy. He was for concentration, and centralization of power. At
the root of the Hamiltonian theory is the belief that the people are not
competent to govern themselves,--hence the idea of ruling from above. At
the root of the Jeffersonian theory is the home rule principle and
absolute confidence in the wisdom of the people. The Republican party
today is somewhat consistent with the Hamiltonian philosophy, while the
Democratic party is consistent with no one theory, and is composed of an
heterogeneous collection of philosophers (?) from divers schools; but,
assuming that the Democratic party is mainly Jeffersonian, it should be
the last party seriously to suggest the government ownership idea. Yet,
if we are to follow Jefferson's "Free individual enterprise" philosophy,
we cannot consistently destroy the Trust, for that would be interfering
with free individual enterprise. The word "free" was used by Jefferson
in the sense of freedom from governmental interference. However, there
are those who claim that the Trust destroys free individual enterprise
because of special governmental favors, such as tariffs, patent and
copyright laws and legislative discrimination, which contention is more
or less well founded, and these persons therefore wish the government to
refuse these favors, claiming that then the Trust cannot exist, and that
then there will be free individual enterprise. But this appears to be an
erroneous conclusion, in view of the enormous advantages and economies
of co-operation, and by no manner of logical reasoning is it possible
to construct a permanent remedy from such proposed action.
Briefly, there is nothing to be found in the traditions and philosophy
of either the Democratic or the Republican party, nor the various
socialist parties, to meet the situation.
Whether we approve of the collectivist school of philosophy, of which
Karl Marx was the illustrious head, or of the individualistic school, of
which Proudhon was perhaps the ablest exponent, whether we are followers
of Hamilton or Jefferson, we find we must seek out a new ground or a
middle ground somewhere, for the old theories will not meet the
situation and solve the problem.
There is some truth and virtue in everything that is false and evil,
just as there is some evil in everything that is good. We must discover
and appropriate the virtues of Jefferson and Proudhon, Hamilton and
Marx, and carefully discard their faults.