MONOPOLIES AND THE PEOPLE
BY
CHARLES WHITING BAKER, C. E.
ASSOCIATE EDITOR OF "THE ENGINEERING NEWS"
NEW YORK & LONDON
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
The Knickerbocker Press
1889
COPYRIGHT BY
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
1889
The Knickerbocker Press
Electrotyped and Printed by
G. P. Putnam's Sons
to all those who love truth and justice and equity, who
value our heritage of liberty and peaceful fraternity,
and who are willing to unite in upholding
and defending THE COMMONWEALTH—that
preserver and protector of the rights
of the whole people—the author
dedicates this work.
PREFACE.
In the following pages it has been my endeavor to present, first, the results of a careful and impartial investigation into the present and prospective status of the monopolies in every industry; and, second, to discuss in all fairness the questions in regard to these monopolies—their cause, growth, future prospects, evils, and remedies—which every thinking man is to-day asking.
The first part of this task, the presentation of facts with regard to existing monopolies, may seem to the well informed reader to be imperfectly done, because of the host of powerful and important monopolies of every sort that are not so much as mentioned. But I have deemed it most important that the broad facts concerning monopolies should be widely known; and I have, therefore, aimed to present these facts in a readable and concise way, although, in so doing, only a few of the important monopolies in each industry could be even mentioned. It is to be hoped that no one will underrate the importance of the problem of monopoly, or question the conclusions which I have reached, because of these omissions. To any such readers who may not be satisfied from the facts hereafter given that monopolies are the salient feature of our present industrial situation, and, moreover, that they have come to stay, I would recommend a careful perusal of the financial and trade journals for a few months.
Wherever possible I have presented actual statistics bearing on the question at issue; but as regards trusts, monopolies in trade, mining, labor, and in fact nearly all monopolies, there are no statistics to be had. Nor can any be obtained, for it would be absurd for the government to collect statistics of the operation of that which it pronounces illegal but makes no effort to punish.
It may increase the respect of some readers for the conclusions I have reached, to know that it was a practical acquaintance with monopolies rather than any study of economic theories which led me to undertake the present work; that, at the time I undertook it, I was wholly undecided as to the proper remedies for monopolies, and was quite willing to believe, if the facts had proved it to me, that they were destined to work their own cure; and that the rapid growth and increase of monopolies in very many industries, in the few months since these chapters were written, have furnished fresh evidence that my conclusions have not been amiss.
Finally, I wish to place all emphasis on the fact that all the great movements toward genuine reform must go hand in hand. The cause of the people is one cause, and those who work for honest officers in our government, pure elections, the suppression of crime and pauperism, the mental and moral elevation of men and women, are striking harder blows at monopolies than they may realize. But if they desire to hasten the day of their success, they must bring the great masses of the people to comprehend that these movements aim at nothing less than their complete deliverance; and that the reformers who labor so earnestly to make our government purer and its people nobler, heartily desire also to cure the evils of monopoly, and to serve the cause of the people in its every form.
Charles Whiting Baker.
Tribune Building, New York City.
June, 1889.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
- The Problem Presented 1
- A new use for the word "Trust," 1
- The people's knowledge of trusts, 2
- Remedies for trusts, 2, 3
- Trusts a species of monopoly, 3
- The problems which monopoly presents, 4
- An impartial investigation necessary, 4
- The question to be discussed from different standpoints, 5
- A scientific method for solving the problem, 5.
- Trusts and Monopolies in Manufacturing Industries 7
- Definition of a trust, 7
- The first trusts and their successors, 8
- Description of the organization of the linseed-oil trust by one of its founders,
- Mining, the first monopolized industry, 26
- Monopolies in iron-ore production, 27
- Monopolies in other metals, 28
- The French Copper Syndicate, 29
- The effect of its action on consumers of copper, 31
- Profits of the richest copper mines, 32
- Anthracite-coal production, 33
- The anthracite-coal pool, 34
- Coal monopolies in the West and South, 36
- Monopolies in petroleum and natural gas, 40
- Other monopolies of this class, 41.
- Transportation only a necessity in modern times, 42
- The importance of railway traffic, 43
- Railway transportation a vital necessity, 43
- Shipping points where competition exists very few, 44
- Consolidation and its benefits, 45
- Intensity of competition in railway traffic on trunk lines, 47
- Its inevitable effect, 48
- The necessity of pools or traffic agreements, 49
- Their history,
- City dwellers dependent upon monopolies, 59
- Suburban passenger traffic, 59
- Street-railway monopolies, 60
- Water-supply monopolies, 61
- Competition and monopoly in gas supply, 62
- T. M. Cooley on municipal monopolies, 64
- Prices, cost, and profits of gas supply, 64
- Monopolies in electric lighting and in telegraph, telephone, and messenger service, 66
- Other monopolies beneath city pavements, 67
- Monopolies in railway terminals, 68
- Monopoly in real estate, 69.
- Absolute control not essential to a monopoly, 71
- History of trade monopolies, 72
- Monopolies in country retail trade, 73
- In city retail trade, 74
- In wholesale trade, 75
- Co-operation of trusts and trade monopolies, 75
- Monopolies in the grocery trade, 76
- Monopolies in meat, 77
- A general view, 78
- Monopolies among purchasers, 78
- "Corners" and monopolies, 80
- Commercial exchanges and speculation, 82
- Warehouse monopolies, 82
- Insurance monopolies,
- Government monopolies in ancient times, 87
- Government monopolies established for the benefit of the people, 88
- Copyrights, 88
- Patents, 89
- Evils arising from the patent system, 90
- Monopolies based on patents, 91
- The Bell telephone monopoly, 92
- Government subsidies, 94
- Relation of the tariff to monopolies, 95
- Origin of the protective tariff, 96
- The tariff a secondary cause of trusts, 98
- Reductions in the tariff as a remedy for trusts, 99
- Monopolies carried on directly by Government, 100.
- Classes of labor considered, 102
- Monopolies of capital and monopolies of labor compared, 103
- Locomotive engineers' strike on the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railway, 105
- Effect of labor monopolies upon the people, 105
- The history of labor, 107
- The first trade-unions, 108
- Laws against them, 109
- Labor organizations from the laborer's standpoint, 110
- "An injury to one the concern of all," 110
- Preserving the self-respect of the laborer, 111
- Repeal of unjust laws, 113
- A defence for the action of labor monopolies, 114
- The underlying cause of labor monopolies, 116
- Limits to the power of labor monopolies, 118.
- Occupations of the people,
- The general effect of monopolies, 133
- Two sorts of remedies suggested, 134
- Study of the laws of competition necessary, 135
- The growth of civilized society outlined, 136
- The interdependence of modern society, 137
- The theory of civilized industry, 137
- Supply and demand and the unequal rewards of men's industry, 138
- The theoretical perfection of our social system, 141
- "Competition the life of trade," 142
- The orthodox school of political economy, 143.
- Competition defined, 145
- Competition in corn-raising, 146
- In paper-making, 147
- In railway traffic, 149
- The laws governing competition deduced, 150
- Monopoly defined, 155
- Natural agents in production, 156
- Different classes of competition, 157
- The three salient causes of monopoly, 159
- The proper remedy for monopoly,
- The theoretical perfection of human industry, 162
- Over-production not a fault of production, 163
- The ideal distribution of wealth, 164
- The law of supply and demand, 165
- Evils due to monopoly: the congestion of wealth, 166
- How great fortunes are made, 168
- Monopolized industries and speculation, 169
- How monopolies reduce the income of small capitalists, 170
- Monopolies the cause of over-production, 171
- Monopolies and poverty, 173
- The Church and the laboring classes, 173
- Intemperance, 174
- Reforms must go hand in hand, 174
- How monopolies keep men in idleness, 175
- The waste of competition, 176
- Waste due to parallel railway lines, 177
- The waste of competition and financial crises, 178
- Wasteful competition in other industries, 179
- Waste by strikes of labor monopolies, 180
- False remedies for the disease, 181.
- Two classes of palliatives to the evils of monopoly, 183
- Reduction in price to increase demand, 184
- The influence of Christianity, 185
- Its promise as a remedy, 186
- A social system based on nobler attributes than selfishness, 187
- The tendency of modern society, 188
- The possibilities of altruism, 189
- Direct and indirect charities, 189
- The benevolent spirit in business enterprises, 190
- The proper attitude of the Church toward monopolies, 191
- The fraternal spirit opposed to competition, 192
- Monopolists
- Schemes for bettering society, 196
- The doctrine of individualism, 197
- The doctrine of societism, 198
- The defects of each when unmodified by the other, 199
- Societism a necessary accompaniment of civilization, 200
- The interdependence of mankind, 201
- Does societism threaten liberty? 201
- Government for the benefit of the whole people, 202
- The dangers of government action to aid special classes, 202
- Remedies for monopoly: the creation of new competitors, 204
- Its practical result, 205
- Remedies by prohibiting consolidations, 205
- Their inevitable effect, 206
- Government the only agent to prevent monopoly, 207
- Why direct action by the government is impossible, 208
- Indirect action and its probable results, 208
- The Interstate Commerce law as an example, 209
- The proper remedy for monopoly not abolition, but control, 210
- The relative advantages of government and private management of industry, 211.
- Questions brought up by the preceding conclusion, 213
- The rights of property holders, 214
- Property in the products of labor an inherent right, 215
- Property in natural agents and public franchises a matter of expediency, 216
- Eminent domain over natural agents still held by the public, 217
- The laws of competition applicable to determine when this right should be exercised, 220
- Absolutely perfect equity impossible, 221
- Does private ownership of land work injustice? 222
- Fundamental difficulties in dealing with monopolies not dependent on natural agents,
- Economists should unite on the principles already propounded, 227
- Practical details a matter of opinion, 227
- A plan for the equitable and permanent adjustment of the railway problem, 228
- The ownership and operation of the railways, 229
- Their securities as investments and for use in connection with the currency, 230
- Readjustment of outstanding securities, 231
- Lending the government's credit to private corporations, 232
- How rates of fare and freight should be fixed, 233
- How the incentive to economy is retained, 234
- How to avoid strikes, 237
- Principles to be observed in establishing government control of monopolies, 238
- Plans for the control of mineral monopolies, 238
- State ownership with private operation, 239
- Plans for controlling municipal monopolies, 240
- The control of other monopolies, 244
- The dangers of special legislation, 244
- Government control of manufacturing enterprises not feasible, 245
- Taking trusts within the pale of the law, 247
- Enforcing publicity, 247
- Enforcing non-discrimination, 248
- Direct action to prevent extortion by the monopoly, 251
- Potential competition to prevent extortion, 252
- Reform of corporation laws, 254
- The contrast between this plan for controlling trusts and existing law, 255
- Reductions in the tariff as a remedy for trusts, 256
- Plans for the control of labor monopolies, 257
- Strikes an injury to labor, 258
- Removal of other monopolies as a cure, 258
- What shall fix the rate of wages?
I.
THE PROBLEM PRESENTED.
The word "trust," standing for one of the noblest faculties of the heart, has always held an honorable place in our language. It is one of the strange occurrences by which languages become indelible records of great facts in the history of the world, that this word has recently acquired a new meaning, which, to the popular ear at least, is as hateful as the old meaning is pleasant and gratifying.
Some future generation may yet be interested in searching out the fact that back in the nineteenth century the word "trust" was used to signify an obnoxious combination to restrict competition among those engaged in the same business; and that it was so called because the various members of the combination entrusted the control of their projects and business to some of their number selected as trustees. We of the present day, however, are vitally interested in a question far more important to us than the examination of a curiosity of philology. We are all of us directly affected to-day by the operation of trusts; in some cases so that we feel the effect and rebel under it; in other cases, so that we are unconscious of their influence and pay little heed to their working.
It is but a few months since public attention was directed to the subject of trusts; but, thanks to the widespread educational influence of the political campaign, at the present day the great proportion of the voters of the country have at least heard of the existence of trusts, and have probably some idea of their working and their effect upon the public at large. They have been pointed out as a great and growing evil; and few speakers or writers have ventured to defend them farther than to claim that their evil effects were exaggerated, and predict their early disappearance through natural causes; but while remedy after remedy has been suggested for the evil so generally acknowledged, none seems to have met with widespread and hearty approval, and practically the only effect thus far of the popular agitation has been to warn the trust makers and trust owners that the public is awakening to the results of their work and is likely to call them to account.
The truth is, as we shall see later, that it is a difficult matter to apply an effective remedy of any sort to the trusts by legislation, without running counter to many established precedents of law and custom, and without serious interference with what are generally regarded as inalienable rights. Yet we are making the attempt. Already legislative and congressional committees have made their tours of investigation, and bills have been introduced in the legislatures of many of the States, and in Congress, looking to the restriction or abolition of trust monopolies.
It is the wise surgeon, however, who, before he takes the knife to cut out a troublesome growth, carefully diagnoses its origin and cause, determines whether it is purely local, or whether it springs from the general state of the whole body, and whether it is the herald of an organic disease or merely the result of repressed energies or wrongly-trained organs. So we, in our treatment of the body politic, will do well to examine most carefully the actual nature of the diseases which we seek to cure, and discern, if we can, the causes which have brought them on and tend to perpetuate them. If we can discover these, we shall, perhaps, be able to cure permanently by removing the ultimate cause. At any rate, our remedies will be apt to reach the disease far more effectually than if they were sought out in a haphazard way.
The crudest thinker, at the first attempt to increase his knowledge of the general nature of trusts, discovers that the problem has a close connection with others which have long puzzled workers for the public good. Trusts ally themselves at once in his mind with monopolies, in whichever form he is most familiar with them, and are apt to be classed at once, without further consideration, as simply a new device for the oppression of the laborer by the capitalist. But the man of judicious and candid mind is not content with any such conclusion; he finds at once, indeed, that a trust is a combination to suppress competition among producers of manufactured goods, and he calls to mind the fact that other combinations to suppress competition exist in various other lines of industry. Surely when the governing motives are so similar, the proper remedies, if remedies are needed, cannot be greatly unlike. And though, taking the country as a whole, trusts have occupied more attention lately than any other form of monopoly, the problem of railroad monopoly is still all-absorbing in the West; in every city there is clamor against the burdens of taxation levied by gas, electric-light, street-railway, and kindred monopolies; while strikes in every industry testify to the strength of those who would shut out competition from the labor market. These and similar social and industrial problems are quite as important as the problem of trusts, and their solution is becoming every day more urgent and necessary. If we neglect them too long, or carelessly adopt some unsuitable or unjust remedy, who knows the price we may pay for our folly in blood and treasure?
The problem before us, then, as we see it from our present standpoint, is the problem of monopoly. What is it? Whence comes it? What are its effects? And, most important of all, what ought we to do about it? Surely questions whose correct answer is of such importance to the welfare of each person and to the very existence of society demand the careful consideration of every thinking man.
Let us then take up this problem and give it the fairest and most candid investigation possible. In order to do this, let us remember that the truth is the object of our search, and that it will be necessary, if the conclusions from our investigation are to be of value, that we divest ourselves, so far as possible, of all preconceived opinions founded, perhaps unconsciously, on the statements or evidence of incompetent authorities, and also of all prejudices. Let us, in searching for facts and principles, examine with impartiality the evidence and arguments which each side presents, and judge with candor between them.
The author wishes to make an earnest personal request to the reader who is minded to follow the discussion through the following pages, that he will in good faith attempt to do this thing: that he will lay aside for the present his opinions already formed, as the author himself has conscientiously aimed to do while pursuing this investigation, and give a fair hearing to both sides of the question. A complicated machine can only be understood when it is viewed from different standpoints. So, here, in order to find the truth, we must
In taking up now the problem before us, let us adopt the true scientific method for its solution. We must first find out as fully as possible the actual facts with regard to monopolies of every sort and the competition which monopoly replaces. Next, by discussing and comparing the evidence obtained, we may be able to discover the natural laws by which competition and monopoly are controlled; and finally, with our knowledge of these, we will try to discover both the source of the evils which vex us and the proper methods for ameliorating, curing, or preventing them, whichever may be found possible.
Such is the outline of the investigation before us, which it may as well be said here could easily be extended and amplified to fill many volumes. The author has preferred to prepare the present volume without such amplification, believing that the busy men of affairs, to whom a practical knowledge of the subjects herein treated is most essential, have, as a rule, no leisure for the extended study which the volumes into which the present one might easily be expanded would require. He trusts, however, that brevity will not be found wholly incompatible with thoroughness; and that the fact that much which might have properly been included in the book is omitted, will not be taken as a necessary indication that the conclusions arrived at are without value.