Newspaper Page Text
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Devoted to the Progress of the Pacific
Vol. I.
HONOLULU, JULY i, 1899.
No. 3.
Progress of the Pacific.
During the past month, perhaps more than at
any time for many years
Current Opinions Vh the, P"1 !S-
. zation of trusts in the
Concerning Trusts rateA States is receiv
ing the most serious
discussion from the newspapers on the main
land. As the tendency here, in the most remark
able industrial activity in the history of Hawaii,
for the last few years has been in the direction of
large combinations of capital, it will be profitable
to review the concensus of opinion on the subject.
American metropolitan
journals are always hyster
ical and it is not best to 1- . - - -
form an opinion on the J.
subject from what thev saw k
A trust, in a measure, is an
irresponsible thing, that is
to say, it is difficult to
bring it to account. The
agitation against trusts
may, therefore, be consider
ed pretty generally in the
interests of the people and
will doubtless result in
wholesome national legisla
tion for curtailing a power
that might otherwise in
terfere with individual free
dom and assume the func
tions of government.
It .is not likely that any
complete list of trusts has
ever been published but the
year book for 1899, of the
Journal of Commerce and
Commercial Bulletin, of
New York, probably gives
the most complete list al
though it does not include
those organized since
March. These trusts show
a capitalization of $4,247,
918,981 of common and
$870,575,200 of preferred stock, in addition to
a bonded indebtedness of $714,388,661, making a
total of $5,832,882,842. This list includes most
of the important incorporated trusts, but only a
few of the unincorporated ones. It includes none
of the many great freight and passenger associa
tions still in existence in the railroad world not
withstanding the Supreme Court decisions in the
Trans-Missouri and the Joint Traffic Association
cases declaring such rate-fixing associations ille
gal. It also contains only samples of the many
municipal monopolies those in street railroads,
as, electric light and power, telephones, etc.
In addition to this the jsguf of May 19 con
tains a list of 18 big trusts with a proposed capi
talization of $1,312,000,000 now in process of
ncubation.
The same journal in commenting upon the
jjreat industrial change in the United States says :
"The change is the most stupendous revolution
ever accomplished in the history of the world's in
dustrial growth. Its suddenness is as remarkable
as its magnitude. It has come with none of the
careful deliberation that usually attends the in
vestment of great aggregations of capital. It has
been guided by no precedent experience. It is no
gradual result of a natural evolution. .
It is a reversal of all that economists have accept
ed as fundamental axioms of trade. It is an un-
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deliberated revolt against the most essential force
in the regulation of production, distribution, and
values the natural law of competition. It
amounts to a complete disruption of the relations
between the industrial forces and classes of socie
ty. It is an extinguishment of the voluntary ex
changes between the producing and merchanting
interests, and the creation of one exclusive pro
ducing organization for each industry, to which
all other material interests must yield subjection.
Industry at large is organized into a system of
feudalized corporations, each one of which enjoys
absolute power within its special branch of pro
duction, while taken in the mass the system con
stitutes itself the supremest trade power in the
nation. These innovations upon the fixed
methods of industry, though fundamentally af
fecting the citizen's free access to the opportun
ities of industrialism, take little account of legal
ities, equally ignoring the law as it stands and as
it may possibly be changed to meet the case. This
headlong precipitancy has pursued its purpose al
most without forethought, certainly with slight
consideration for trade moralities or for the
weightiest of human liberties, and with little re
gard for the perils of public order which the out
workings of the system are too liable to evoke."
"In advance of the event, it would not have
been deemed possible that the most important
class among our trained
and responsible capitalists
could at one bound take
such a daring leap into the
dark. The change is at
best a stupendous experi
ment. . . . The
change, however, is now a
fixed fact. It places nearly
our entire industrial system
upon the monopolistic basis.
That is a venture unparal
leled in the history of ma
terial civilization : and not
merely the manufacturing
interest, but the still vaster
interests thereon dependent,
can but await the outcome
with an expectancy that
must grow more intense as
the trial progresses."
Mr. Holt in The Ameri
can Monthly believes the
trust craze to be largely
due to promoters and bank
ers. The profit of promo
ters is very large, usually
about 3 per cent., and banks
also come in for large pro
fits for underwriting and
are largely responsible for
o v e r-capitahzation. I n
speaking of future anti
trust legislation Mr. Holt says :
"Besides the anti-trust laws now on the stat
utes of nearly thirty States, many severe laws
are certain to be passed during the next year
against trusts, department stores, insurance com
panies, etc. It is probable that most of these laws
will be mischievous and harmful to business in
terests, as is the recent Arkansas law, which is
handicapping business in that State by prevent
ing cheap and safe insurance. Under this law.
as interpreted, 110 insurance company is permitted
to operate in the State if it enters into any rate
fixing agreement in Arkansas or any other State.
As all big and safe companies aje operating under
