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Show THE TRUSTS AND STRIKES. Nothing Is more frequently heard In the discussion of the "Trust" question, than the dogma of the opposition that "the tariff Is the mother of trusts." It Is a dogma that has frequently been refuted, and is easily refuted nt any time. If It were true, it would be a irencral law, and countries in which free trade prevails would have no "trusts." And yet Great Britain, the real "mother of trusts," has them in layers, while protection France is practically prac-tically free from them. The lesson is j that It Is o:her conditions and tendencies tenden-cies than the tariff that foster trusts. A comparison between Great Britain and the United States, compiled by the Wall Street Journal, shows that In strikes, wh'lch are supposed to have a peculiarly close relation to trust industries, indus-tries, there Is practically no proportionate proportion-ate difference between conditions In Great Britain and In this country. A statement for nine years, 1S92 to 1900. inclusive, is summarized as follows: Strikes and Workmen dl-lockouts dl-lockouts rcctly affected. United States 12.341 3.551.4W Great Britain 7.C03 '-'.100.000 The population of the United States during these nine years averagod pretty pret-ty near double that of Great Britain; so that whatever proportional prepon-derence prepon-derence there was, was "enjoyed" by Great Britain. There Is, then, no apparent ap-parent relation .between free trade and protection in the liability to strikes. Some fluctuations and extremes during dur-ing the times named are of Interest, and they do not serve to point the way to free trade as a panacea. Thus, In 189-1, in this country, G60,0OO men were thrown out of employment, on account of the Democratic efforts to saddle free trade upon this country; the manufactories manufac-tories were closed because there was no market for thejr products. The workmen work-men did not strike; they were dis-chnrcd. dis-chnrcd. On the other hand, In the prosperous year of 1897 there were 40S,-000 40S,-000 men on strike because they wanted to get more out of the prosperous times than they had been getting; and In 3S99, also a prosperous year, 417,000 workmen struck for the same reason. The Journal's summary of the question ques-tion Is worth quoting, viz.: "A review of the past, twenty years goes to show that the labor problem, like the poor, is always with ub. It Is a chronic condition, con-dition, ltls tho result of the eternal struggle of man to better his condition. The labor situation which has lately been so distressing and In. Colorado assumed a malignant type, Is now improving. im-proving. Those who think that conditions condi-tions were never so bad as now, so far as the social problem Is concerned, ought lo take a glance buckward and compare the state of things today with the situation ten and twenty years ago. They would then discover how great has been tho progross." |
