Ogden Daily Standard | 1915-01-15 | Page 4 | Monopolies in Europe

no MONOPOLIES IN EUROPE. (Helena Independent) Monopolies of all kinds thrive in Europe. Governments encourage them, even to the point of giving them exclusive rights, excessive privileges and financial assistance, because these gigantic corporations are of tremendous tre-mendous importance in helping get foreign trade. Large corporations in Ibis country are fond of referring to the generous way In which Europe treats trusts, and drawing therefrom comparisons calculated to be odious to American policies. But there is another side to the treatment European countries accord ! their monopolies, a side which American Amer-ican corporations will likely not mention. men-tion. An example is furnished in Russia's decision to take over the salt monopoly and make it a means of war revenue. The government needs more revenue, reve-nue, and under Count Serglus Wltte has cvoived a plan of raising the millions mil-lions needed without adding any more to the burdens of the masses The salt industry, owned by a syndicate, has long been conducted without any regard to the rights of the people and only with the view of enriching the members of the syndicate. Wltte proposed pro-posed and the government concurred, that if the salt industry were transferred trans-ferred from a private monopoly to a state monopoly, the people could be sold salt even more reasonably than they have been under the private monopoly and the profits of the industry indus-try would all go to the government. So the 6alt monopoly, which the Russian government has so long protected pro-tected and recognized, was, merely by a decree, confiscated by the government gov-ernment The same thing happened earlier to the vodka monopoly it is reported as having taken place In Germany with several large industries indus-tries which the government hae decided de-cided if needs for the perioral good. The manner In which all the governments govern-ments confiscate horses, provisions, motor cars and seize and operate the idilroads without compensating the owners, is well known. Being a monopoly In Europe is fine, so long as the genial government doesn't want to go into the business itself.