LABOR AND CAPITAL 469 



mit to their dictation, and they may destroy the property of those from 

 whom they have been receiving wages ; cotton planters in the south may 

 combine to force higher prices for their commodity, even though they re- 

 sort to violence that competition may be prevented. All such combina- 

 tions are but exercise of natural rights, with which the law should not 

 interfere. But when manufacturers or transportation companies com- 

 bine to stop waste or ruinous folly in competition, they must be checked 

 at once as threatening the community's prosperity. 



This confusion of ideas is not confined to the "unthinking"; it is 

 found among those whose prominence in public affairs is a fair pre- 

 sumption in favor of belief that they are thinking men. Organizations 

 engaged in great industries have retained representatives at Washing- 

 ton as well as at other capitals in order to protect their interests by op- 

 posing injurious legislation. There is no doubt that they have endeav- 

 ored to compass the defeat of politicians who opposed them and they 

 have expended large sums of money in printing and postage to influ- 

 ence public opinion — they do not " admit " this : on the contrary, they 

 assert it unhesitatingly and justify their course. Newspapers and poli- 

 ticians profess to be shocked by such avowals and it is said that some 

 members of an investigating committee were stunned by the shameless- 

 ness of the " capitalists." One's sympathy goes out to those innocents. 

 Yet such efforts are within the rights, indeed are within the duties of 

 every citizen; certainly they are in every sense as proper for "capital- 

 ists" as is the conduct of taxpayers' associations, philanthropists or 

 labor unions when they do the same thing. Nevertheless, it would ap- 

 pear that the labor unions were aiding the uplift of humanity when 

 they endeavored to prevent reelection of Mr. Cannon, who had treated 

 them with contempt, whereas the National Manufacturers' Association 

 was endangering the Republic's stability by its efforts in his behalf. It 

 was thought to be pernicious lobbying when the Hawaiian planters 

 struggled for retention of tariff on raw sugar while the Federal Sugar 

 Company was thought deserving of credit because it sought removal of 

 that tariff; among the many protests against lobbies few were heard 

 against the labor lobby, which has been denounced as the most insidious 

 of all. Senator Lea summed up the matter clearly when he stated that 

 when a visitor disagrees with a congressman's opinions, he is a lobbyist ; 

 if he agree, he is an expert. Those who have followed closely the dis- 

 cussions in congress during recent years must be convinced that too 

 many members are afflicted with the omniscience of ignorance and that 

 they are sadly in need of information on nearly all subjects except the 

 local interests of their districts. 



But one may ask, how can such conditions exist and how is it pos- 

 sible that men bearing the responsibility of public office can yield to 

 influences so injurious to the common weal? The writer is no mind- 



