THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



17 



The Macrv About To^vrv. 



WHERE THE WAVES BREAK. 



There is one class of our citizens wlioso 

 occupation lias been taken from it almost 

 within the past year. 



Sf * * 



In this progressive country and in this 

 progressive day and age events move with 

 almost disconcerting rapidity, and one 

 must needs be very wideawake to keep up 

 \^ath the procession. In other times it 

 was not so; and in other counti'ies, even 

 to-day, things move somewhat after the 

 old style and a man may pace comfortably 

 along in tlie footsteps of his father with- 

 out danger of being nin over or loft be- 

 hind. But not in this country at this 

 time. 



It used to be that if a man's father was 

 a shoemaker, he became a shoemaker and 

 taught his business to his son; and one 

 set of tools would, with proper care, last 

 through several generations, or if one be- 

 came lost or worn it was replaced with a 

 new one of exactly similar pattern. But 

 it isn't so now. 



The-old-time shoemaker was superseded 

 long ago by machines of various kinds, 

 and a shoe factory, which, ten years ago 

 was equipped with machines of the most 

 recent pattern, would to-day be entirely 

 out of date and unable to compete. 



And it is so in almost every line of trade. 

 This is the most prosperous because the 

 most progressive nation of the world, but 

 It costs something to be prosperous and 

 progressive. It costs a lot of hard work 

 and nervous strain, for one thing, and it 

 takes a lot of experimenting. It is a good 

 thing to be a leader, but the position en- 

 tails obligations and responsibilities. To 

 be a leader one must get into a frame 

 oC mind where precedents and prejudices 

 are absolutely eliminated. And along with 

 that daring attitude of mind must go a 

 huge balance of conservatism. One must 

 be constantly lireaking new paths, but do- 

 ing it watchfully and carefully, with a 

 keen eye for quicksands and a willingness 

 and nimbleness in getting back to solid 

 ground, once it is demonstrated one has 

 gone too far or in the wrong direction. 



The class of citizens referred to at the 

 beginning of this article as being out of 

 occupation at this time Is that enterprising 

 class of mechanics known as the "trust 

 builders." Even as late as a year ago you 

 could scarcely pick up a newspaper that 

 did not contain a list of a lot of new 

 trusts organized, together with imposing 

 figures as to the amount of capitalization. 

 The most diltaent search of the daily 

 papers to-day fails to reveal a single new 

 trust. The space is largely taken up with 

 accounts of how the securities of the old 

 trusts are making a new low record each 

 day. 



The career of the trust builders reached 



BY C. D. STRODE. 



Its apotheosis in the organization of the 

 United States Steel Corporation and Mor- 

 gan's shipping combine, and when Morgan, 

 the king of the trust builders, visited Eu- 

 rope and was wined and dined by kings 

 and emperors, that repr(!sented the ex- 

 tri me limit of the pend\ilum's swing in 

 that direction. It is on the return trip now 

 and Morgan could travel around the world 

 without exciting any particular attention 

 excvpt as a sort of a freak. He would 

 class along with the man who eats glass 

 and the one who, being minus arms and 

 Iiands. handles his knife and fork with 

 his toes. 



* * * 



Another matter in which it seems the 

 pendulum has swung to the limit and is 

 starting on the return trip, is the matter 

 of labor unions. There are not wanting 

 signs that the wave of impulse or what- 

 ever it is that has carried the cause of the 

 labor unions so high and so far has spent 

 its force and is receding. The people 

 seem to have grown tired of the fuss and 

 bother, even the people in the unions seem 

 \^xary of the toil and trouble, and the 

 cause of the labor unions is on the wane. 



* * * 



And the funny part of these various mat- 

 te rs Is the seriousness with which some 

 people take them. Many people believed 

 that the trusts were going to gobble up the 

 country; that they would crush labor with 

 one hand and squeeze the consumer with 

 the other; that they would come abso- 

 lutely to control the entire Industrial, com- 

 mercial and financial policy of the coun- 

 try: that they would control Congress, and 

 that eventually and soon this mighty peo- 

 ple would become a race of slaves. Yes, 

 they did. That is, such would be our fate 

 it" we did not hustle around and pass a 

 Ici of laws and things. 



And there was a lot of people who felt 

 the same apprehensions, or very similar 

 ones, regarding the lal)or unions, and the 

 sliver tiuestion and all sorts of questions. 

 They feared that the pendulum would 

 swing >ip to the highest point and stay 

 there; that the wave rolling in from the 

 sea would keep right on over the moim- 

 tains and plains and engulf the whole land, 

 forgetting the law of physics that what- 

 e\er goes up must com(> down and thai 

 \\ jiter won't run up hill. 

 * * * 



These things go by waves and that the 

 waves rise so high and go so far before 

 they break is due to the daring spirit of 

 investigation and adventure which has 

 carried the people of this country into 

 th(- very fore front of civilization; and 

 tl'.ey ultimately break upon the hard com- 

 mon sense which keeps (hem there. 



In an older and duller and slower com- 

 munity a new idea is rejected for no other 

 reason than that it is new; in America ii 



Is the newness of the idea that attracts. 

 In other countries the fact that a certain 

 system has been in vogue for a thousand 

 years is an unanswerable argument in 

 favor of leaving It alone: in America the 

 fact that it has endured so long is the 

 liest evidence to the people that it is time 

 it was iniprove<l upoii. 



So the American people take up with 

 the new ideas and develop them on the 

 proposition that maybe there is something 

 good in them. The idea that all the in- 

 dustries in one line could be combined and 

 consolidated under one management, thus 

 eliminating the fierce competition which 

 the American eagerness for Investigation 

 had brought about, appealed to the Ameri- 

 can mind with special force. The fierce 

 race to outstrip rivals had led to wondei 

 ful results, but it had brought a train of 

 attendant evils and had made the pace so 

 keen that the proposition to eliminate that 

 rivalry by combination was warmly re- 

 ceived. The idea was developed without 

 fear that when developed it could not be 

 ccntrolled, and the wave rolled on and on 

 until it had spent itself and now it is 



receding. 



* * * 



Hut tliose waves always wash up some- 

 thing of value which the American people 

 are quick to seize upon and utilize. 



The trusts have failed not so much 

 tl.rough the fault of the system as because 

 of mistakes and dishonesty in its applica- 

 tion. And in spite of the failure the ex- 

 periment has demonstrated that there is a 

 good, practical basis in tlie Idea and there 

 is little doubt but that a trust organized 

 on sound and conservative l)usiness lines 

 is a good proposition, with a good, safe 

 profit in it. The pendulum is on the down- 

 ward swing at present, but It will come 

 up again. 



The trust promoter is out of a job teni- 

 pfirarily, but he will be reinstated before 

 long. He will need to work along different 

 lines than heretofore. He'll have to elimi- 

 nate the wind and water bluff and bun- 

 combe from his schemes; he'll need to get 

 down to a safe basis and talk turkey, but 

 the chances are favorable that at his next 

 attempt he will build something of value. 



* * * 



And that which is true of the trusts is 

 tiue also of the labor unions. The uu- 

 observing have not noticed it as j'et, but 

 the signs are in the sky, growing plainer 

 every day, that the pendulum In the labor 

 union movement has swung to the limit of 

 its power and is already quivering for its 

 downward swing. And it is my .belief that 

 the next few years will see any number 

 of shipwrecked unions and any nnmlter of 

 walking delegates out of a job. 



For, as in the case of the trust move- 

 ment, the labor movement has been carried 

 beyond the domain of reason altogether. 



