404 THE QUESTIONS OF THE DAY. 



thread, petroleum, or any of the staples of every-day purchase. 

 It may be accepted, however, as a fact, that there are or will be 

 Trusts controlling the majority of articles which the farmer 

 buys, and, as I think, upon the whole it is desirable tliat 

 tliere should be. Even as things are now, I am convinced 

 that the farmer often gains pecuniarily rather than loses by 

 the existence of Trusts. That, however, is no reason why 

 they should be permitted to abuse their power. 



The most serious injury, in my judgment, that the Trusts 

 may inflict upon the public is in connection with the methods 

 which they are tempted to use to sustain themselves. The 

 profits of the Sugar Trust depend upon the action of Congress 

 in relation to the tariff, and this, in turn, depends upon tlje 

 action of voters and political parties. So long as the policy of 

 protection is the policy of the American Government, it is 

 proi)er that the sugar refiners should have their share of pro- 

 tection. They employ a great number of men who would not 

 otherwise be employed in this country. So long as it is our 

 policy to protect industries, no one will dispute their claim to 

 a share in it. The same statement applies to all other interests 

 which are protected by tariffs and combined in Trusts. 



But the fact that these conditions create so powerful and 

 so direct a pecuniary interest in the passage of certain laws, 

 extending into the details of the schedules of the tariff acts, 

 renders it almost impossible that the truth should reach the 

 people, at least as to details, or that legislation should be 

 impartially enacted. The policy of tlie United States is 

 apparently well settled to raise a great part of its national 

 revenue from duties on imports, and ai)parently with the 

 intention of giving actual protection, whether revenue is 

 needed or not. At any rate a tariff for revenue is protection 

 to the extent that it goes, and while the peoi)le, in party con- 

 ventions and by their votes, may determine the general prin- 

 ciples of the legislation which shall bo enacted, with the actual 

 details of the tariff acts tliey do not and can not concern 

 themselves. But it is the details that count, and to the extent 

 that it is possible to do so, the Trusts shape the details of the 

 bills in which they are interested. 



