NEWS WORTH REMEMBERING
News Worth Remembering WITH the beginning of the New Year, the press of the country is filled with optimistic predictions of prosperity. There appears to be a general feeling that the outlook for...
...On December 28, negotiations between railroad officials and the leaders of the striking switchmen were abruptly terminated, following the refusal of the roads to comply with the demand for an immediate reinstatement of all the strikers...
...And in case the demands made by the various railway brotherhoods a few weeks ago for a general increase in wages all over the country are not granted, the conflict may be more serious than anything heretofore known...
...Taft'b views with regard to the anti-trust law are: No amendment to the Sherman anti-trust law is necessary...
...By a vote of about three to one, San Francisco on December 30 took the first step toward municipal ownership of its street railway lines...
...The campaign is the hottest in years, for the issue involved is perhaps the most momentous that has confronted the Empire...
...It is charged that one firm, the Borden Company, has control over practically all others in Chicago, and the almost simultaneous raising of the price by all dealers a short time ago, has strengthened the allegation...
...At the end of the ninety days the commission shall have power to decide whether tile new rate is or is not reasonable and whether it shall or shall not go into effect...
...It is stated authoritatively at this writing that Mr...
...Economists all agree on this point...
...What is Prosperity...
...Many large corporations are violating the Sherman law...
...This is a stupendous increase...
...What Will Congress Do...
...English Contest Near a Climax On January 13, begins the voting which will decide the fate of the British budget, and will also involve the future status of the House of Lords...
...It is expected that an amendment empowering a commission to make a physical valuation of all roads will be urged, and the power to supervise future issues of stocks and bonds of all common carriers will be asked...
...The voters gave assent to a bond issue for the purpose of building a municipal electric line, and this is regarded as the first step toward ownership by the city of the entire car system...
...It is the duty of the President to enforce the law, but if this be done, as is his intention, a panic may be precipitated...
...Says the Johnstown Daily Democrat for December 17: "The cost of living in the United States increased 11 per cent, in the year between December 1, 1908, and December 1, 1909...
...A sympathetic strike, involving 500,000 men, including clerks, telegraphers, boilermakers, machinists, freight handlers, switchmen, car workers, and other employees, is not improbable...
...The peers are exerting every effort to secure a majority, and are urging the abandonment of England's free trade policy and the imposition of import duties in order to "make the foreigner pay the tax...
...It is certain that the "insurgents" in both Houses will be active in their efforts to secure advanced legislation...
...He said that the problem of conservation is of transcendent importance...
...It seems plain from these indications and present laber conditions that the year 1910 will mark an epoch in the history of organized labor...
...And a dispatch from New York states that the railroads of the country are holding up improvements to the extent of nearly three hundred million dollars, partly because of the possibility of a great conflict with employees...
...Corporation Tax Strongly Opposed During the last week, the corporations of the country have been engaged in complying with the provisions of the new corporation tax law...
...All three nations are said to discriminate against United States goods and to give the products of other countries the advantage in levying tariff duties...
...He pointed out that "it is not required that the rates should be raised on every item in the schedules to force a general advance in prices...
...But while the mills and factories are crowded to their capacity with orders, and leaders of industry are radiating optimism, the high cost of living is forcing itself more and more insistently upon the attention of the public...
...Important Labor Movements One reason assigned by the leaders of industry for uncertainty as to the outlook for the year 1910 was the fear of labor wars...
...The President sought to explain the reason of the increase...
...With the reconvening of Congress on January 5, the real work of the session will have begun...
...A Milk Trust Following the sensational disclosures in New York, showing the operations of "the milk trust" in that state, whereby profits of ten or twelve per cent, were paid on a capitalization three-fourths water, an investigation will probably be made by government and state officials of the operations of Chicago milk dealers...
...The Illinois Manufacturers' Association has issued a call to a conference of all interested in the law, for the purpose of* taking united action against the objectionable features...
...In a speech at Des Moines on the 1st, Senator Cummins outlined the position of the progressives...
...The great masses of unemployed, the wide-spread poverty, the congestion of population in the cities, the desertion of tenants of agricultural lands, and the control of the land by a few great peers, has made imperative the immediate abolition of the causes underlying these conditions...
...Speaker Cannon will select the...
...There appears to be a general feeling that the outlook for business and industry in 1910 is exceedingly bright...
...It is also regarded as an effort on the part of tho party in power to build up an effective political machine...
...Taft will also recommend, it is said, that the law be amended so that the commission shall have tile power to suspend the operation of a proposed new rate for ninety days, pending investigation...
...While they are complying with its provisions for reports, strong protests are being made...
...Dun and Bradstreet hold a like opinion...
...In a speech in New York on December 27, Mr...
...Pinchot declared' that "Special interests have made repeated attacks on the United States forest service, and these attacks have increased in violence just in proportion as the service has offered effective opposition to predatory wealth," and has warned the people of the growth of a water power monopoly...
...This figure represents the average advance in the price of ninety-six commodities...
...Why a dollar will buy less now than a few years ago is a subject that has the earnest consideration of every one...
...Judge Gary, chairman of the United States Steel Corporation (the accepted barometer of general business conditions,) gave out a statement on December 30, expressing confidence that 1910 will be a year of great activity in all industries...
...He said: 'The proportionate increase in the output of gold, which today is the chief medium of exchange and is in some respects a measure of value, furnishes a substantial explanation of at least part of the increase in prices.' "Any political economist of standing in the country will agree with us, we think, that the President did not state the chief reason of the increased cost of living...
...On January 1, officers of the American Federation of Labor issued a statement to the million and a half members, calling for subscriptions to a fund for the purpose of righting the United States Steel Corporation...
...The real 'substantial explanation' is high tariff rates and the resultant tendency toward monopoly...
...Referring to Aldrich, he said: ,"I challenge the memory of all who* hear me to recall one.single sympathetic word in the interests of the people in their struggle with the railways...
...The enormous deficit of the United States for the last fiscal year, shows the problem to be world-wide...
...You can't raise the cost of living to a man who is producing something to sell without forcing that man to raise correspondingly the price of what he has to sell...
...The only hope for a peaceful settlement of the difficulty now lies in the possibility of governmental arbitration...
...Opinion is divided as to whether the standpat element under the leadership of Cannon and Aldrich will support effective progressive legislation, in fulfillment of their pledge to Taft, or whether they will say "Don't disturb business" and refuse to pass important measures that are demanded...
...On December 80, there was launched in Washington, D. C. a movement which has proved successful in Germany...
...News Note* Unless an agreement can be reached, it seems certain that the United States will be engaged in a tariff war with France, Germany, and Canada soon after March 31, 1910, when the maximum duties of the new tariff law go into effect...
...England is not alone in its struggle to obtain funds for the maintenance of government, for Italy and Germany are facing the same situation...
...In Indiana, also, a united stand will be taken by the corporations, bat here the law will probably be attacked with the intention of annulling all its provisions...
...An association was formed, the National Anti-Trust League, whose members are pledged to abandon the use of food products of a combine when the price is forced above a reasonable amount...
...By destroying the market, it is expected to keep prices at a reasonable level...
...A conflict of tremendous magnitude seems imminent, rivalling the "Homestead strike...
...This is taken to mean that the great business interests desire a cessation of legislative regulation and investigation...
...While there seems to be little serious objection to the conditions under which labor is employed in the mills of the corporation, the enforcement of the open shop order by its officers is taken as a challenge by labor leaders...
...Who gets the benefit of the "return of prosperity...
...Senator Clapp of Minnesota declared on December 29, that the tariff was at fault...
...is a question that appears often in the press...
...However they take occasion to express their fear that there is danger in "unjust and unreasonable legislation, which tends to create distrust," and in the tendency to unwise speculation in times of prosperity...
...The establishment of a court of commerce is a part of the program...
...Cannon to Appoint Bellinger Committee According to a dispatch of the 2d, a joint congressional committee, composed of six members of the House and an equal number of the Senate, will investigate the Pinchot-Balltager controversy...
...The chief ground for objection is the publicity feature, which, according to officers of many of the companies, gives advantages to competing corporations and large combinations and monopolies...
...The provision of the law making it necessary to take inventory the first of the year, is also ground for opposition, on account of its alleged impracticability for corporations engaged in certain industries...
...In Europe the Socialists are steadily gaining in influence and power as a result of the unrest awakened by over-taxation, and even now their protest against militarism is receiving consideration in those countries where the maintenance of a vast non-producing army and navy, and the vying of nations for military supremacy is causing internal disruption...
...Judge Gary expressed his confidence that the President's attitude would help to maintain conditions as they now exist...
...His recommendations with regard to a national incorporation law will include supervision of such combinations by the Bureau of Corporations, including the control of stock and bond issues, and the prohibition of a corporation to own stock in a competing corporation...
...In addition it is desired to secure publicity of all transactions of corporations of interest to the public...
...He says the producer does not receive his full share of the advance, but that the middleman is the chief beneficiary...
...Secretary of Agriculture Wilson a few Weeks ago aroused interest by stating that somewhere between the consumer and the wholesaler the price of meat was increased 38 per cent...
...The peers are also strongly opposed to Home Rule for Ireland, an old issue which will not down...
...The company is said to be fortifying itself against a strike by a profit-sharing system, which the union officials regard as a bribe to induce the men to remain at work...
...House members and Vice-President Sherman will choose the Senate members...
...Sir Horace is an authority on the resources of America...
...The most important, perhaps, of the recommendations of the message will be those relating to railway regulation...
...However, it seems that the English people cannot see where they would gain by having another tax levied by means of a duty on the necessities of life...
...Why the prices of food, clothing, and other necessities should be so much higher in this country than in Europe is a subject that is claiming the attention of economists...
...Sir Horace Plunkett, before the American Political Science and Historical Association in New York, gave strong support to Pinchot...
...It presents a situation so momentous that President Taft felt called upon to discuss it in his message to Congress...
...The President and Legislation Before this reaches its readers, Congress will probably have received the President's message dealing with the interstate commerce commission and the anti-trust law...
...He denies, however, that the advance in the cost of living is attributable to the fanner...
Vol. 2 • January 1910 • No. 1
