The Trusts

Performed by Woodrow Wilson
Recorded 1912

The tariff question as dealt with in our time has not been business, it has been politics. Tariff schedules have been made up for the purpose of keeping as large a number as possible of the rich and influential manufacturers of the country in a good humor with the Republican party which desires their constant financial support. The tariff has become our system of favor. It becomes a matter of business, of legitimate business, only when the partnership and understanding it represents is between the leaders of Congress and the whole people of the United States, instead of between the leaders of Congress and small groups of manufacturers demanding special recognition and consideration. That is why the general idea of representative government becomes a necessary part of the tariff question. What has the result been? Prosperity? Yes, if by prosperity you mean vast wealth no matter how distributed or whether distributed at all or not. If you mean vast enterprises built up to be presently concentrated under the control of comparatively small bodies of men, who can determine almost at pleasure whether there should be competition or not, the nation, as a whole, has grown immensely rich. But what of the other side of the picture? It is not as easy for us to live as it used to be. Our money will not buy as much. High wages, even when we get them, yield us no great comfort. We used to be better off with less, because a dollar could buy so much more. The majority of us have been disturbed to find ourselves growing poorer even though our earnings were slowly increasing. Prices climb faster than we can push our earnings up. Moreover, we begin to perceive some things about the movement of prices that concern us very deeply and fix our attention upon tariff schedules with a more definite determination than ever to get to the bottom of this matter. We know that they are not fixed by the competitions of the market, or by the ancient law of supply and demand, but by private arrangements with regard to what the supply should be and the agreements among the producers themselves. The high cost of living is arranged by a private understanding. This is the natural history of such tariffs as are now contrived as it is the natural history of all other governmental favor and of all licenses … to help certain groups of individuals along in life. The fact is that the trusts have been formed, have gained all but complete control of the larger enterprises of the country, have fixed prices and have fixed them high so that profits might be rolled up that were thoroughly worthwhile, and that the tariff, with its artificial protections and simulations, gave them the opportunity to do these things and have safeguarded them in that opportunity. Laws must be devised which will prevent this, if laws can be worked out by fair and free counsel, that will accomplish that result without destroying or seriously embarrassing any sound or legitimate business undertaking or necessary unwholesome arrangements. The Democratic party is not speaking destruction of any kind, nor the disruption of any sound or honest thing, but merely the rule of right and of the common advantage.