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.