"Oftentimes there is no subterfuge, but the convention, as a whole,
recognizes the pre-eminent ability of one man amongst them, and by
common consent he is assigned the task."
Selwyn also told Dru that it was often the practice among corporations
not to bother themselves about state politics further than to control
the Senate.
This smaller body was seldom more than one-fourth as large as the
House, and usually contained not more than twenty-five or thirty
members.
Their method was to control a majority of the Senate and let the House
pass such measures as it pleased, and the Governor recommend such laws
as he thought proper. Then the Senate would promptly kill all
legislation that in any way touched corporate interests.
Still another method which was used to advantage by the interests where
they had not been vigilant in the protection of their "rights," and when
they had no sure majority either in the House or Senate and no influence
with the Governor, was to throw what strength they had to the stronger
side in the factional fights that were always going on in every State
and in every legislature.
Actual money, Selwyn said, was now seldom given in the relentless
warfare which the selfish interests were ever waging against the people,
but it was intrigue, the promise of place and power, and the ever
effectual appeal to human vanity.
That part of the press which was under corporate control was often able
to make or destroy a man's legislative and political career, and the
weak and the vain and the men with shifty consciences, that the people
in their fatuous indifference elect to make their laws, seldom fail to
succumb to this subtle influence.
CHAPTER XLIV
ONE CAUSE OF THE HIGH COST OF LIVING
In one of their fireside talks, Selwyn told Dru that a potential weapon
in the hands of those who had selfish purposes to subserve, was the long
and confusing ballot.
"Whenever a change is suggested by which it can be shortened, and the
candidates brought within easy review of the electorate, the objection
is always raised," said Selwyn, "that the rights of the people are being
invaded.
"'Let the people rule,' is the cry," he said, "and the unthinking many
believing that democratic government is being threatened, demand that
they be permitted to vote for every petty officer.
"Of course quite the reverse is true," continued Selwyn, "for when the
ballot is filled with names of candidates running for general and local
offices, there is, besides the confusion, the usual trading. As a rule,
interest centers on the local man, and there is less scrutiny of those
candidates seeking the more important offices."
"While I had already made up my mind," said Dru, "as to the short ballot
and a direct accountability to the people, I am glad to have you
confirm the correctness of my views."
"You may take my word for it, General Dru, that the interests also
desire large bodies of law makers instead of few. You may perhaps recall
how vigorously they opposed the commission form of government for
cities.
"Under the old system when there was a large council, no one was
responsible. If a citizen had a grievance, and complained to his
councilman, he was perhaps truthfully told that he was not to blame. He
was sent from one member of the city government to the other, and unable
to obtain relief, in sheer desperation, he gave up hope and abandoned
his effort for justice. But under the commission form of government,
none of the officials can shirk responsibility. Each is in charge of a
department, and if there is inefficiency, it is easy to place the blame
where it properly belongs.
"Under such a system the administration of public affairs becomes at
once, simple, direct and business-like. If any outside corrupt
influences seek to creep in, they are easy of detection and the
punishment can be made swift and certain."
"I want to thank you again, Senator Selwyn, for the help you have been
to me in giving me the benefit of your ripe experience in public
affairs," said Dru, "and there is another phase of the subject that I
would like to discuss with you. I have thought long and seriously how to
overcome the fixing of prices by individuals and corporations, and how
the people may be protected from that form of robbery.
"When there is a monopoly or trust, it is easy to locate the offense,
but it is a different proposition when one must needs deal with a large
number of corporations and individuals, who, under the guise of
competition, have an understanding, both as to prices and territory to
be served.
"For instance, the coal dealers, at the beginning of winter, announce a
fixed price for coal. If there are fifty of them and all are approached,
not one of them will vary his quotation from the other forty-nine. If
he should do so, the coal operators would be informed and the offending
dealer would find, by some pretext or another, his supply cut off.
"We see the same condition regarding large supply and manufacturing
concerns which cover the country with their very essential products. A
keen rivalry is apparent, and competitive bids in sealed envelopes are
made when requested, but as a matter of fact, we know that there is no
competition. Can you give me any information upon this matter?"
"There are many and devious ways by which the law can be evaded and by
which the despoliation of the public may be accomplished," said Selwyn.
"The representatives of those large business concerns meet and a map of
the United States is spread out before them. This map is regarded by
them very much as if it were a huge pie that is to be divided according
to the capacity of each to absorb and digest his share. The territory is
not squared off, that is, taking in whole sections of contiguous
country, but in a much more subtle way, so that the delusion of
competition may be undisturbed. When several of these concerns are
requested to make prices, they readily comply and seem eager for the
order. The delusion extends even to their agents, who are as innocent as
the would-be purchaser of the real conditions, and are doing their
utmost to obtain the business. The concern in whose assigned territory
the business originates, makes the price and informs its supposed rivals
of its bid, so that they may each make one slightly higher."
"Which goes to show," said Dru, "how easy it is to exploit the public
when there is harmony among the exploiters. There seems to me to be two
evils involved in this problem, Senator Selwyn, one is the undue cost to
the people, and the other, but lesser, evil, is the protection of
incompetency.
"It is not the survival of the fittest, but an excess of profits, that
enables the incompetent to live and thrive."
After a long and exhaustive study of this problem, the Administrator
directed his legal advisers to incorporate his views into law.
No individual as such, was to be permitted to deal in what might be
termed products of the natural resources of the country, unless he
subjected himself to all the publicity and penalties that would accrue
to a corporation, under the new corporate regulations.
Corporations, argued Dru, could be dealt with under the new laws in a
way that, while fair to them, would protect the public. In the future,
he reminded his commission, there would be upon the directorates a
representative of either the National, State, or Municipal governments,
and the books, and every transaction, would be open to the public. This
would apply to both the owner of the raw material, be it mine, forest,
or what not, as well as to the corporation or individual who distributed
the marketable product.
It was Dru's idea that public opinion was to be invoked to aid in the
task, and district attorneys and grand juries, throughout the country,
were to be admonished to do their duty. If there was a fixity of prices
in any commodity or product, or even approximately so, he declared, it
would be prima facie evidence of a combination.
In this way, the Administrator thought the evil of pools and trust
agreements could be eradicated, and a healthful competition, content
with reasonable profits, established. If a single corporation, by its
extreme efficiency, or from unusual conditions, should constitute a
monopoly so that there was practically no competition, then it would be
necessary, he thought, for the Government to fix a price reasonable to
all interests involved.
Therefore it was not intended to put a limit on the size or the
comprehensiveness of any corporation, further than that it should not
stifle competition, except by greater efficiency in production and
distribution. If this should happen, then the people and the Government
would be protected by publicity, by their representative on the board
of directors and by the fixing of prices, if necessary.
It had been shown by the career of one of the greatest industrial
combinations that the world has yet known, that there was a limit where
size and inefficiency met. The only way that this corporation could
maintain its lead was through the devious paths of relentless monopoly.
Dru wanted America to contend for its share of the world's trade, and to
enable it to accomplish this, he favored giving business the widest
latitude consistent with protection of the people.
When he assumed control of the Government, one of the many absurdities
of the American economic system was the practical inhibition of a
merchant marine. While the country was second to none in the value and
quantity of production, yet its laws were so framed that it was
dependent upon other nations for its transportation by sea; and its
carrying trade was in no way commensurate with the diginity of the coast
line and with the power and wealth of the Nation.
CHAPTER XLV
BURIAL REFORM
At about this time the wife of one of the Cabinet officers died, and
Administrator Dru attended the funeral. There was an unusually large
gathering, but it was plain that most of those who came did so from
morbid curiosity. The poignant grief of the bereaved husband and
children wrung the heartstrings of their many sympathetic friends. The
lowering of the coffin, the fall of the dirt upon its cover, and the
sobs of those around the grave, was typical of such occasions.
Dru was deeply impressed and shocked, and he thought to use his
influence towards a reformation of such a cruel and unnecessary form of
burial. When the opportunity presented itself, he directed attention to
the objections to this method of disposing of the dead, and he suggested
the formation in every community of societies whose purpose should be to
use their influence towards making interments private, and towards the
substitution of cremation for the unsanitary custom of burial in
cemeteries. These societies were urged to point out the almost
prohibitive expense the present method entailed upon the poor and those
of moderate means. The buying of the lot and casket, the cost of the
funeral itself, and the discarding of useful clothing in order to robe
in black, were alike unnecessary. Some less dismal insignia of grief
should be adopted, he said, that need not include the entire garb.
Grief, he pointed out, and respect for the dead, were in no way better
evidenced by such barbarous customs.
Rumor had it that scandal's cruel tongue was responsible for this good
woman's death. She was one of the many victims that go to unhappy graves
in order that the monstrous appetite for gossip may be appeased. If
there be punishment after death, surely, the creator and disseminator of
scandal will come to know the anger and contempt of a righteous God. The
good and the bad are all of a kind to them. Their putrid minds see
something vile in every action, and they leave the drippings of their
evil tongues wherever they go. Some scandalmongers are merely stupid and
vulgar, while others have a biting wit that cause them to be feared and
hated. Rumors they repeat as facts, and to speculations they add what
corroborative evidence is needed. The dropping of the eyelids, the smirk
that is so full of insinuation is used to advantage where it is more
effective than the downright lie. The burglar and the highwayman go
frankly abroad to gather in the substance of others, and they stand
ready to forfeit both life and liberty while in pursuit of nefarious
gain. Yet it is a noble profession compared with that of the
scandalmonger, and the murderer himself is hardly a more objectionable
member of society than the character assassin.
CHAPTER XLVI
THE WISE DISPOSITION OF A FORTUNE
In one of their confidential talks, Selwyn told Dru that he had a
fortune in excess of two hundred million dollars, and that while it was
his intention to amply provide for his immediate family, and for those
of his friends who were in need, he desired to use the balance of his
money in the best way he could devise to help his fellowmen.
He could give for this purpose, he said, two hundred million dollars or
more, for he did not want to provide for his children further than to
ensure their entire comfort, and to permit them to live on a scale not
measurably different from what they had been accustomed.
He had never lived in the extravagant manner that was usual in men of
his wealth, and his children had been taught to expect only a moderate
fortune at his death. He was too wise a man not to know that one of the
greatest burdens that wealth imposed, was the saving of one's children
from its contaminations. He taught his sons that they were seriously
handicapped by their expectations of even moderate wealth, and that
unless they were alert and vigilant and of good habits, the boy who was
working his own way upward would soon outstrip them. They were taught
that they themselves, were the natural objects of pity and parental
concern, and not their seemingly less fortunate brothers.
"Look among those whose parents have wealth and have given of it
