p. 11 | War and Competition

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · May 10, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 18.

War and Competition

LAWYER JOHNSON of Philadelphia, one of the greatest trust attorneys in America, did not endeavor to excuse all of the wrong-doings of the Standard Oil Company in his defense before the United States Supreme Court. He declared that what General Sherman said about war was literally true of competition, and asked, “Is there a kind of soft competition, a Pickwickian competition? a kind of kid glove variety where they just compete so nicely that it won’t hurt?” And he continued: “General Sherman used a word in describing what war is. I won’t use the word in your honors’ presence, but that is what competition is.” And there is a great deal of truth in the saying; and especially when the competition is between men who are bound to win at any cost, it certainly takes the character of war.

We have a good deal said about humanizing war; but old Lord Fisher, who has had much to do in the reorganization of the British navy, truly stated in The Hague Peace Conference of 1899 the true character of war. “The humanization of war? You might as well talk of humanizing hell. . . . As if war could be civilized! If I am in command when war breaks out, I shall issue as my orders, ‘The essence of war is violence, moderation in war is imbecility, hit first, hit hard, hit anywhere.’”

And that is about what competition is many times with the trusts. A great sad fact is that the consumer is generally the one who gets hit.