Harrison Grey Otis Quotes

Hirelings of monopoly

Every monopoly and all exclusive privileges are granted at the expense of the public.

The fact is... our doors have not exactly been knocked down by companies willing to defend Microsoft's business practices.

The holder of a monopoly is a sinner and offender.

The existence of immense aggregations of kindred enterprises and combinations of business interests formed for the purpose of limiting production and fixing prices is inconsistent with the fair field which ought to be open to every independent activity. Legitimate strife in business should not be superseded by an enforced concession to the demands of combinations that have the power to destroy, nor should the people to be served lose the benefit of cheapness which usually results from wholesome competition.

The citizens of the several States composing the Union are entitled, of right, to buy goods in the State where they are manufactured, or in any other State, without being confronted by an illegal combination whose business extends throughout the whole country, which by the law everywhere is an enemy to the public interests, and which prevents such buying, except at prices arbitrarily fixed by it. I insist that the free course of trade among the States cannot coexist with such combinations.

… the rules of big business … have superseded the teachings of our parents and are reducible to a simple maxim: Get a monopoly; let Society work for you: and remember that the best of all business is politics, for a legislative grant, franchise, subsidy or tax exemption is worth more than a Kimberly or Comstock lode, since it does not require any labor, either mental or physical, for its exploitation”

When money, rather than innovation or value, is your competitive advantage, that's when things get boring and stagnant, and monopolies take root.

Consolidating to the point of monopoly has never served the consumer - ever.

In an effort to eliminate the possibility of any rival growing up, some monopolists would sacrifice democracy itself.

After we have calmly stood by and allowed monopolies to grow fat, we should not be asked to make them bloated.

I do not expect monopoly to restrain itself.

The so-called anti-trust laws were intended to prevent the creation of monopolies and to forbid unreasonable profits to those monopolies

Monopolies have good sides to them as well as bad sides to them.

[Monopolies are:] ... the bane of our body politic at the present day.

As we view the achievements of aggregated capital, we discover the existence of trusts, combinations, and monopolies, while the citizen is struggling far in the rear or is trampled to death beneath an iron heel. Corporations, which should be the restrained creatures of the law and the servants of the people, are fast becoming the nation's masters.

The trusts and combinations—the communism of self—whose machinations have prevented us from reaching the success we deserved, should not be forgotten or forgiven.

The trusts are getting less than lawful rates from the railroads.

The people were told in the last campaign that trusts [corporate monopolies] were a natural evolution, and that the only way to deal with them was to regulate them. The people are tired of being told such things. What they want is the kind of opportunity that formerly existed in this country.

Liberty and monopoly cannot live together.

There are certain agreements or practices which because of their pernicious effect on competition and lack of any redeeming virtue are conclusively …. Among the practices which the courts have heretofore deemed to be unlawful in and of themselves are price fixing, division of markets, group boycotts, and tying arrangements.

If, as you say, the success of commercial society depends upon the full play of competition, why do not you and your confreres turn your attention and direct the shafts of your attacks against the trusts and corporations

Monopolies, whether private or governmental, are always abused by those who hold them.

All the authorities agree that in order to vitiate a contract or combination it is not essential that its result should be a complete monopoly; it is sufficient if it really tends to that end and to deprive the public of the advantages which flow from free competition.

We seek the definite end of preventing combinations in furtherance of monopoly and in restraint of trade