There was no industrial development related to the tariff which gave the Republicans deeper concern at this period than the trusts. Mr. Cleveland in his message of 1887 had called attention to the aid a high duty gave to combinations struggling for the entire control of a commodity, and the country could not but see that he was right. There was a type of protectionist who refused to admit the connection. According to Mr. Kelley and Mr. Aldrich there could be no monopoly in a protected article. Domestic competition would prevent it. Nevertheless the trusts multiplied and the majority of them were in highly protected industries. Moreover, it was obvious that if there was no duty, the industry would have to sustain a competition which would make monopoly very difficult if not impossible. It was not the Democrats alone who saw this. Senator Sherman, who felt particular anxiety over the question, which he realized might easily defeat the party if it were not settled, thought and said frequently before 1889 that the trust could only be reached through the revenue laws. He had been ready to take all duty from refined sugar in order to destroy the sugar trust, but the majority of his party did not agree with him. They hesitated at admitting a connection between anything so unpopular as a trust and anything so sacred and infallible as protection. An effort was made to dismiss the troublesome phenomenon as of no consequence. Mr. Blaine tried this. “Trusts,” he said, “were state issues.” “They have no place in a national campaign.” In mentioning them he would put in the proviso, “_If_ they are evils,” etc. But this was no more effective than the similar attempt to make people believe that the surplus was a good thing, a proof of prosperity. The unrest increased rather than diminished, and numerous bills were introduced into Congress between 1887 and 1890, aimed at defining, regulating, or suppressing combinations. Bills to tax, to take the tariff from, to investigate and to forbid trusts, pepper the proceedings. Among these bills was a measure of Senator Sherman’s making a combination in restraint of trade a crime punishable by fine or imprisonment. This was first introduced in 1888. It was repeatedly discussed and amended, and now that the tariff revision was on, it was felt that it should be passed. The Democrats did not hesitate to declare that the Republicans’ sudden zeal for the bill was due to their desire to have an answer for those who might criticise their tariff bill as a trust-breeder. At all events, the measure was passed ahead of the tariff bill. Thus an answer was ready for the critics. As Senator Morgan said, “The bill was a good preface to an argument upon the protective tariff.”