The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-07-06
THE ART 0FRULJNG MARKETS
Industrial Pools in Which There Is
Peace, Alliance, and No Competition.
Keeping Up Coal Prices-"ToO Many Nails"
Making Short Crops of Cotton Cloth
Curing the Evil of Too Much Paper.
Correspondence of the indianapolis Journal.

Correspondence Of the indianapolis Journal.
New YORK, July 3-Mr. Stephenson said of
railroads that where combination was possible
competition impossible. The law of trade
could hardly be stated better Modern industry
has bugbear. The name of this black beast is
overproducton. Modern industry has, there
fore, agreed with itself to cut down making
and thereby to keep up the rates of selling. 1t
makes no difference that the majority have
never yet been able to buy enough of anything,
the minority have too much of everything to
sell. There is hardly purchasable article in
common use the price of which is not fixed
by combination of the manufacturers, who
brand any departure from the established rate
as dishonest" competition. Some of these COM
binations come prominently before the public.
The railroad, telegraph and telephone pools are
belabored daily by the obiurgatons of the anti
monopolists Few people realize how many
urimportant and unconsidered trihes are held
quite as jealousy in hand by the voluntary
agreements of capitalists on a larger or smaller
scale. In 1875 the Pennsylvania Legislature
took in hand an investigation of the coal combi
nation, and, among other defendants, the Read
ing railroad was called upon for an explanation
of the part it had played in curing the devastat
ing plague of too much coal by advancing rates,
and sealing down the quantity for sale. Presi-
dent Gowen offered to the committee by way OF
defense list of trades in which the same thing
was Systematically done,
EVERY pound of rope we buy for our vessels"
he said, 'or for mines, is sold at rate fixed
by a committee of the rope manufacturers of the
United States Every key of nails, every paper
of tacks, all our screws, and WrencheS, and
hinges, the boiler iues of our locomotives,
are never bought except at the price fixed by the
representatives of the mills that manufacture
them. Fire brick, gas Dipe terra Gotta pipe for
drainage every keg Of powder to blast coal are
purchased under the same arrangement. Every
pane of window-glass in this house was bought
at a scale of prices established in exactly the
same way.
If there be safety in crowd, President Gowen
might have extended his list indefinitely while
now, after ten years of further organization and
combination, it would be far easier to make out
list of on-combinng industries than of the
monopolies
That employers combine to prevent rise in
wages is MISUNDERSTOOD fact The combina-
tons of laborers to enforce their demands have
necessitated counter organizations There is no
competition in the labor market. Representa-
delegates from the Manufacturers Offensive
and Defensive Alliance" and the con-
ference results in fixing a scale of wages
which every mar ufacturer pays, higher
than which no employer will go, lower than
which no employe will work. The lasters in the
Cincinnati shoe factories are just now threaten
ing to strike for higher pay July l. The manu-
facturers have given bonds to each other to keep
the agree ment to offer the present wages and no
more. Master and no longer deal with
each other; it is union with union.
Combinations to keep up the price of coal have
made considerable noise in the world within the
last ten years, and have had the honor of being
investigated by the Legislatures of New York
and other States. The Western Anthracite Coal
Association, controlled entirely by the railroads
and mine owners of Pennsylvania, is at present
maturing plan to put up the price of fuel
twenty five cents ton next month. Dull times
and run of low prices in every line of goods
make the success of the scheme doubtful this
time, but in the not remote past the combina
ton has doubled the price of coal in
New York. The New York or Brook yn retailer
has, indeed, little to say about what he shall
pay what he shall charge, or what his
profits shall be- He is sinking into the position
of mere agent of this combination, with little
more control of prices than his customers The
means by which the control of the coal trade is
maintained are simple enough. A good proper
ton of the coal fields is owned by the coal roads.
The companies mine their own coal, carry it to
market and sell it. Private mine operators, not
burdened with watered railroad stock, would
sometimes sell cheaper If they could; but If they
refuse to enter the pool their coal is left on
their hands; the coal roads control the transpor-
taton, and will not take it to market The
great companies are thus left free to enter into
Grinding agreements for the control of the
trade" decreeng just how large the output of
each mine shall be per month and how many
days work the miners shall get,
The $50 900 steel combination" has been I'M
able to keep up the price of rails-nothing could
do that with an almost entire cessation of rail
road builGing-but it has maintained it at
higher rate than is known in any other country.
1t was a year ago last January that the Age of
Steel announced the incipient formation of "a
monster pool to include all the pi iron manu-
facturers of the country. Quarterly conferences
were to settle the amount of iron that could
be put upon the market at pool rates; then just
enough furnaces to be kept in blast to
supply the number of tons agreed upon, the idle
corporations to share equally in the profits. The
statement was premature, but the writer may
prove to be a bit of prophet We are in the
midst of the building season, and carpenters are
unusually busy in many sections. Yet the nail
makers are quite sure that mechanics have too
many nails for their own good, and propose to
keep the works shut down till next fall At
irregular intervals the Western Nail Manu-
facturers sit in conference at Plttsburg, adopt
schedules of rates and order suspensions Of the
nail machines to suit the production to the de-
sired price.
The Master Car Builders Association has just
closed its sessions at Old Point Comfort Ac-
cording to a telegraphc dispatch important
revisions We're made in the rules" delegates
having votes in proportion to the business of the
companies they represented. The prices OF cars
were fixed. prices of wheels and axles reclassi-
fed, prices for labor and material in bills for
repairs arranged Universal suffrage and
majority vote have replaced competition in car
building
The New England Manufacturers Association
feels that it has mission in life to cure the cry
ing evil of too much cotton cloth. Having sue
cessfully arranged and carried out plan for
partial stoppage of the mills during May and
June, without accomplishing the desired end Of
putting up prices, it is continuing