St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1886-08-21
A GREAT MONOPOLY.
uiStory OF the Powerful Association o1
WALLPAPER Manufacturers.

WALLPAPER Manufacturers.
In the stores Of the high-toned inte
flor decorators where estimates are
made on all the work connected with
fitting up . room, and the wealthy
customer considers prices no object.
one seldom hears of the combination -
But in visiting the genuine wallpaper
stores where nothing but wallpaper is
sold, the customer is often puzzled by
hearing the clerk speak Of certain
paper as being one of the 'combina-
ton papers. To the existence of this
combination is due the wealth of the
American wallpaper manufacturers.
and the rapid advance which interior
decoration has made within the last ten
years. Previous to that time the manu-
facture Of wallpaper in this country
was in its infancy, and the papers made
here had no standing in competition
with those of foreign makes, especially
those of France and England. There
were only few manufacturers here,
and most of those did not attempt to
make very fine grade of paper. To
be sure. there were one or two firms
who made flock or velvet papers. in
which the figures were raised. and the
paper which had q gold background
was perhaps better made then than
much of the same kind manufactured
now; but these firms were exceptions.
and most OF the paper manufactured
was of very inferior quality.
French and English wallpaper was
imported for fine trade almost exclu-
sively. Very few artists were en-
ployed by American manufacturers.
most of the American Wallpapers be-
ing copies, and. in great part, wretched
ones, too, of French papers.
The combination" as it is termed
in the trade. is one of the greatest
monopolies in the country. 1t con-
sists of an association of the most i'm
portant wallpaper manufacturers for
the purpose of keeping up the prices
at which Wallpapers are sold, both
wholesale and retail.
1t was started five years ago. Near
ly all the large manufacturers in the
country went into it. Laws and by
laws were framed. and each manufact.
urer who joined the combination
signed an agreement to abide by the
laws and filed bond of several thou.
sand dollars. which he agreed to for.
felt in case he violated any of the laws.
BY this agreement the prices of all the
grades of wallpapers were fixed. The
cheapest wallpaper. known to the
trade as "brown blanks.' it was agreed
to sell for not less than six cents per
roll; the "white blank next in grade,
was to bring nine cents; the bronze,
twenty-eight and thirty-two cents, ac-
cording to quality; and "gold grounds"
were to bring sixty cents. These
prices have changed but little since
that time.
But this was only part of the purpose
of the combination. An officer was
elected, at salary of S10, 900 per year,
whose sole duty was to decide. in case
of dispute, the quality of . wallpaper
and the price it should sell for. 1t was
also agreed not to sell to any jobber or
dealer who did not sign cast-iron
compact, in which he agreed not to
sell any wall paper. whether bought
from manufacturers within or outside of
the combination, for less than
combination prices. The .'combi-
nation" also fixed the minimum prices
at which wall paper could be retailed,
which was several cents higher for each
grade than the manufacturer price.
The jobber or dealer had to deposit
$500 forfeit with the officers of the
combination" after signing the agree.
ment, and manufacturers and dealers
were closely watched to see that they
did not break the rules on the sly.
The ''combination" became power
At once, The few manufacturers and
dealers who did not join were squeezed
into corner. The latter especially
suffered, as they could not buy from
the manufacturers in the ''combi-
nation" at any prices, and those out Of
it had not sufficient variety to meet
their wants. They soon repented and
joined the association. leaving out only
a few dealers who catered entirely to
a cheap class of trade. Buoyed up by
this enormous monopoly the manufact-
turers in the scheme grew rapidly very
wealthy. branched out in new fields,
imported artists and machinery from
Europe and were soon manufacturing
almost as fine wallpapers as the
tCus luO
who stayed out lost all trade and had
to succumb. The combination used
all its tremendous power to crush these
independents. A woman
who had small factory on Long
Island received $4,000 to join the
combination" She took the money
and shut down the works. declaring
that she had received more money in
one lump than she could ever hope to
make out of her factory. Several
others were bought out and the monop-
oly stood almost without competition.
In order to give manufacturers and
dealers a chance to get rid of poor and
surplus stock, it was decided that dur
ing the months of July and August the
combination" should be considered
of. That was one blow at its power,
for it enabled some of the dealers who
to buy goods in those months
from all manufacturers without stipu-
ation. and after this plan was adopted
more retailers became independent.
Many other changes have been
brought about in the five years this
has existed. Dealers have
earned ways of getting papers at ali
lines from manufacturers in the .com-
although they themselves
lid not join. Thus it has lately been
weakened.-N r Nail
md Erpress.
Country parson (who, in his poor
I'D Pensioners last illness. had chari-
ably sent him can of mix every day
rom the vicarage)-.W, Il, Mrs. Pow