New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-01-27
PERNICIOUS AC1IVITY OF TRUSTS

PERNICIOUS AC1IVITY OF TRUSTS
Trusts ought to be investigated. thoroughly
and unsparngly. Mr.. Randall is perfectly
right in demanding that the inquiry should not
be confined to any one or two Of them. The
public needs light about them all, their origin
and methods their influence upon production
and prices and their part in politics. IT any
Democrat undertakes to oppose the inveStlga-
ton as to the "pcInicouS activity OF trusts
in politics, the world will at once understand
that he wants to shut off the daylight from the
performances of the Standard OH Company in
Ohio: the election of one Senator, Democrats
charge by corruption and the attempt to elect
another by crime and forgery; the peculiar
activity Of men like Mr.. Whitney in the cam
paIgn Of 1854. and their present influence in
Democratic management. According to re-
ports, no other trust in the country has been
more pcrsistcnty active in politics than this
organization on the Democratic side. If IN TINS
particular it has been misrcprcSentcd by the
conduct Of individuals. that fact ought To De
made known.
If anv other trust or combination especially
needs investigation. it is the whlSkcy ring,
which had so much to do with the election OF
President Cleveland in 1884. and Of Governor
IIoadlv in the preceding Ohio campaign. me
"pcricious activity" Of this concern has been
4 matter Of open boast in Democratic journals.
and il would be discourtcous to many of them
to suppose that there was no truth in the state
mcnts published. Still, injustice may have
been done in this case also, and thorough III
vcstigation should remove any mioundcd re-
ports. So Of the sugar trust, IN which the
name of IIavCmcycr is almost rs conspicuous
as il was in the history Of Mr.. 1ildcn'S cipher
dispatches in 1876 If conspicuous Democrats
bad ANYTHING TO do with the radical chang" in
rulings Of the Treasury Department. by which
exports Of refined sugar were reduced from
2;5.OOOOOO pounds in 1855 to O7,OOO,OOO
mounds in 1887. il would he well for the public
to know the political motive.
BY all means investigate. and to the bottom.
The investigation is likely to show that some
truSts rob the public and some do not In
1873. when the Standard oil Company began
to get control Of the markets, the price of re-
fined oil in this market was % 81 to : cents.
and. except in one or two isolated months.
il has never been rs high since that tlme
Last year the price was below cents per gal
lon nearly all the year, and the saving TO The
pcoplc in cost Of oil consumed was great. Inc
100000. 900 gallons now consumed. more or
less, would have cost $50. 900 600 at the
price Of 1873, and did cost about SO. OOD.OOO
at the price Of 1887. The combination has
been most pcrniciouSly active on the wrong
side in politics. but it seems to have made oil
cheaper. As for the whi>kcy trust ITS dismal
failure is noteworthy. The market has been
s,aonant for years at about - o. for spirits
ON which 90 cents tax has been paid, except
when the bankruptcy Of important dealers mas
forced large stocks on the market at sacrifice
As to sugar. the trust has not been in operation
long enough to determine whether 1t Will end
in disaster, as the whiSkcy pool does. or in sub
stantial benefit TO the public and profit to pro
duccrs. At present it is demanding SO per
cent Of the cost Of raw sugar rs IFS additional
charge for refined in January 1887. the addl-
tional charge was 80 per cent and in January.
! 1886. it was - per cent, As the following
quotations show:
Fair refining cents n. BIZ 4G2 5a9
u