The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1888-09-27
Trusts and Workingmen.

what is a trust anyhow: | would
like YOU to explain precisely what
they are and how they effect work
ingmeng'
A trust il n combination of manu-
featuring capitalists to check pro-
duction. feed the market with only
a limited supply of their goods and
thus keep prices high. Their aim II
to manufacture less and charge more.
But if they make less goods, that
means that they will employ fewer
laborers. or give tothose they employ
less steady word.
If there were no high protective
tariff. trusts would be more difficult
i'm forming. because the moment
manufacturers here combined TO linn
il production and raise prices. that
moment goods would come in from
abroad to supply the market. 1t is
the high tariff that is the basis of the
trust and the trust + the foe Of the
workingman. because it means less
work. and higher prices for what he
consumes.
One example will illustrate how the
trust affects workingmen. When
the duty on salt was very high the
Michigan and Syracuse salt works
hired the Great kanawha salt works
i'm West Virginia to stand idle. That
is, they paid the owners of these
works a fixed sum per year to make
no salt. The men who had found
employment got nothing, they had to
90 out neck and heels and shift for
themselves, while the owners were
handsomely paid for the use Of their
idle capital.
The st. Louis iron works likewise
were paid by the iron manufacturers
of Pennsylvania $4,000 a year to let
their works stand idle. the men who
had been employed before. having
the privilege of becoming tramps and
beggars.
Mr.. Blaine says this condition of
things is legitimate: that they are
private affairs with which the gov
eminent has no right to interfere.
Mr.. powderly. Il wiser and better
man, i'll reply to the retiring secreta-
nv of the order, {. Ii. Litchnan, con-
dennis trusts, and says:
1T stands TO the credit of organ
;,ol la ,, and p.a. rlv n,rr l..
der. 10 say that every law, every
measure of relief from oppressive
legislation and every upward step to-
wards better understanding OF the
claims OF labor has been forced from
between the fingers of wealth by the
chosen advocates Of associated toll
1t il equally true that every evil of
which labor complains and every
wrong which ii seeks to remedy has
increased and been intensified, il it
has not actually been developed AS Il
creation, under republican rule and
the highest tariff i'll the world. !"
There was no call Tor the banding of
labor organizations for mutual pro-
lection curing the ]ow-tariff period
Strikes and lockouts We're almost un-
known prior to 1860. The tramp is
the child of the tariff. With every
body employed one year under the
stimulus Of bounties to manufacture
ers, and IA million worknen idle the
next year as the result Of an invited
Oyer-production, economic disorder
and uIsaster are inevitable"
Here are some of the Inonopolistic
outgrowths OF our tariff system which
are plundering and expressing the
people:
The Bessemer steel monopoly.
The Crucible Steel Trust.
The Nail Association.
The coal combination.
The coke combination.
The Lumber Trust.
The Sugar Trust.
The saiI combination.
The Fiour-Bag Trust.
The Maine sardine fraud.
Tue WALLPAPER Trust
Tie window-ylass combination.
The Darb-wire ring.
The Lead Trust.
The School Slate Trust.
The sileet-zinc monopoly.
The Russia sheet-iron monopoly.
The Standard Oil Trust.
American workingmen should care
fully sean this partial list of the trusts
which may be traced directly to the
high tariff and say how much pro-
lection there is in ii for them.
But the parties who enter into
these combination are without eA-
ception corporations formed under
Gs& 1 g. ri, i,
limited powers, and we'll defined
duties.
The Supreme Court of Tennessee
has but recently given all important
decision IN relation to IL cotton-seed
oil trust which the companies had
formed ut Memphis. One Of the COM
panies desired to withdraw, the 9TH
ers resisted. The court held tie
trust to be partnership, and that II
corporation cannot enter into such Il
business relation without FORGETTING
its charter. We commend what il
SAWS to Mr.. Blaine and the other
champions of these unholy conbina-
tons to rob, The court i'll character
ling the concern said:
A careful examination of this agree
uenr discioses every essential eiei.ier |
to a contract of partnership. the
absolute ownership vi this CORPORATE
property. the mills. machinery. etc,
l. not conveyed to the partnership.
nor il this necessary. Ihe DeIieilcie.i
use OF all sucn property Is surrendered
to the common purpose. lie prosis-
ions for the complete possession. con-
troll and use Of the properties vi the
several corporations by the partner
ship or syndicate are perfect.
Nothing is left to the several CO.