The Hawaiian gazette., 1888-04-10

the Standard Trust. Some men who
know unpleasant secrets don't have
to work very hard for a living, it is
said. Pitts5urg people have long
wondered over the case of Mr.. Beach.
He held confidential position in the
Standard Oil Company's employ
some years ago, and suddenly found
it necessary to go to Canada, leaving
behind some very unpleasant inan-
cial intricacies. The Standard peo-
pie thought over the matter for a
while and then sent to Mr.. Beach.
They paid his debt on the Exchange
where he had been dabbling a bit,
made good the shortage, and rein
stated him, it is said, at an advanced
salary.
With this characteristic incident
let us draw a veil for while on the
Standard Oil Trust.
ITS nITAToRs.
The Sugar Trust, the Whisky
Trust, the Cotton-seed Oil Trust, and
all the rest of the brood of big con-
spiracies which have sprung into
being in the past year, differ from
the Standard Oil Trust, in that they
were established directly to get a
grip on certain commodities, and
so regulate their manufacture as to
squeeze large profits from the peck
cts of the consumers.
"The Sugar Refneries Company" is
the sign and title of the trust, and
New York is its home. The firms
composing the trust are all bound by
ironclad agreements, involving among
other things, fealty, obedience and
absolute silence. A correct list of
the refneries comprising the Sugar
Refneries Company has not yet got
into the papers. 1t is as follows:
In New York: Havemeyer & Elder
Sugar Refining Company, F. o.
Mathiesen & Wiechers Sugar Rein
ing Company, Brooklyn Sugar Re
fning Company, Decastro & Bonner
Sugar Refining Company, Dick &
Meyer Sugar Refining Company,
Moller, Sierck & Company Sugar Re
fning Company, North River Sugar
Refining Company, Oxnard Sugar
Refining Company, and in Boston
the Standard Sugar Refining Com
pany, Boston Sugar Refining Com
pany, Continental Sugar Refining
Company, Bay State Sugar Refinery,
and in. Portland the Forest City
Sugar Refining Company, and in
New Orleans the Louisiana Sugar
Refining Company, and the Planters
Sugar Refining Company, and in st.
Louis the St. Louis Sugar Refining
Company. The remaining refneries
in the United States are: The Frank
lin Sugar Refinery, Philadelphia,
worked by Messrs. Harrison, Frazier
& Co., and the Delaware Sugar
House, Philadelphia, worked by
Messrs. E. G. Knight & Co., and the
Revere Sugar Refinery, Boston,
worked by Messrs. Nash, Spaulding
& Co., and the American Sugar Re
fning Company, San Francisco,
worked by Messrs. E. S. G. Iteele &
Co., and the California Sugar Rein
ing Company, San Francisco, worked
Dy Nlr. OlauS OprecKelS.
MANIPULATING SUGAR STOCK.
The sugar stock of the Sugar Trust
is put at $60,O00OU0. This represents
less than $20,0OO,OOO of brick and
mortar, million or two of money
and $4O,OOO,0OO of clear virgin water
Stock has been offered for sale, and
some has sold as high as eighty, but
people are wary of touching it now at
seventy five, because it begins to look
as if the monopoly kings might re-
ceive a sudden check in their mad
career. If it were only safe it would
be grand investment, for sugar men
figure that the trust has already made
since November LIST twelve per cent.
on its watered stock, or thirty per
cent. on its real property.
The plan of the Sugar Trust is
very simple. 1t works both ways
to depress the price on raw sugars,
and increase the price of refined. By
destroying competition it destroys
also the market for raw sugars, and
takes away the business of importers
and brokers. The great American
protective tariff helps in the evil
work of barring out the better grades
Of raw sugars which would be suit
able for use without refining. Hav-
ing three-quarters of the reineries in
their hands, the trust plays the game
so familiar in the anthracite coal
fields of shutting down and restrict
ing production. At the close of jan
uary there were but two trust houses
running in New York, two in Boston,
two in New Orleans, and one in st.
Louis. Refined sugar had advanced
a cent and half a pound, and as the
middlemen always take advantage of
good excuse to raise prices, the
poor public found itself paying three
or four cents more a pound than it
paid year ago. N
"MLLIoNs IN IT."
The sugar importers have not made
up their minds what the ultimate