The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1888-02-09
THE sUBL1M1TY OF GREED.
An Alarming Growth of the Trust System
From the Mew York Herald.

From the New York Herald.
"Trusts are the nurseries of fraud p
This axiom of the law must have beer
in the mind of President Cleveland wher
he said in his recent message:
aIt is notorious that this competition
(amoDg domestic producers and manu-.
facturers) is too often strangled by com
binations quite prevalentat this time and
frequently called trusts, which have fol
their object the regulation of the supply
and price of commodities made and sold
by members of the combination. The
people can hardly hope for any consider.
alton in the operation of these selfish
schemes. The necessity ot
combination to maintain the price of any
commodity to the tariff point furnishes
proof that some one is willing to accept
lower prices for such commodity, and
that such prices are remunerative."
It is quite probable, however, that even
President Cleveland had no idea how
vast and far.reaching is this form of mo.
nopoly.
A private trust is public iniquity,
and in many cases the trusts in the
United States are the outgrowth of the
protective tariff.
The trust system is monopoly Of mo-
nopolies. It is combination of Ameri.
can manufacturers who are already bar
ricaded against any competition from
foreigners by high protective tariff, and
who, not satisfied with these advantages,
conspire so to limit protection as to in
sure an exorbitant and fictitious price for
their goods.
The trust system puts the absolute con.
troll of articles that are necessaries of LITE
in the grasp of few very rich men.
The trust tolerates no competition-no
fair, open market. When few powerful
corporations form a trust, every other
manufacturer who cannot be bullied OF
bought into q surrender of his mills and
factories to these self.constituted dicta-
tors, is driven to bankruptcy and ruin by
the freezing out process-that is to cay,
the conspirators attack his trade by un-
derselliDg him, putting goods on the mar.
ket at loss and sinking money by selling
at ruinous rates, until the single competi-
tor can stand it no longer and is driven
from the field. Of course, as soon as this
is done, up goes the price again, higher
than ever, for now it is at the mercy of q
monopoly.
The great Standard Oil Trust-the
most powerful and dangerous monopoly
ever organized-is responsible for the
trust system. The vast aggregation of
wealth-s1OO,OOO,0 1000 in fifteen years
which this great company has wrested
from the petroleum industry by the in
iquitous help of the railroad trunk lines,
the ease with which it has crushed and
ruined small oil re6ners, the success with
which it has bribed Legislatures and the
Courts, sitting investigation and punish.
ment, and its increasing prosperity and
absolute control of the petroleum indus.
try, inspired imitators in other branches
of trade.
Some of these newer trusts, notably
the Cotton Seed Oil, have behind them
the power and influence of the Standard
and its wealth. All are based upon the
Standard idea of monopolis.ic control.
To such an extent have these illegal
combinations increased that there is now
scarcely a branch of manufactures which
has not its organization for setting aside
the legitimate laws Of trade-the natural
laws of supply and demand.
A direct outgrowth of the Standard
Oil Trust is the Cotton Seed Oil Trust.
The organization of this gigantic monop-
oily was begun in 1888. It's growth has
been slow but sure. J. M. Flagler, John
D. Rockefeller and other magnates of the
Standard have been instrumental in put
ting it on its feet.
The same methods that the Standard
used to crush out competitors have been
used by the Cotton Seed Trust. Where
mill could not be cajoled or bullied into
selling cut to the combine its business
has been ruined by the trust operating
some neighboring mill at heavy loss
until the outside mill could stand it no
longer and gave up the fight. Many
small mill.owners in the South have been
ruined in this way.
The object of the trust is to retain the
absolute control of the production and
price of cotton seed oil. The stuff is
used to an enormous extent in the adul'
teration of lard, imitation butter, olive
oil and many other food articles. Its use
is so general that it is now we'll nigh inn
possible to purchase either pure lard OF
genuine olive oil. Cotton seed oil is ex'
ported in large quantities and mixed with
the olive oil at the manufactures on the
Mediterranean before the oil is bottled
and shipped. The cotton seed oil then
comes back to this country labelled
"Huile d'olive super6ne."
The Cotton Seed Oil Trust has a capi
tai stock outstanding in certificates O.
about 5O,OOo,0OO. These certificates al
the present market prices of 20 to 32 pei
cent are worth about s13, 100000; yeal
ago at 60 to 65 per cent they we're worth
about S27, 100000.
The trust owns about ITO mills, refine
ries and factories, scattered over tht
States of Georgia, Arkansas, Mississippi
Alabama, Tennessee, Missouri, Ohio
Pennsylvania, Illinois, Nebraska ant
Texas. For each mill taken into th'
combination an additional amount o
certificates, corresponding with the agreed
| value of the property, was issued. Thu