Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-09-23
Plain That Blaine Put His Foot In
It ON the ssTrustss, Question.

election day.
Plain That Blaine Put His Foot I'm
iIs on the ssTrusts'' Question.
A Trust is combine for Doodle only
an unholy alliance designed to strangle
natural competition and make great
profits by increasing the cost OF necessar-
les to the people. Trusts could not ex-
ist in nine cases out of ten but for the
tariff, as investigation will show that
these conspiracies against the public's
pocket-book are found almost invariably
in protected industries.
Mr.. Blaine, recognizing the trust as a
part of the tariff system, which he is de-
tending, apologized for it in these words,
in his Portland speech, on Wednesday,
August Is:
are altogether advantageous or disadvan-
tageous. They are largely private affairs,
with which neither President Cleveland
nor any private citizen has any par
ticular right to interfere"
Now the question whether President
Cleveland or private citizens have a right
to concern themselves about monopoies
created and fostered by taxation sys-
tenn ostensibly in the interests OF Ameri-
can labor, is just the question we are 60
ing to decide on November 9th. The
people who, with MIR. Blaine, desire to
have trusts regarded as strictly "private
affairs'' are people like his friend Mr..
Carnegie, who have made millions out
of the tariff.fostered Steel Rail Trust, or
some other similar combination. In the
steel rail industry, for instance, it was
worked this way: The rail mills of the
1ncc oil
organized an association and agreed to
restrict production, so as to secure higher
prices than then ruled, which were $27
ton. The restriction Of the supply
caused active competition among the
railroads for rails, and the price was
forced up to $40 at one time.
We get an inside view of this business
from speech that the Hon. w. l.. Scott
of Pennsylvania, made in October, 1886,
when the price of rails was $33 and going
up. He said:
Eighteen months ago had occasion
to buy 10, 600 tons of steel rails. l went
to a rolling mill in Pennsylvania and
bought them for $3.50 per ton. The
parties who sold them to me were per-
fectly satisfied with the price. At that
time there was no combination between
the steel mills of this country. About
six months afterward the seven or eight
steel rail mills of the country combined
and agreed to divide among themselves
the amount of rails that the country
would require, and gradually the price
of steel rails went up until it reached
$33 per ton, which is the price to-day
From $22 80 to $33 is an increase of 81. so.
Now, the advance n the cost of pro-
ducin g at on of steel rails does not ex-
ceed 10 per cent. over and above what
paid at the time, or $3.50 per ton. That
would leave in round numbers an ad-
vance in steel rails of IS ton without
any necessity for it. There are seven
steel-rail mills, and they produce about
1900, 900 ions of steel rails year, and
this additional profit OF S. per ton
amounts to the sum of $7,500,000 to be
divided between these seven or eight
mills. Do you think that the railroads
pay this excessive profit on the steel
rails they buy? Not oy any means. The
railroads simply advance the money,
and it is you who travel over the rail
roads, and who transport your merchan-
disc and produce over them, who in the
end pay this immense profit to the man.
ufacturers. 1t comes at last upon the
people,"
Now, to 'protect" this "infant indus
try" there is tariff of $17 ton on steel
rails, although the whole labor cost in
ton of rails is less than So. Here is the
way Mr.. Mills puts it in his speech at
the opening of the great tariff debate in
Congress:
''The average price of the steel rails
imported last year was $2O.16 per ton.
From 1875 to 1878, inclusive, steel rails
were cheaper in the United States than
England, and cheaper here because they
could be produced at lower cost here
than in Europe. And if they could be
made cheaper here for four years. why
not all the time? From 1875 to 1873 the
importation fell from $4,000 tons to 2
tons. The average English price last
year was $40. 16; the average American
price for the same time was $37 13; diff
ference in price, 1857; tariff duty, $l7!
Now, if the Steel Raj Association could
make rails as cheap in the United States
in 1878 as they could be made in Eng
land, they could DO it in
1887, and the $1697 difference
in price was put in the pockets of
the manufacturer. 1t is claimed to be in
the interest of the laborer, but he only
gets from So to IS per ton; the balance
goes to the manufacturer to make
millionaires of men that they may build
castles in Scotland and 90 coaching
through her mountains.-[New York
News.
Un0uenchable.