St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-02-25
COTTON SEED OIL TRUST.
Some Seventy or Eighty Companies in
the Trust.
ARMOUR'S HAND TO BE SEEN.
How the Trusts Are Manipulated by the
BOsses---A Syndicate to Fight
the Sugar Trusts.

NEW YORK, Feb. 24.-The senate in
vestlgating committee took up the cot
tonseed oil trust to-day. This trust
made no effort to conceal it's real status.
Before the examination of witnesses
was begun, Lawyer Elihu Root, on be-
half OF the trust. objected to the in
vestigation on these grounds: 1.-THE
trust has only to do with cottonseed oil;
no cottOnseed is grown or the Oil pro-
duced in this state; the corporation was
not formed in this state, but in Ark
ansas; only three of the nine trustees
live in this state; no combination or
agreement has been made in this state:
and it is not within the scope of the
committee to investigate the trust; the
committee has no more to do with the
trust than it would have with a Con-
necticut WOODEN mill or Western rail
road" The committee overruled the
objections, and called John Scott, one
OF the trustees, to the witness stand.
He said: ''There are
SEVENTY OR EIGHTY COMPANIES
in the trust. Last years crop was 700.-
900, of which the company controlled
$4,000 tons, 2711a per cent of the oil was
SAPol UOu. IllC was uOCll lOl
soap, safety lamps for miners and as
lubricator. The several firms make
monthly reports, which are investigated
by employees of the trust. The capital
stock of the trust is fixed at S41, 100000
nOminaIly. A dividend of per cent
has been declared. AS the stock sold
Tor 30 per cent, the dividend
was actually about 10 per
cent. The combined stock of the
companies entering the combine was
less than half of the stock of the trust.
Witness thought that since the forma-
ton of the trust i'll 1885 the price of cot
ton seed had risen. AT that time the
mills were on the verge of bankruptcy,
and some Of them had shut down. Col.
Bliss asked witness if he had heard that
time threatened to establish cotton
seed Oil trust in opposition to the one
now existing.
AnSWer-He had.
Question-It was not established, was
it?
A.-No. sir.
Q.-WaS not that because of an I'M
derstanding, or in fact, an agreement of
some kind between Armour 81 Co. and
the cotton seed oil trust or some of its
stockholders?
AT this point the witness became con-
fused, and declined to state. The COM
mlttee, however, directed him to an
swer, and after consulting with his
counsel, he said there was an agree
ment between Armour & Co. and the
cotton seed Oil trust, which stipulated
the price at which the former could
purchase cotton seed Oil. Gen. Pryor
demanded that the witness be
directed to state in detail, as
near as he could recollect, the
provisions of the agreement. Witness
could not remember. He stated, how
ever, what he knew regarding his own
side, but appeared delicate about say
ing anything regarding the affairs of
Armour 81 Co. in connection with the
trust. L. A. Newcomb, a subpoena
server for the committee, testified that
he had endeavOred to serve subpoena
on John III. Rockefeller, William Rookie
Teller and j. ID. Archibald, of the Stand
ard Oil company, without success. He
had reason to believe that the statement
that the former was out of town was un-
true. The second person was reported
as being in Florida, and the latter has
thus far evaded the serving OF the sub
p9na