The Springdale news., 1888-08-03
TRUSTS.

fartnres on Trusts, More Particularly
 the standard Oil and sugar Irust, ihe
 Peculiar Methods Adopted to ENaat
 Conflict With the Law and Achieve Their
 Ends.
 WASHINGTON, July 31,--The House com mittee on manufactures yesterday suomit- ted the following report concerning the trusts iuves tigation, which was ordered printed;
 The committee on manufactures respectfully report that acting under the authority anu direction of a resolution of this House, passea on the 18th day of January, 1888 they have pro ceeded to investigate and inquire into the mat ters and things referred 10 in said resolutlon and having examined witnesses and papers III relation thereto, they have been unable 10 com plete such inquiry and investigation, ana re spectfully report the following resolution With the recommendation that 1t do pass,
 Your committee further report that the names Of various combinations End trusts nave been from time to time, furnished to your com mittee that the number of such combthduohs is very large, and that your committee m caii, ing witnesses and taking testimony, proceeoeo upon the following plan of investigation l. c. to inquire:
 First. with relation to trusts and comoina. tions in lines of business which are eennecteu with or use articles in which there exisls competition in our markets between the do- nestle product and the foreign product impore 
 Second with relation to such combinations dealing in articles which arc not imported into this country, are not subject to import duties.
 Third, with relation to such combinations dealing in articles which subject to taxa tion under the internal revenue laws of the 1 United States.
 Your committee has particularly directed it's inquiry into the methods Of and the extent of the business done or controlled by the m. inrJ TrHz respectfully submit herewith the testimony taken before it in relation to these two trusts In submitting this testimony your committee desire to call the attention of the House to the form Of organizations Of these two trusts, Both of them are organized on substantially the same plan From the testimony 1t ap- pears that there exists certain number of corporations organized under the laws or the different States and subject 10 their control; that these corpora tions have issued their stock to various indi- viduas, and that these individual stockholders have surrendered their stock to the trustees named in the agreement creating these trusts, and accepted in lieu thereof certificates issued l by the trustees named therein The agree I ments provide that the various corporations i whose stock is surrendered to the trustees l shall preserve their identity and carry on their business. In the Sugar Trust agreement the i provision is that the several corporations shall maintain their separate organizations and l each shall carry on and conduct its own bust ness. In the Standard Oil Trust agreement 1t ! is provided that all property. real and personal assets and business i shall be transferred to and vested in tho said several companies. The duties of the trustees l are restricted to the receipt Of the dividends i declared by the various corporations and the distribution of the aggregate of them to the 1 holders of the trust certificates pro rata. and i to holding and voting upon the stock of the cor ! Ina fr4refa in hcfb =pag stand as witnesses specifically denied that the trustees, such ever do any other business | than to receive and distribute these dividends and exercise the only other function gwen to | them by the Trust agreements that Is to hold the stock of the various corporations and cXer, . else the right Of stockholders in such eorpart- i tion.
 The care with which the trustees avoid mak- ing any agreement rel ating to commodities, ap- pears from the testimony as to the arrange ment with the Oil Producers Association in the fall of 1881 the officers of the Producers Association testified that agreement was then made with the Standard Oil Trust by which 5- 06aooo barrels Of oil belonging to the Standard Oil Trust was set apart for the benefit Of the association. upon it's agreeing to cuftail the production of crude oil at least 1i51 barrels per diem. These witnesses undoubtedly un= derstand that their arraneement was with the trustees Of the Standard Oil Trust But the written agreement, produced now iu evidence, shows that 1t was male with and is signed by the Standard oil Company oi New York, one ot the companies whose stock is held by the trustees, and that the Standard oI ! Trust or the trustees thereof as such are not parties to 1t, nor Is eilherof them responsible for the carrying out Of that agreement. This form Of eembna- ton was obviously devised for the purpose of relieving tho trusts and trustees from the charge of any breach offhe conspiracy laws Of the various States, or Of being combination to regulate or control the price or production of any commodity. hence they assert that the cor poratlons themselves, which control and rcgu- late the price of commodities and the extent of production, and have tangible property, remain with their organization intact and distinct and not in combination with each other; that tho
 tockholders who owned only the stock, and by well-settied legal rules had no legal title in l the property of the corporations, entered into the agreements and sold their stock in the cor poratons and received in payment, trust cer- tifcates and that the trustees receive and hold only the stock Of corporations and have no legal title to any or the property Of the cor poratons, and neither buy or sell any thing nor combine with any one to fix prices or regulate production of any commodity.
 Your committee have deemed it proper to call attention to this feature of these eombina- tions because 1t IS believed that it will be found that all trade combinations having l similar aims either have adopted this method I ot speedily will do so and also because the legislation which has been proposed to this House and referred to your committee has been directed against combinations to fix the price or regu- late the production of merchandise or com merce, It is plain that the combinations, the testimony concerning which is herewith submitted have been intentionally formed so as to avoid. fl possible, the charge that the trust as such or the trustees in that capacity either fixed the price or regulated the production of any ar tlcle of merchandise or commerce. Complaint having been made to him hy citizens of the
 State of New York against the Sugar Trust,
 and one Of the corporations whose stock il
 holds, the Attorney General of that State has. after hearing, directed prosecutions ta be com
 menced against that trust and the corporation
 complained of upon grounds which are sci forth in an elaborate opinion, which Is submit ted as part Of the evidence in relation to that
 trust and as containing careful statenent o
 the law of that State, so far us it affords any
 remedy against such trusts.
 Wanted Ills Wages or Blood.
 LOWELL, Mass, July 3o-At p. m
 yesterday Geo. Shepard, aged thirty, q
 hired man, enraged ut not receiving his | over-due wages pot a revolver auf