Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-02-02
DOWN WITH THE TRUSTS!

e<Icd.
DOWN WITH THE TRUSTS:
We are told daily by the high tariff
lobby at Washington, speaking through
its paid ~demagogues in Congress and the
columns Of the Republican party press, that
the present tariff needs no reform, that any
change in it should be in the direction OF
higher rates Of duty. This daring ssser-
ton is made in the face Of the fact that
under the operation Of the exorbitant tarlH
legitimate competition Is stlted n the
trade in many leading necessaries OF LIE
controlled absolutely by monopolits. Here
are one or two of the worst monopoiles
that owe their existence TO nothing
under the sun hut tie high
tariff, monopolies which nave p~luudered
and oppressed the people Of this country
until they almost stagger under the weight;
The steel rail trust; the cruCible steel trust;
the coal combination; the coke comblna-
ton; the z trust; the salt combination;
the barb wire ring; the lead trust, a
dozen others that are equally obnoxious
and still others, that, in time, under hugh
protection, will become equally oppressive
Let the American wOrkmen scan the list
quoted and say how much protection there
is in it for them. While the prices OF
many of the necessaries and comforts OF
their families have been cruelty enhanced
by this legally robbery OF the millions for
the benefit of q few nonopOlists, they must
20 into the open market and sell their
daily labor for what they eau get for 1t.
These ~monopolies spread desolatiCn in their
wake.
Take a. IN instance that prince OF mon
opolieS, the steel rail combination. There
is no greater enemy to the development
of this country than this steel rail trust.
1t is absolute. Backed up by the hightarit
which shuts out all foreign competition,
its prices must be paid or the people do
without rails and railroads.
A recent paper in Harpsr'S on the tariff
SAYS: The lowest quotation on British
rails in 1856 was $ls.l l.; freight by steamer
to New Orleans, $I25; dockage, etc, 81;
duty, Sl7; total, $37.4O allowing nothing
for commission. When the American
price advanced to S3S, impOrtatiOns III
creased. As we have seen, there has
been an advance in the American price
within the last twelve months Of Sl7 q
ton. Should a repeal of the tariff re.
suit in a decline OF SIT, the price would
not be less than it was at one time in 1886;
yet the decline was not disastrous, whilst
the subsequent advance was costly. In
the year 1887 the product of the American
Steel Rail Combination was l,5OO, 900 tons.
There are in the United States about l4O,-
900 miles of railroad, and this year the new
roads will reach to 10000 miles, possibly
1900. Ninety tons of steel rails are re-
uuired for every mile of road where steel is
used. 1t is safe to say that the steel rails
cost the companies SIS more, year in and
wear out, because of the tariff, or 81, $50 for
every mile of road built. Multiplying
this by 10000, the number Of miles
10 be built in 1887, for the new
roads alone the tax is Sl3, 500, 900,
These rails last only ten years. The
entire railroad system of the United States
has to he renewed every tn years, or at
the rate at present of 400 miles a year;
the additional cost Of this, at $3.50 Per
mile, OF for the IA, 600 miles, is SIS, 900, 900.
In other words, the tariff will soon impose
upon the builders Of new roads, and on
those who renew the old ones as they wear
out. a tax ofS32, 400, coo in excess of what
the cost would be were the American rail
roads permitted to purchase rails where
they could buy them cheapest. A part Ct
this tax is capitalized, and goes into the
cost of the roads; the remainder increases
the operating expenses to that extent"
Thus does this steel rail trust retard the
development of the country by putting the
price of rails so high as to make railroad
building too expensive to be largely IN
gagged in. 1t is a direct tax on the people,
"a what the steel rail monopoly extorts
from the railroads the railroads must neces-
ssrily in turn get back from the people.
II Is hurtful and hampering to the other
steel industries of the country, particu-
larlv of this section. The discrepancy in
the duties on hard and soft steel is motor
ions and puts the soft steel makers al a
serious disadvantage. The hard steel men
make the market for the raw material used
in steel manufactures. They can afford to
pay prices which are oppressive to our
steel manufacturers, but the latter must
abide By the market price.
Touch the SIT tariff on steel railsand i'm
msdiately the shout goes up, Protection
TO American labor :" Steel rail men swarm
the Congressional lobbies and their money
flows like water 10 protect American
labor" But let rs see how the Sl7 tariff
protects American labor. According to
Rradstree's, the most reliable authority on
the subject, there were in 1887 in this IN
duatrv alone ~thirty-eight strikes, involv-