St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-03-10
Minneapolis Wholesale Gro
GERS Invited to Join a New
Giant Monopoly,
Which Expects to Manipulate
the Price Of Sugar and
Crush Competition.
The New Concern Proposes to
Pile Up the Profits to Such
an Enormous Height
That Twenty Millions Of Dol
lars of Deposits Will Look
Small in Comparison.
Another trust.
And aDparently a giant.

Another trust.
And apparently giant.
1t brings the trust iniquity home.
Within the last few days every whole
sale grocer of Minneapolis has received
a circular letter looking to the forma-
ton of what, on it's face, appears to be
an iniquitous and gigantic trust.
"Union" is what it is proposed to call
the new pool, but under any name the
idea is the same, and is an organ
iZatiOn of the wholesale grocers of the
United States Tor the purpose of manip-
ulating prices. This circular is sent out
by Inbusch Bros, wholesale grOcers of
Milwaukee, and suggests meeting of
the grocers to discuss and organize the
new pool. 'As important arrangements
will have to be made with the Sugar
Trust and other refiners," it suggests
New York as the best place to hold the
first convention. The letter opens as
follows:
ATTEMPTS have been made at various
times in certain localities to combine
the wholesale grocers and regulate the
prices ON some of the more staple arti-
cles. In every instance, however, these
attempts have failed, for the simple
reasons that in the first place such COM
binations were only local and had
strong competition to contend with from
cities close at their doors; and in the
next place because there existed only
an agreement that could be broken at
will, if one or the other party hap
pened to be laboring under the impress
sion that some one was taking adyan-
tage of the situation and making con-
eessions to the trade, not, perhaps, in
direct violation of the existing agree
ments."
Then comes the real point:
"The first drawback in the wholesale
grocery line, we are all well aware of
lit, is the constant cutting on an article
which represents not less than one
quarter to one-third the total sales.
/ Sugar, the article referred to, figuring
i the cost of carrying the stock, the
margins sold at, the time extended to
the trade, the expense of selling and
the losses incurred through failures,
has for number of years been handled
at lOss."
Now comes the scheme.
Then comes the proposition to form
pool. The idea of forming a cOmbina-
ton to regulate the price of sugar. it
proceeds, has been ridiculed so often
that the firm sending out the circular
was ''almost afraid to mention it" to
anyone until several leading grocers had
approved it. 1t is suggested that pool
be formed and that every men,
Der deposit, in cash, with
the treasurer an amoant equal to at
least per cent of the total sales per
annum Of the firm such member repre-
sents. Ruling prices shall be tele-
committee appointed for the purpose
and those prices must be adhered to
under strict penalty. In each section
of country an investigating COM
mittee shall be appointed to in
vestigate firms reported as cutting
association prices. Any firm convicted
by this committee of cutting prices
shall be reported to the secretary and
shall forfeit the amount deposited. The
forfeiture goes to the surplus fund and
no member thus fOrfeiting can rejOin
the association unless he shall deposit
an amount double the first deposit.
Then comes the regulation monOpO y
move.
The next step, of course, would be to
crush out competition and prevent the
cutting of prices outside the association.
'sTo avoid this cutting" the circular
says, sit would be no difficult matter to
arrange with the sugar trust, as well as
with refneries not in the trust. that
they sell this product only to members
of this association. This would
compel every one to join and at
the same time bind every one
to live up to the rules" 1t also pro-
poses to punish members, in the same
way. who will give customers extra
time, and thus Override the plans and
intentions of the organization" Then
follows at length the plan by which
prices are to be regulated, securing a
uniform profit of 10 per cent, at
rates based on prices at New
York, figured with freight rates
to the city where the member does
business. 1t is purely technical
and provides for uniformity of
price and regularity OF profits,
.'putting every city just where it is
now, with the exception that all will
make profit where now we have moth
ing but losses to record" The circular
closes by saying the objection which
may be made to depositing so large
a sum with the treasurer may be met
by dividing the interest and forfeiture
pro rata among members in good
standing. And it naively adds; ''The
profits on sugar will be so much inn
proved that the amount of the deposit
+ will be small i'll comparision."
| This is the scheme.
1t will bear investigation.
A prominent Minneapolis grocer yes.
terday pronounced it new combine"
I that would surpaSS, in power and eX-
tent, any monopoly ever yet formed. 1t
profits on sugar that the amount of the
deposit required will be small in COM
parison. OF course the consumer will
pay this increase, with probably an
addition which will stick to the in
crease of the retailer. The proposed
pool is to include all wholesale
grocers of the United States and those
who could stay out are to be forced in
on pain of being black-listed by the
great sugar trust. Small concerns and
competitors-which would mean the re-
ducers of the price of sugar to the con-
sumer-are to be thus frozen out and the
new sugar monopoly is to have full
sway. II still requires little eXplana-
ton to bring before the public
and the sugar-cOnsuming world what
this new pool or combine means. The
circular tells it, when it says that under
this new trust, "the profits on sugar
will be so much improved that the
amount of the deposit will be small In
comparison
How much will the deposit be?
At least S20,000,000.
A wholesale grocer yesterday figured
that the wholesale trade of the United