The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1889-08-03
TRUSTS AND M0N0P0LIES.
COMBINING SUGARINTERESTS
The Quiet Machinery of Mon
Op0ly.
Business Application Of the Rule Of Ad-
ditiOn. Subtraction, Division and
Silence-Riches for the
SkillfuI Few.


NJ hBER
The success of sthe Standard Oh
Trust" whose general structure
attempted to make plain in my last
paper, was marvellous tribute te
its designers. So perfectly had they
conceived their plan, and with such
patience and care had they marked
out its every detail, that like the
great Corliss engine at the Philadel-
phia centennial its movements from
the beginning were as smooth as
they were resistless, and had com
plete mastery of all the attached
machinery. 1t was capitalized in
1882 at $70,0O0,00O, for which
amount certificates were issued. Bv
1888 its capital had grown to 800
100000, of which less than $6,00O,-
900 represented shares issued for
stock Of new corporations absorbed
into the trust" and all the residue
stock dividends In addition to the
stock dividends it had paid regular
quarterly dividends in money, avera-
ging y per cent yearly, and reach
ing 10 per cent. in recent years. The
trust certificates, beginning below
par, had gone up to $165. Thus, in
less than six years, a capital of sew
enty million dollars, at most seventy
six millions, with less market val
ue, had grown to capital of ninety
millions, with Il market value of one
hundred and fifty millions, having
meantime paid regular and liberal
dividends. In word the trust
scheme in itself, by what it had done,
and by what it seemed able to do,
had doubled the value of the proper
ty of the combination, although the
increasing production of the Russian
oil -fields was causing serious compe-
tition in foreign markets. These
facts, which sound like Eastern ia
blcs rather than chapter from our
recent commercial history, will pre-
pare us for the spead of the new in
vention as soon as it's nature could
be discovered and its possible effects
understood. The next great combi-
nation was THE Cottonseed Oil
Trust formed by the stockholders
of more than seventy corporations,
operating in fourteen States, which
aimed at securing the control of
recently developed industry, whose
product is fast becoming an import
ant article of commerce Some of
the Standard Oil managers appear
in this trust also. But dealing with
an article of very recent commercial
Importance, neither necessary of
life, nor yet of general known con
sumption, "The Cottonseed Oil
Trust" impressed the public more as
a Wall street speculation than as a
matter of immediate concern to them.
Sugar, however, is of daily use in
every household. Its average con-
sumption in the United States is
fifty pounds per capita, requiring
nearly one-third of the product of
the world. OF this vast amount we
produce, chiefly in Louisiana, a vari-
able fraction, averaging about one
tenth, and import the residue in the
form of raw sugars, which are refined
in this country, our tariff duties be-
ing prohibitory on the refined grades
When therefore it became known
that a large majority of American
refiners had formed sugar trust"
and its operation was brought sharp
ly home to every household by an
immediate and consequent rise in
the price of an article of universal
consumption, public feeling was at
once excited to the point where Leg
islatures and courts were invoked to
uncover, and if possible to suppress
this new form of secret combination.
The sugar trust was framed very
closely upon It's model, but some
differences must be kept in view
from the beginning.
The Standard Oil trust was sim
ply new and more perfect organi-
cation given to an already existing
combination.
HOW THE SUGAR TRUST WAS FORMED.
The sugar trust was the adoption
of that organization for the purpose
of forming combination out of
hitherto independent and competing
companies. The deed under which
the sugar trust was organized was
made in October, 1887 1t provided
that all parties to it, not already
corporations, should first become
such, and thereupon that all the
shares of stock in all the corpora
tions should be transferred to the
board of trustees, eleven in number,
designated as THE Sugar Refineries
Company" in lieu of which stock
certificates declaring that the holder
was entitled to so many "shares of