Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1889-07-12

The committee on manufactures Is
one of the large number of formal
committees which come down from
the past, whose only use in present
Congresses is to give a craftsmanship
and u clerk to some member whose
real work will be elsewhere. But
Speaker Carlisle, in framing the com
mittee at the beginning Of the last
Congress, anticipated the duties that
would be assigned it. and placed at
its head the Hon. Henry Bacon, OF
New York, an able lawyer and indus
trious Representative.
THE BIG FOUR.
The committee devoted many days
TO the inquiry imposed upon 1t, ana,
instead of scattering its examination
over a large field, selected four com
binations for investigation, to wit;
The sugar trust, the Standard Oil
trust, the whiskey trust and the cot
ton bagging trust. Two OF these, II
will be observed, were combinations
as to articles protected by tariff
duties, one as to an article subject to
taxation under our internal revenue
system and one as TO articles not i'm
ported, or at least not subject TO tax
alton under either tariff or excise
laws.
This inquiry has given us two large
volumes of testimony, and the com
mittee in its final report, made just
before the final adjournment OF Con
gress, March 2, 1889, express the opin-
ion that this testimony will disclose
the nature, form and causes Of trusts,
and that all others in existence are
formed in substantially the same way
as the four investigated. They de
clare that the number formed and
forming is very large, and affects
large portion of the important manu-
featuring and industrial interests OF
the country, and that they did not
attempt list, because new ones are
constantly forming, and old ones are
constantly extending their relations
so as to cover new branches OF busl-
ness and to invade new territories.
By the help of the material gath
cred in these two Investigations,
shall attempt TO answer the questions
set before me, but before taking up
those questions in order, may clear
the way for a better understanding oil
trusts. when come to delineate them,
by some preliminary inquiry as 10
their genesis and development.
Magical as has been their rise III
the past twenty four months, and
rapid as has been their sweep over
the country, they are not sudden
growths, springing forth into lu1url-
ance from some temporary condition
of the soil, without roots in the past.
Nor are they, as we are sometimes
told, merely a monster brood born OF
the illicit commerce between legal as
tuteness and corporate greed.
If such was their genesis we might
anticipate their speedy disappear
ance, or we might deal with them by
summary process.
Their Importance and their menace
lies in the fact that they are growihs
which have their roots far back in
the past.
They represent development, the
latest and most perfect development
of the principle OF combination; the
last and most successful effort Of in
dustry in its ever-continued struggle
to escape from the open sea Of com
petition into the unvexed haven OF
monopoly, for where the waves OF the
one cease 10 play the dead calm OF
the other has already begun.
THE ALLIES OF INDUSTRY.
In this struggle modern industry,
which in other days depended chiefly
on law or kingly prerogative, has
found three potent allies-the corpO-
ration, steam and electricity. Posi-
bly,, should amplify the last two
into science and mechanical inven-
ton. At the basis of modern indus
try hes the railway, in whose devel-
opment these three forces have exhib-
tied their highest power and their
most perfect union. Indeed, the rail-
way is not only the chief servant Of
that industry. The development Of
our gigantic railway system has been
marked by three well-known stages:
First the era of rapid and speculative
construction; then period Of sharp
competition, and lastly a period OF
steady acceIerating combination or
consolidation. In all this it has but
moved in advance of, and 10 large
extent made possible, a like develop
- - ..,oao-x, snIr,ofrry Than too