The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-07-27
THE SALT TRUST.


The North American Salt Company is
now fully organized, and is publishing
its prospectus in various papers. 1t is
to have capital stock of 81 zoo, 900 and
will issue bonds to the amount of $4,-
100000, bearing 6 per cent. interest.
This is expected to furnish working
capital of $4,000, 900 for ''the purchase
or control of nearly all of the existing
salt-prOducing properties on the North
American continent" Of the 81 ,0OO,0 900
of stock S4,OOO,OOO is to be preferred,
and entitled to the first earnings up to
Sper cent. The remainder will be COM
mon stock, drawing such interest as the
business will pay after providing for
the per cent. on the bonds and the
8 per cent. on the preferred stock.
On this basis the company offers its
stock and bonds to investors. 1t is Or
ganized under the laws of New York,
|. and has the legal form of an ordinary
corporation. In fact, it will be trust
of the most approved type and Cypress
i've character.
The scope of the scheme is further in
dicated by the fact that it is internation-
al. 1t embraces British capital and in
corporators as well as American. There
is already a salt trust in England. Spec
ulative greed knows no dividing lines of
kinship or country. Corners, syndicates,
combines and trusts are cosmopolitan.
Money recognizes money everywhere.
The alliance between the English and
American salt trusts will place the peO-
pie of both countries on a common basis
of oppression and extortion. To use the
slang phrase of the day, they will both
be sin the soup" together, and the soup
will be without salt, except at trust
prices.
No doubt the PRONUNCIATION of this
scheme, and especially the first advance
in the price of salt, will be followed by
general demand for the repeal of the
duty. The free-trade press will lead in
this demand. For many years past salt
has been as cheap in this country as in
England. The duty has developed the
industry, and competition has made it
cheap. The New York Herald, free
trade paper, said, not long ago:
The salt manufacture in Michigan and
New York during the last ten years has
been placed upon the market and sold at
substantially the same price for which En-
glish salt has been sold in Liverpool. In
fact, there is no market in the world where
the same grades of salt can be purchased as
cheaply as In Michigan and New York,
1t is somewhat remarkable that the
formation of every trust on protected
article is followed by demand for re-
peal of the duty. 1t would be quite in
keeping with the well-knOwn methods
of free-traders to encourage the forma-
ton of these trusts for the purpose Of
furnishing speciOus argument against
protection. The fact that British cap
ital is engaged in the Salt Trust and that
some of its American managers are
prominent Democrats gives color to this
idea.
The prospectus of the North American
Salt Company foreshadows their plan of
campaign. They propose, as feeler, to
raise the price of salt 10 cents q barrel.
This is not much on barrel, but there
are great many barrels of salt used in
| the United States, and this increase will
represent an enormous sum. 1t remains
to be seen whether the people will SUBJ
nit to the extortion. If they do not
attack and smash the trust they will
have to. The place and the way to at
tack it is in the courts. Repeating the
duty on salt would do no good, as the
trust embraces British as well as Amer
lean salt factories. 1t should be attacked
i'm the courts, and it should be some
body's duty to do it. If necessary,
the people should form an antitrust
league, and raise money by popular SUBJ
scription to fight the question in the
courts. The Salt Trust and the Sugar
Trust can both be smashed if the people
will only determine to do it.