The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1889-08-17
Trusts and Their Multiplication.

| consequences. Inc thorough &C
| quaintance of Mr.. Wilson with tn
subjects he treats so well gives t.
the series of papers he is writing 70
the Sun an economic value far abov
the common run of such articles
while the general favor with which
they have been received is the bes
evidence of their merits, and show
that the discussion is timely. Rea
ders of newspapers, and even of tn
debates in Congress, knew very littl
of the character of trusts and comb
nations until these papers were writ
ten, and still less of their far-reach
! ing consequences. Each one of thos,
trusts is another octopus stretching
out its tentacles in every direction
and from the number that have beer
already organized and others tina
are forming it seems as if it would
not be long before they hold in theil
grasp all the most important indus
tries and products in the United
States, unless something is done t.
put check on their extension anc
make them amenable to law. Mr.
Wilson has already treated of thai
great masterful organization, ''tht
Standard Oil trust and of ''the SUI
gar trust" in which, by the absorp
ton of nearly all the sugar refineries
in the country, and its enhancement
of the price of sugar, the members
of the combination have already ac-
cumulated vast profits at the expense
of consumers. He now takes up, af-
ter an incidental reference to the
whisky frauds, that attracted by
their magnitude the attention OF
the public during the closing years
of Gen. Grants administration, "the
whisky combination, which in con-
sequence of overproduction, was en-
tered into by most of the large Ken
lucky distillers in July, 1877, who
agreed to suspend production for
one year until consumption should
catch up with the stock on hand.
Except the fact of the combination,
Mr.. Wilson points out that there
was nothing in this agreement par
taking of the nature Of a trust. 1t
was simply business measure that
could be defended on business prin-
ciples Very different, however, was
the combination formed by the dis
tillers of ordinary whisky, north of
the Ohio, in May, 1887, under the
title of "The Distillers and Cattle
Feeders Trust 1t was modelled
closely after the Standard Oil trust,
included eighty-one corporations on
the 1st of January, 1888, and las
been paying since that date a month
ly dividend of one per cent. on a
capital of thirty millions of dollars.
To the Southern planters the
"jute-bagging combination came
like shock. 1t was sprung upon
them at the cotton gathering season
last year, and by nearly doubling
the price of jute bagging for the bal
ing of cotton "took from the meagre
profits of the cotton planters two
and a-half million dollars of extraor
binary and unjust exaction. Mr.
Wilson shows that this enormous
exaction was made possible by the
tariff tax of three cents a yard, which
shut out the Calcutta bagging and
gave to our jute mills monopoly of
the market. Mr.. Wilson explains
that these are the four trusts-the
Standard Oil, the sugar, the whisky
and the jute-bagging trust-that
were investigated by the committee
of the House Of Representatives. 1t
is needless to add that nothing was
done by Congress, that the trusts
pursue their way unmolested, and
that new trusts or combinations are
being constantly formed based on
the same lines and having the same
object of imposing upon the people
all the price an article will bear
without causing an open insurrec-
ton. Some action against these
monopolies has been taken by the
courts, notably in New York against
the sugar trust, wherein it was de-
clared that the North River Refinery
Corporation, by becoming a member
of the trust, had forfeited its charter,
and it's affairs were put in the hands
of a receiver. Other suits against
the sugar trust have been entered
with the same object in view. The
courts of New Orleans have also de-
cided against the cotton-oil trust in
Louisiana, but there are so many
means of evading the law that it is
feared none of these decisions will
have any practical effect. The last
trust reviewed by Mr.. Wilson is the
Chicago gas trust, in which he shows
the processes by which the combi-
nation got possession of the gas sup
ply of the city, and he intimates that
the same syndicate which forced the
Chicago gas companies to become
participants in the trust is to be
used in other cities wherever there
are tempting conditions.-Baltimore
Sun.
The postal laws give newspaper
publisher the right to send paper
to the address of person who is in
arrears for subscription, until the
full amount is paid. A party who
l..