New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-09-14
MONO POLYp ILLUSTRATED.

Certain persons Of the Democratic persuasion
are fond of saying that the iron manufacturers,
and particularly the pig-iron makers of Penn
sylvania, are transformed into bloated m0nOpO-
lists by the protective tariff They are enabled
say the Democrats, to tax the whole Nation
for their benefit, and thus to roll in luxury
They are enabled, say the demagogues VIII
seek to SOW diSsension among laborers, to ac-
cumulate many millions every year, while re-
fusing to wage-eamers the higher wages de-
sired. These are statements so often made
that they doubtless leave some impression upon
the minds of many.
A single bit of fact often has the power to
turn a whole battery of electric lights upon a
false theory. The Thomas Iron Company owns
a number of the best and most successful pig
iron furnaces. These have been so ably man
aged, and with such honorable care to main
tain the reputation of the product and its quail
ity, that the quotations Of Thomas Company
iron have come to be almost everywhere the
recognized standard of prices for pig metal.
The company has realized large profits, has not
fOOliShly divided them in times of prosperity,
has reserved an ample working capital for any
emergency, so that its paper is scarcely ever
seen by some of the most extensive dealers,
and it might fairly be inferred that, if any
iron makers in Pennsylvania had acquired
under the protective tariff profitable mo-
nopoly, the stockholders Of the Thomas Iron
Company must be near the head of the list.
Yet the stockholders of this company have just
voted to sell its entire plants to English buy
erS. The price, too, is generally regarded as
Nv 40 w mo nj
the works.
If these "graSping monopolists" have such
power to fleece the whole country and to ac-
cumulate eXtravagant profits year by year, as
Democrats represent, why do they consent to
let it 60 at any price? Particularly why do
they consent to let it go at a price not more
than fairly representing the cost Of the works
and real estate with allowance on the one
hand for the high and ong-estabGshed reputa-
ton of the concern, and on the other for de-
terioration of property in use? Assuming that
the plant and goodwill are worth fully the
price contemplated, as men in the trade eSti-
mate what conceivable reason can the grasp
ing monopolistS" have for parting with their
monopoly?
Every intelligent man, whether in the iron
ton in the irOn-making business, from fur
naces at the West and from furnaces in Ala
bama, Tennessee and the Virginias, has grown
so sharp that profits Of Pennsylvania producers
are decidedly moderate. But that competition
is the direct result of the protective tariff, and
the precise result which that tariff was intend
ed to bring about. Build up home indus
tres,n Protectionists have constantly promised,
"and the competition between home producers
will celtainly reduce prices to minimum and
will inevitably prevent any monopoly" tx
actly that result is seen in the iron business.
Prices are reduced because protection has built
up ron-making at the South and at the West.
A monopoly in that business is utterly impos-
sible, when any man or set of men, by invest
ing their money in a furnace, can share any
profits obtainable in the production. Whether
the Thomas Company is wise in consenting to
sell, the public cannot Judge But the one
thing certain and obvious is that they would
not sell if they possessed crushing and
grinding monopoly"