The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1889-08-17
MoRGANTowN VIRGINIA, SATURDAY, AUGUST II, $780,

Jutc stalhs. WutCu alc I'LL POI bcu Iut
this country from India and manu-
, featured in American mills. Tn
price per yard of bagging had ad
vanced over five cents, or nearl
doubled, although the price of jut
butts was lower than it had been 70
many years. As it requires abou
100000 yards to bale the cottol
crop, there was an evident schem
somewhere to take from the meage
profits of the Southern farmer tn
sum of two and a.half million dol
Q lars of extraordinary and unjust ex
action.
, Indeed, the farmer. of every par
Of the country, is probably learning
that the combination or trust
looks with specially tender an
watchful solicitude after his welfare
and is gradually surrounding hin
with Gordon of "pluck- me stores,
which will etfectually save him iron
: the evils Of excessive or prematur
wealth. Investigation, however, de
veloped, not cotton bagging trus,
: but shrewd and effective combina
ton, that had made temporar,
'corner" in cotton bagging, by mean
Of which it could dictate prices il
the American market.
CONDITIONS FOR CORNERS.
The conditions for such corne
were especially favorable.
The tariff tax of three cents yart
on bagging gives our mills sucl
complete control of the home marke
that manufacturers in Calcutta o.
elsewhere do not look for sales here
and accordingly adjust their produc
tion to the needs of India. The de
mand is confined to few months in
the year, and prices are not giver
out or known until the demand be
gins.
The bagging is an article of abso
Lutte necessity to the planter, and one
for which he cannot wait when once
the ginning season is upon him. II
was, therefore, only necessary fol
those who were planning the move
ment to ascertain, as they did, that
there could be no immediate relief
from the Calcutta mills, which had
other contracts on hand, and not ex-
pecting an American demand. could
not manufacture and ship to our
markets in time to meet a sudden
order. These things known, it was
possible, by secrecy OF movement,
without resorting to the machinery
of the trust, to bring about very
successful temporary combination of
the home producers to control the
years supply of bagging, and thus
dictate its price in the market.
SUDDEN AND AuDAcIoUs FoRAYs.
1t is not necessary that | should
describe in detail the plan by which
this was accomplished. Given the
favorable conditions mentioned and
an unsuspeeting victim and it re-
quires no great astuteness to make
corner that will, while it can
last, gather even richer harvests
than trust. Corners are unfortu-
nately not uncommon in our ex-
perience They are sudden and au-
dacious forays, where success de
ponds upon the unexpectedness of
the onset and the speed with which
the plumber can be gathered and
carried off. Trusts are permanent
armies of occupation which quarter
their soldiers in every household.
l have thus passed in review the
four combinations investigated by
the committee of the House of Rep.
resentatives.
There is another class of trusts,
whose names at least are becoming
familiar to readers of city papers,
such as the gas trust, the street rail
way trust and the like to which
may devote a few paragraphs in
closing this paper.
CHICAGO GAS TRUST.
The recent experience of the city
of Chicago may be cited as to the
mode of forming.a gas trust. Ac-
cording to the facts, as far as they
can be gathered, a party of capital
lists from the East bought up, by the
outlay of large sums of money, al
most all the shares of the most pros
porous gas company in that city.
They Immediately elected a new
board of directors, who, announcing
their intention to extend and great
lv improve their works, mortgaged
the property to its full value, in
which they were aided by the splen
did credit hitherto enjoyed by a
company whose balance sheets had
shown marvellous prosperity. The
proceeds Of these mortgage bonds
they used, not for the purpose an
nounced to the public, but to pay
back to themselves, in single divi-
dend on the stock, the sum they had
expended in getting control of the
company.
Their next movement was to use
the company they controlled as a
leverage to force the other gas com
panies of the city into trust. The
capitalization of the trust was made
as large as prudent, with possibility
of moderate dividends, and, in some
way or other, majority of the trust
certificates turned up in the hands
of the parties who had planned and
executed the scheme, thus securing
to them control of the entire organ
iZation.
Some slight reduction in the price
of gas to the public, made as the re
suit of using cheaper materials and
methods in manufacturing gas, was
heralded as proof of the benefits OF
"a single ard harmonious manage
ment," and the gas supply of large
city passed under the control ofmen
who had already received back near.
ly all the moneys expended in Sc
curing their first Judgement there
The same syndicate seems to be NOV
ing from city to city, wherever there
are tempting conditions, using nego
tiation, or, if necessary, destructive
competition of some one company OF
which they secure control, to bring
all the local companies into trust
The income derived from gas
trusts elsewhere controlled by them
is available to subjugate the success
| A.. a. In, y ~