St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-11-27
Speakipg of the
Whisky
Trust Fight.

Trust Fight. the wholesale whisky
trade and the fight be-
tween the whisky trust and the indie
pendent distillerS, f. o. Boyd, general
manager of the American Export and
Warehouse company, said recently:
1.-The whisky trust, or, as its corporate
title is, the Distillers' and Cattle Feed
ers' Trust. with headquarters at Peoria,
H.. has a capital of S40,000,00O. When
organized in 1887 the trust took in all
the alcohol and highwnes distilleries Of
any Importance north of the Ohio river,
except the large distiliery of I'll. III. Sht-
feldt g. Co., of Chicago. During the
first year of its existence the trust paid
a dividend of 13 per cent. Several new
distilIerieS were then built, how
ever, and competed with the trust.
The principal aggressOr was big
distillery at st. Paul, Minn., which was
backed by some of the heaviest capital
lists of that city. 1t started operations
Jan. l, 1889. The trust then knocked
the pinning from under the market by
a reduction OF 10 cents gallon, which
brought the selling price down nearly
to cost, and, indeed, much below the
cost for the st. Paul distillery. The
600 this year. The trust has made a
little money this year, and has paid
dividend of one-eighth of 1 per cent
each month, and during the last three
months has laid by small surplus.
But the fight still goes on, keeping the
profits of the trust down to minimum.
A new distillery has just been COM
pIeted at Calumet, suburb of Chicago,
which is not only endeavOring to COM
pete with the trust. but is assuming a
position antagoniStic to ShUfeldt q Co.,
two of the proprietorS of the new dis
tillery having been employed for many
wears past as statesmen for Shufeldt &
Co. So Shufeldt & Co., being now
fought in front by the trust and in the
rear by their Calumet rivals, will proba-
bly,, it is claimed by their competitors,
sue for terms from the trust, provided
the latter will guarantee to close up the
Calumet distlllery. There is, however,
a very good prospect of pretty TRAN
gular fight among the concerns. 1t is
generally believed among the trade
that the trust will ultimately prevail"
1.-The trust" he continued, "has, dur
ing the past year, demonstrated its pow
erful Influence with the internal revenue
bureau at Washington. Many new
regulations have been issued recently,
closing up number of small leaks. All
the distillers in the trust strictly comply
Will lic law anu IdhC llO Itc-
Gently, a very large distlllery near Gin
cinnati was seized by the internal
revenue officials on alleged charges of
irregularity. 1t has been stated that the
trust is determined to see that no dis
tilleries i'm the country shall be allowed
any advantage which it does not pos
sess. Hence the law is to-day more gen.
orally enforced, perhaps, than at any
time during the past ten years.
The only thing lacking to make
the distiIleries happy is return of the
export al .Ohoi trade with Europe, which
has been entirely lost owing to the adj
vantages giving by the German govern
ment to distilIers in Germany, this adj
vantage being large bonus or rebate
on all spirits made in and exported
from Germany. The whisky trade is
now in fair condition, prices having
advanced for Kentucky bourbon whis-
kies from Is to 80 per cent during the
last nine months, and old WHISTLES
rapidly becoming scarce. Should the
Kentucky distillerS pursue cOnserva-
tive business during the coming season,
and not make more whisky than is
needed-say about 100000 gallons
there is very good prospect of their
making money on the crops of the past
two years, as well as on that of the COM
ing year."