Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-10-23
ON FOREIGN SHORES

ON FOREIGN SHORES
Operations or Our 1wine rross I'm the |
Free1e Out the Hemp Dealers In Aanra- |
An Extortionate A0aopoIy Meets with
sesrn Opposifioa and Threats q Lynch |
Law.
The latest consular reports give some |
facts about the operations of our hemp
monopolisss in the Philippine Islands
In view of Senator Davis attack on the
binding Irvine trust in his speech in the
Senate, and in view further OF the vote
of fifteen Republicans with the Demo
Gratis to put binding twine on the free
list this report from the Philippine
Islands is OF special interest at this
time
In his attack on the trust Senator
Davis said: The entire business. in
Guiding the sources from which that
commodity is supplied is governed by
combination of all Tor substantially
alp the manufacturers of cord
age and binding twine- That
combination controls absolutely the
raw material (sisal. jute. etc. in the
places where it is grown, and also limits
the product of the manufactured article
and fixes its price. That combination
consists of forty-two manufacturing
companies in the United States. and
seven or nine in Canada These COM
panies are banded together by the CO.
hesive force OF q common interest
They are superior to all law. In the
Philippine islands they limit and con-
troll the price of one-haif of the raw ma
| terial. and in Yucatan they control the
other half They have one man in New
York to purchase for them all. and a
committee OF three to limit the output
and to fix the price"
The Senator also stated that the
profits OF this trust are 30 per cent, and
that this represented 81. 600. 600 profits,
as the amount of Irvine used on this
years crop was $40. 600. 600 worth; and he
added that yet they came to Congress
and said that they would shut up their
mills and cease production unless they
received the additional protection of ia
cents per pound
| That all-comprehending, unsatisfed
and extortionate monopoly"-such was
the blasting epithet with which the
Senator finished his denunciation of
] the trust
Now let us turn to the Consular re-
ports and see what the trust is doing in
the Philippine Islands These islands
belong to Spain, and are situated to the
southeast of China The chief town,
Manila, gives its name to the manila
hemp. largely grown on these islands
and extensively used in this country
and in England to make rope and Irvine.
The commerce of these islands with the
United States is SO important (S6, 4o1, oo(
worth Of hemp sent us in 1881 that oul
Government maintains a Consul at Ma
Mia This Consul is now Nh. A e
Webb
In the Consular reports are printed
three reports from Mr.. Webb in which
there is some interesting news sbou
the operations of our ''all-comprehend
ing, unsatisfled, and extortionate mo
nopoly" in those distant islands Mr.
? Webb reports under date of April 1. tina
} there was an almost complete blockade il
, the hemp market The local dealers haG
] so, 600 bales of hemp in storage which hal
cost them from Ss57 to $40 90 per 10
pounds The National Cordage Com
pany, of New York, had two Englisl
vessels in the harbor which had beel
. lying there for three months at q tota
n extra cost of $50 900 to the trust becaus
: it refused to buy, in the hope of beatinl
down the price and compelling the loca
-. dealers to sell at a loss One America
= vessel had been lying there since DE
. cember 6. and another since January f.
: all holding out for a decline in price:
:. In this way the shipments to this cour
try for the first three months of tn
. | year were only about one-third OF tn
= amount for the same time last year
On April % the Consul sent a secon
report to the State Department shown
that the blockade still continued ii
said that many of the local dealer
will undoubtedly be ruined unless the
/ can hold out until the American an
+ English syndicates will pay tn
price asked" A report had bee
l. in circulation in the islands to the e
j. feet that the syn6icates have untol
millions at their command and that the
y are determined to refuse to buy hem
r until the price falls to SIS per 100 pounds
Z This report, says the Consul, had vividl
= affected the entire business communit
and had aroused a chivalrous sentimeT
q in behalf of the weaker party to th
u fight among those who had no diret
pecuniary interest in it
Accompanying the Consul report is a
l. extract from the leading paper of Nj
n Mia This paper describes how th
D united syndicates had beaten the pris
p of hemp down by 81 Al per 100 pound
;" and then says: ITO the force of attac
+ the force of resistance oppos.
< itself, and never was It more Oh
a duty than now to remind the Anne
- leans Of their famous lynch law; but
order TO obtain the force of resistant
r. cohesion and resolute will are niece
s. sary, and syndicate of buyers must
G. met by a syndicate of sellers, and
4. fore our ruin that of our adversarie
who in this have have taken the mi,
90 alive" The Manila paper invents
Sc new term of condemnation for our trus
VI calling it the dismal and clever Col
. bination of those. who. for their ov
so private benefit threaten with ruin Il
81 production of the hemp raiser"
" Consul Webb sends third report q
;" der date of May IL saying that Il
,e larger portion of the 100. 600 bales
,e hemp in store at Manila had finally be,
I'd sold at ten dollars per 100 pounds tn
81 report is accompanied with q secol
n article from the paper already quote
~ The article betrays considerable Sol
er ness of feeling over the acts of ''sui
er prejudicial enterprises as the America
he syndicates"