The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1890-03-21
TRUSTS ARE MONOpOLIES.
HOW a FULL CLOWN TRUST | S
FORMED.

FORMeD. - .
Origin Of tho Sugar Trust-How Corro r.-
tions Dinor from Ordinary Partnerships.
How tho Copper Monopoly IL Sustained.
Willy Farmers Cannot Form a. Trust.
"A trust Is an agreement among inter-
estcd parties to control prices Of the arti-
cles which they handle in Tho
parties concerned may be either persons,
stock companies or corporations. For
rcasohs, afterwards shown, tho parties
in q trust arc usually corporations.
The trust agreement may have many
forms whilo aiming at its primary Oh
.ject Of controlling prices. If there wcro
tlTco men, each III business for himself,
who controlled among tliem tho entire
product Of Il certain article, Il tru.t
might be formed by cacll OF thcm honor
ably agreeing not to sell his %inanufac-
lures below u certain I'M or, not to sell
his manufactures except in certain 10
c%nlities. This would practically DO II
trust, and II perfectly legal one at that.
There is nothing illegal Or immcra! il
men verbally agreeing to sustain prices
or to restrict output, provided they stop
ut that point.
a moro usual form of trust, however,
is that formed by a number Of corpora
tons. There are two ways III which this
is done. Ono is to agreo that each COR
loration will combine to manage its own
affairs, but that III cases Of necessity
tho concerns which mako profits will
transfer some portion Of their earnings
to those tia mako mono. This was tho
clrysallis form Of many of tho present
full blown trusts. AS al arrangement
between corporations, this was perfectly
legal in itself, though it could not be put
in the form Of a binding contract.
Thc full-blown trust is mado by tho
pooling Of interests of the shareholders
of more than II corporation. For rN-
ample, the sugar trust comprises all tho
rclincls Of that article except ono in the
United States, and several of these re-
flners were in tho form Of incorporated
companies. Before tho trust was formed
other ~rciincrs fastened to incorporate
themselves and their associates.
When all were ready. tho sugar trust
was formed. a number Of trustees, rep.
rcsenting each Of tho larger interests
involved, wcro first selected. To these
trustees were coniiued by tho sharehold-
crs III tho various corporations the ell
tire script which represented their inter.
est in II refinery. The trustees ut once
locked up those share certificates AID is
sued against them now certificates, call
ed trust certificates, in which tho receipt
OF the shares was acknowledged.
These trust certificates represented q
proportional share of MI the rcfineries
comprised in tho trust. Each of these
rctincrics WAS previously valued, and
this valuation was added on to tho total
amount Of tie sum for which trust GER
tiflcatcs wore. issued.
III this form Of trust there is sometime
illegal, though not very much. A corr
poration is in its worry nature moro or
less OF a monopoly. 1t Is n kind Of legal
lied conspiracy among n number Of men
TO 10 something which none OF thcnl
could do separately. In oldcn times
corporations were regarded in this light,
and had to pay large sums to tho king
or to the atato for their charter Of incor-
poration.
Even in these modern days tic state
does not rccklcssly confer privileges Oh
favored individuals. Corporations arc
expressly prohibited by law from en-
gaSing in any other pursuits than those
for which they have been Incorporated.
LII most cases they arc forbidden by the
state to anal3amutc with similar bodies
or tnko any Other steps mt tho dictation
OF 4 majority OF tho stockholders which
might impair or render powerless tho
rights OF tho minority. So that COM
binatiDn, which really amounts to ANAL
gamation, OF several corporations, with
out the express sanction Of the state, il
illegal, and can DO punished. so far rs tho
corporation is concerned. by tho forfeit
ure Of its charter.
no lie III their combining together, Grin
the pooling OF their interests. 1t lies in
the illegal methods which arc too ofton
used by such combinations to crush out
competition. If two parties, a and g.,
sell sugar ina village. il is perfectly legal
and perfectly justiflablo that A should
itIidorscll Is III the price Of his sugar
But il is neither legal nor justitlablo for
a to cnter into Il conspiracy With G., d,
Il and +, all doing business in other
towns. TO sell sugar ut Il profit in their
respective towns in order to give Il certain
proportion or those profits to a, in order
that ho may undcrscll Is at II loss to linn
self, until Is Is ruined and has TO go out
Of business.
The usual effect aimed ut in combin-
ing different concerns il to save some Of
tho expenses Of management, and SO
turn out products at n cheaper rate.
but as full blown trusts are illegal, their
management Is expensive, and also tho
corporations from which tho trust was
evolved still remain in form. though
not III substance, rs before. There nro
still boards Of directors to register tho
DEGREES Of the trust ~llagnates, the chair
ma still signs his nanio and the sccro-
tary still nlliXes tho common seal Of tho
corporation. For these futile services,
good payments arc made.
So that trusts in this present form do
NOT u, % INV r,npnv ;n nytoncoo ne man