Connecticut western news., 1890-03-05
TRUSTS.
PHENOMENAL GROWTH OF A
 MODERN INDUSTRY.
The Standard Oil Company---Thers is
 Even an Undertakers' Trust.

ka. The Standard Oil Company is an il- |yustration showing the modern facilities of gigantic comb nations. The com pany began ill partnership, daring the early days of the Civil War, be- tween Samuel Andrews and John Rockefeller.
 Andrews had invented new process by which a greater percentage of kerosene was extracted from petro- le m than had been possible under the old method, and by virtue of this advantage the company soon became prosperors. In time, as it gained strength, it absorbed some rival com pa.ies, crushed others, and finally stobd at the head of tlse business Then it extended its operations still further. It ran it's own acid-works and glue-factories, made it's own bar rels, and controlled the disposition of Kerosene tn ough the country.
 Not satistield with this, it began to exercise control owe: the railroads, which finally enabled it to crush out all effective oppo ition. Vanderbilt once said that there was but one man in the country who could dictate to him, and that was Rockefeller. The Pennsyl- vania Railroad entered into written contract with tie Standard Oil Com pany, bv which it agreed to charge double rat s for all oil hauled for other shippers. When this contract was ex- posed ill the courts, a new agreement was made by which the Standard Com pany was allowed a rebate not only on the oil shipped by it, but on all oil carried over the railrt ads. During 1878, rebates to the amount of $6, ,96O, $40 were paid to the company, and for the seventeen months ending March 31, 1879, the rebates amounted to $1O, ,151, ,218. Similar secret agree ments were entered into with the New York Central, the Erie, and the Atlantic Great Western roads.
 A barrel of oil weighing 390 pounds was carrted 400 miles, and the empty cars returned for eighty cents, while a ninety-pound can of milk was car ried sixty mile, for forty-ive cents. On one occasion an opposition oil-com- pany had 10000 barrels of oil carried by pipeline to the side of the Erie track, the company having agreed to ship the oil, but an agent of the Stand ard Company appeared on the scene, stopped the shipment, and the oil was still waiting to be shipped when the matter was investigated in the New York courts some months later. This was but an illustration of another method by which the Standard Oil | ,,co1 ifo ox,o,. tho railroads to crush out its rivals.
 | It compelled the railroad companies to refuse to ship oil for other produc- CTS, and when complaint was made to President Scott of the Pennsylvania railroad, he said that all be could do was to ask the Standard Company to allow him to carry the oil over his own road. The passage of the Interstate Commerce Act has put all end to this despotism over the railroad companies, but the facts indicate the unlimited power of this trust. By the exercise of this absolute despotism the Standard Oil Company was enabled to crush out all effective opposition. Now its into other directions. The Standard Oil Company was the first of the mod ern trusts in this country, but its ex- ample has been followed by others, until there is hardly branch of in- dustry in the country not dominated by trust. The Sugar Trust is one of the largest. and is probably most gen. erally known, owing to the frequency with which it has been brought into the courts.
 The extent to which the organization of trusts has been carried is barely realized by those who have not kept account of the organization of these modern monopolies. To give con- plete list of trusts, or their tortuous workings, is impossible. They have the ban of the law placed upon them, and are naturally reticent as to their business and whereabouts. Let us glance, however, at few of the arti- clcs known to be controlled by trusts. If man desires to build house he must obtain lumber from 8 Lumber Trust, nails from Nail Trust, earth enware from an Earthenware Trnst; the painter whom he employs gets lin- seed-oil from a Linseed-Oil Trust and white lead from Whitehead Trust ]; if he puts fence around his place he has his choice between patron,zing tl4e Lumber Trust or the Barbed-Wire Trust. The oil-cloth for his floors is controlled by trust; the stove for his kitchen comes from trust. The states and slate-pencils, the rubber shoes and castor-oil for his children ar. under the control of trusts.
 Trusts control the sugar and salt for his table, the paper enve opes for his correspondence, the paper bags for his business if he be retailer. If he be a farmer he is affected by the Plow-SteeI Trust, the railroad that carries his pro- duce is oppressed by the Steel-Rail Trust, the Bessemer Steel Trust, the Iron Nut and Washer Trust. He may perhaps avoid other trusts, but he is in .anger of coming under the influence Trust, the Borax Trust, the Cotton Seed-Oil Trust, or the Copper, Lead, Zinc, Nickel, or Tin Trust. And after having passed through life surrounded and hedged in by trusts, he dies-only to fall into the hands of the National Burial-Case Association, or Under takers Trust. These numerous trusts have all been created within the last few years. The Standard Oil Com pany was organized as trust ill 1882, but nearly all the others date from 1887 and later.
 What Excites Washington.
 Washington is a thermometer of political excitement, says correspon- dent. The quick silver rises and falls