Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1892-12-30
MONOPOLY.
HOW TIE CIGARETTE iaUSE CRUISES OUT
OPPOSITION.
Despite Scheme Pu! i Operation to Drive ont Com
peting GOOis-A DsAler Sailing Other
Cigarettes Than the Trusts is
BlackliSted.
N. Y. Times.

OF the 2, 900 600, 900 cigarettes OF do
nestle make consumed in this country
in the year ending June 80, about 80 per
cent. were OF the brands controlled by
the trust known as the American To-
bacco Company. There is great trib-
lation among all those cigarette manu-
facturers who are not In the trust ana
the jobbers on account Of the way in
which the market has been monopolized
and because of the means DO which the
monopoly is maintained. There are
fortunes of millions to be made In the
manufacture Of cigarettes. That Is
why the trust was formed.
Half dozen manufacturers had the
market to themselves until few years
ago. They had made and were con-
tinuing to make fortunes. They saw
that others coveted their field and con-
temp!ated putting capital and labor
into it.
So they conferred together and the
conference resulted 10 combination, and
the American Tobacco Company came
into existence. The capital stock was
fixed at So, 900, 0G0. OF this S15, 900, 600
was common and $4,000, 900 preferred.
Almost all those manufacturers who
did not go into the trust were eventual
ly either driven from the field or forced
to sell their plants to the trust. Then,
by prodigal advertising OF the brands
manufactured in the trust factories and
"freeZe-out" methods not uncommon to
industrial ordinations. though in this
case more stringent than usual and so
more effective, has brought about the
result of the last fiscal year when 90
per cent of the consumption was con-
trolled.
The trusts plan for putting out its
product was at first under system OF
rebates. This conflicted with the laws
against trusts in many States, and in
Texas President J. B. Duke, OF the
American Tobacco Company, was In
dlcted. Nothing came of that proceed
ing, however. Now the trust has a
method by which it believes that 1t
brings itself within the law, and II not,
does surely evade it, under the new
scheme though the ''iron heel OF mono
poly" brushes more ruthlessly than ever
IUb IlRuLS VI uldiiul OubSi0O "a
the trust and of the jobbers.
1t is an ingenious scheme. The trust
sells no goods. 1t just "consigns" its
goods to dealers TO be sold on commits
sion. Just the same, the dealer has TO
pay the full value of the goods ''con-
signed" to him ten days after they are
received. Three months after delivery
the trust balances its books with the
dealer and pays him his commission. "
1t is, in other words, necessary for the
dealer to wait three months for his
profit on the goods he sells; but the
trust gets the full amount OF the pur-
chase money, the "liSt price" as it is
called, which means its price plus the
profit of the dealer who sells the goods,
ten days after delivery, and for the rest
OF the three months before the dealer
gets his profit that profit can be used by
the trust without the payment OF inter
est or any other consideration.
But why should the dealers buy the
trust goods under such burdensome
condition? Simply because if they buy
any other goods they cannot buy trust
goods except at the so-ca'led ''list
price," which is the price for which
they have themselves to sell them. TIE
edict Of the trust, not in woods but In
effect, Is that any dealer WAC sells any
other cigarettes than the cigar 1ttes
made by the trust cannot get any more
trust goods except at a price which will
make it proftleSs for him TO handle
them.
The trust has a regular detective SER
vice to see that its demand In this re-
gard is carried out. A case In point is
that of very large Third avenue job
Der. Last July he received notice that
no more goods would be ''conSigned" to
him to sell on commission, but he might
buy them at "list price"-the price for
which he would have to sell. Inquiry
as to the cause Of the cutting of OF this
firm revealed that it was because it had
been selling trust goods at prices lower
than the trust had fixed TO govern the
joobing trade. The dealer saw the
downfall of his business, so far as cigar
cites was concerned, unless he could
get reinstated. Finally, the trust Of.
ficers condescended to reinstate him on
their lists; but as penalty for his hay'
ing seen fit to sell goods at any price he
pleased, the sentence was pronounced
upon him that for three months he
would receive no commissions for hand
ling trust goods. In word, he simply
had to handle trust goods for three
months without making cent OF profit.
Now this same dealer has been black!
listed again. This time ii is because one
of the trust detectives went into MS
place and purchased 500 OF brand OF
cigarettes manufactured by a company
that mas started in opposition to the
American Tobacco Company. He IA:
been formally notified that no more
goods will be consigned" to him by the
trust, but that he can buy them at ''lisl
or ce''-that is, the very price at which
he would have to sell them. As the
trust brands OF cigarettes, through ad
vertising, are those which consumers
mostly call for, jobber who has not
got them to supply TO his trade is in q
bad way
There IS much chafing under the yoke
and there is much talk as to what is go