Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1893-06-08
A TRUST CONVENTION.
ITS PURPOSE IS TO STUDY THE
EVILS or COMBINES.

4
EestiOns Eor the Convention.
At the suggestion of the Hon. Knute
Nelson, governor of Minnesota. the gov
ernors Of 90 states have already decided
to appoint 10 delegates from each state
to a convention to be held in Chicago in
June to consider remedies for the evils
Of the coal and other combines and trusts.
There Is q great need Of such conven-
ton. and II the right men are appointed
delegates the convention will come to
conclusions which will open the eyes not
only ofsuch men as was James G. Blaine,
who regarded trusts as ''private affairs"
Andrew Carnegie, who said 1.-THE public
may regard trusts or combinations with
serene confidence" and Senator Sher-
man, who thought to rid the country Of
these ugly monsters by a single law
| spread out on our statute books, but Of
all Republicans or Democrats who imag-
inc that any laws or sets Of laws which
simply declare trusts or combines illegal,
make the trustees or officers guilty Of
misdemeanor or crime and impose fines
and penalties Of any kind or extent will
abolish trusts. All such laws, like Sher-
mans antitrust law (Which has had no
effect except to make it advisable for a
few trusts to change their names), will
have about the same effect upon trusts
as pruning the water sprouts" has
upon vigorous apple tree or as clod in
the way has upon growing potato vine.
The truth is that so long as there ex-
lists rich monopoly soil, irrigated by
numerous acts of special legislation, we
may expect the omnipresent seeds of
selfishness and greed to take root and
grow and spread into giant monopoly
plants. It is waste of time to cut off
tho branches or even to pull up individ-
ual plants by the roots. The conditions
which give life to this plant must be
changed or the plant will be source of
constant annoyance and harm. What
these conditions are and how they can be
changed for the better can be easily dis
covered by the convention if 1t starts in
quiry in the right direction. The things
essential to trusts, the conditions that
make it possible for producers to con-
troll production and fix prices so as to
make enormous profits, must first be
sought after.
To illustrate, suppose we select as sam
Piles dozen of the worst law breakers
now preying upon consumers and labor
ers and producing paupers, tramps and
criminals by the thousand. The Sugar,
Cerdage, Window Glass, Steel Rail, Bo-
rax, Saw, AK, Copper Ingot, Standard
Oil, Reading Coal, Starch and Rubber
trusts are well known and generally
hated. What are the conditions which
foster these monopoliesp
The Sugar trust has a monopoly of the
refining business in this country. The
cost of refining sugar is about / cent per
pound, and the price of refined sugar
should not exceed the price of the raw
sugar from which it is made by more
than or I of cent Yet the trust now
pays cents for raw and gets 81 cents
for refined sugar and has maintained
about this difference for the last three
years. As we consume about 70 pounds
of sugar per capita, this means that the
trust is making profit of SAC, ,000, 900, or
would do SO if it were doing a strictly
legitimate business and was not paying
unreasonable prices for opposition re-
tineries, many Of which it holds idle. AS
it is, the trust is making a net profit of
about $25, 900, 900 year from nominal
oa,,;+al ~ GTS nnn 0nn c,,d ~, :, s,,+,,oI nc, -:
tai Of perhaps S35,OO0,0O0.
1t is not difficult to determine the con-
dition that makes life desirable to this
trust. 1t is the duty of ! per cent per
pound on refined sugar. Abolish this
duty, and the prices of raw and refined
sugar must stay as close to each other as
they do in England. Otherwise we would
use imported sugar. This move would
wipe out over $20,000,000 of the trusts
profits and would probably kill the mon
ster, as the extra profits to be had from
combination would not cover the inter
est on capital invested in idle or useless
plants and the risk of attempting to
manipulate markets and stocks. Com
petition would again be free, and con-
sumers would pay less for refined and
producers get more for raw sugar,
Substantially the same argument holds
In regard to the Steel Rail, the Window
Glass, the Starch, the Rubber and Of
scores Of other trusts of which these are
but samples. Special tariff legislation
gives them life, health and profits. Undo
this legislation and this class of trusts
will either cease to exist or be powerless
to accomplish great evil.
Besides the class of trusts directly de-
pendent upon import duties which pre-
vent foreign trade. there is another large
class indirectly dependent upon or great
ly aided by these duties. In fact, there
are not half dozen important trusts in
this country that are not benefited by
the Mckinley tariff. Suppose we con-
slider the Saw trust. 1t might exist with
out tariff, because it is now selling cir
cular, hand and crosscut saws in all
parts of the world. To the careless OBJ
server the trust is therefore independ-
ent of foreign competition. But con-
siderl These saws are sold for about 20
per cent more in our own protected"
than in foreign unprotected markets.
Why? Because the import duties prevent
outside competition in this, but not in
foreign unprotected markets. With free
trade, we could at least get our saws as
cheaply as foreigners, because il neces-
sary we could buy them in the same
markets and reimport them. What is
true Of the Saw is true OF the Ak, Cordage
and dozens Of other trusts engaged in
this nefarious business Of selling lower
abroad than at home.
There is still another class Of trusts,
like the Reading Coal, the Borax and the
Standard OH trusts, which usually de-
rive rln1lr.ishrnant from tariffs hut which