The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-02-07
A

The collapse of the "Distilling and
Cattle Feeding Trust" within the past
few days is q matter that will cause
much rejoicing. A greater scheme was
never c~oncocted, and had it been sue
cessful it would have undermined the
very foundations of the government.
Up to a few day S ago the public were
not aware Of the magnitude of this
trust. Hence a brief but explicit his
tory will be read with much interest.
About ten years ago the price of whis
key In foreign countries was very high
The number of large distilleries chose
with a capacity Of from 5000 to 20, 900
gallons per day. increased until there
was about eighty in the Northwest
These distilleries were combined and
the trust began to take shape, They
controlled 95 per cent. of the output
Later on an Eastern whi8key associa-
ton joined in and the headquarters of
the combination were at Peoria, Ill.
At the opening Of the present session
Of Congress Congressman Scott, of Hi
nois, presumably a membero of the trust,
introduced a bill to amend the internal
revenue law and increase the tax on
whiskey from 80 cents to 1925 per gal
Ion. A strong lobby was maintained
in Washington by the whiskey men.
Pretty soon they thought the amend
ment would go through. About this
time they began to buy every gallon of
whiskey in sight until they had nearly
two hundred million gallons stored
away. The distilleries belonging to
the trust were run t their utmost ca
pacity. If the tax on whiskey had been
raised the price would have been in
creased thirty five cents on the gallon
and the trust would have cleared near
ly $40, 600, 600 on the whiskey held, aud
at the same time stopped all small dis
tllleries. The chief argument made
before Congress for the change was
that the increase in whiskey tax would
help out the deficiency IN the national
treasury. The deficit was about $25, |
900, 600. The increase inrevenue would
be $35, 600, 600 annual $40, 900, 600 !
more than was actually needed. To
the Democrats n Congress they argued
that this would enable them to reduce
the tariff materially ana still leave
plenty of money in the treasury. But
it can readily be seen that this was
misleading, for the trust had already
paid tax on nearly 200, 600, coo gallons
of surplus whiskey, enough 10 last a
long time, and the output in cOnse-
quence would no. have amounted to
much in the next two years
The members of the trust sosIE cen
WINGED capitalists that they had a soft
snap and the markets were flooded
New York stockholders went into it
with vim. It's stock was o changing
hands on Wall street. Among those
who went into the deal and got left are
Daniel Lamont, who was Cleveland's
private secretary while President,
William @. Whitney, Secretary of the
Navy under Cleveland, Oliver II.
Payne and one of the R~0ckefeIlers, be-
sides many others. Now remember
these men were fully aware Of the
scheme to efraud the government and
the public at the same time. A few
days ago the Scott bill was defeated
and then the bubble burst. The mem
bers Of the trust and prominent citizens
who bought so literally of the stock
are in the soup. They have some
whiskey and stills on hand, but they
will not begin to foot the bills. The
assets will probably pay Is or 20 per
cent Of the many millions invested.
When men go into Legitimate enter
prise and fail they are entitled to sym
pathy, but when they conspire to rob
the public and the government of mil
lions of dollars, they deserve DO sym
pathy. Indeed there ought to be a law
to punish them in addition to their
financial losses. From this our read
ers can judge Of some of the doiDgs of
their trusted felIow-citizens. Who
would have thought that Dan Lamont
and ~ex-Secretary Whitney would have
been caught in such disreputable
schemes?