New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-02-21
THE FAIL or A MONOPOLY.

THE FALL or MONOPOLY.
Readings crash will not astonish anybody
and ought to cause no alarm about the general
condition of business. The public does not
suffer, and need shed no tears, because the
GOAL monopoly has gone to pieces completely
Millions will be helped if families and factories
cease to pay arbitrary prices for coal, and those
who lose have only to remember that con-
SumerS have been losing for more than year
| After a most exciting day in the stock mar
ket there are as yet no signs that the dlSas-
| tels of the coal combination involve any other
important interests. The tone of the market
toward the close did not Indicate that bankers
or capitalists had lost faith in the future pros
perity Of the country, or were inclined to sacrl-
flee properties of proved value because one
particularly daring speculation had collapsed.
| With the heaviest dealings ever known in
any stock Reading was sold down until even
the announcement that receivers had been ap-
! pointed was hailed a. relief. The syndicate
in control was also forced by stress of weather
10 let 90 its New-England stock. which fell
under the pressure without regard to its real
value. and the stocks of coal-carrying roads
which in the end can only be benefited by the
excitement sharply depressed with few other
stocks in no way connected with the monopoly.
Yet the scene, though one of great losses and
furious excitement, lacked the essential ele-
ments of panic. There was no wild rush to
sell by holders of stocks not connected with the
combination, nor any alarm about the general
condition of business and while the commercial
world was scarcely aware that anything unusual
was going on, even in the stock exchanges
there were no important failures. In fact
there was no panic except among those who
had speculated on the chance of defeating
public interests.
The welfare of the country. and the success
of legitimate trade in its thousand branches, do
not depend on the triumph of such combina-
tons. AS results thus far appear to prove, the
great banks and moncycd institutions through
which the real commerce of the Nation is adj
justed have not thought fit to venture so far
in support of such speculations that any serious
disaster among them results, either from the
sensational crash of the coal combination or
from the earlier collapse of the Whskey Trust.
There seems TO be reason for confidence that
business prudence and right appreciation of
tho force of public opinion have prevented
important financial institutions from rsking
much upon undertakings which, however adroit-
" they may be directed, are frowncd upon by
public sentiment and are hostile to the spirit ard
purpose of the laws. When one of these goes
down it does not follow that commerce or in
dustry must sustain shock.
1t is too early to write the history OF the
big railroad operations in which the coal syn
dicate engaged, after it found that its control
of the coal business had not realized expected
results. Wall Street painted MIR. Mcleod not
long ago as Napoleon of finance, and is now
much inclined to rush to the opposite extreme,
giving him no credit for ability No doubt he
tagOnized powerful combinations OF capital.
with resources at his back which have prOvE
insufficient but the root of the matter is that
a combination against public interest. in whiCS
other men of great experience and remarkable
success in tho past were engaged, went down
and brought to ruin all his plans. They had
hoped, as he had, TO ovcrpOwer popular an
tagonism and distrlst of tinanccrs by an over
whclming aggregation of capital. They had
hoped, as he had, by such reports as the one
made public quite recently TO convince bust
ness men that combination against consumers
of coal was mine of wealth, when in fact it
was within about month of bankruptcy. lie
acted with and for others, and it does not yet
appear that they were wiser than the man
they selected as leader.
1t is a good time to remember that the great
industries of the Nation have been enjoying a
year of uncxampled prosperity Apart from
all specuations, of good or i'll fortune, the
actual production of goods and their distribu-
ton to consumers have been on a scale beyond
all precedent. Nor have there been symptoms
of oveitrading in business On the contrary
the conservatism of buyers has been the vexa-
ton of many traders and manufacturers, and
the failures have been relatively few in num-
Der and small in average of liabilities. Sixty
six millions of people, thus producing and earn
ing and trading. do not go into liquidation be-
cause a league to make them pay dollar more
for anthracite coal has come to grief. And
even if there are other trusts and combinations
of like character, which experience with the
coal companies and the Whiskcy Trust may
lead lenders and investors to avoid, embar-
rassment OF, these will in no way tend to dry
up the sources of National prosperity. or to
impair the producing power or the earning and
consuming power of the Nation.