Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1895-04-05
MATCH TRUST PROFITS.
A GREAT BIG IMPOSITION ON THE
AMERICAN PEOPLE

Millions Put Into the Pockets of n
Gigantic Monopoly by Tariff
Sop-ConflictfngS Statements of the
Trusts Ofncers.
The Match Trust Diamond Match
Co. J has capital of 50, 600, OOO-about
one-half water. Its annual report.
made public on February 9th, shows
81, 373, 084 profits for 1894. In 1898
this Same trust declared regular and
special dividends amounting to 81.
612,500. Within few weeks il has
Increased its capital to gil, 1000. 900.
This is the third or fourth increase
since 1883, when the trust was incor-
porated with Sc, 900, 900 capital.
These enormous profits have been
made in spite OF the fact that the
trust closed all but about thirteen of
its thirty-one mills in 1883, and has
since been buying competing plants at
high prices, the most of which it
promptly closes. Mckinley encour.
aged this trust with duty which
equalled thirty-four per cent. The
Wilson bill left only twenty per cent.
1t should have removed oil, because
our exports in 1893 amounted to S67,-
974. When o. @. Barber, President
of the trust, in September, 1893, was
pleading for the retention of the duty
OF ten cents per gross on matches "to
keep up the rate of wages we are now
paying" his company was exporting
matches to thirty-fivo foreign coun-
tries and selling there on q free
trade basis. While the Wilson bill was
pending the Chicago spokesm IN of the
trust said in an interview printed in
the Milwaukee Journal: eve asked
no protection of Congress, because We
do not need it. Matches are made so
cheap in this country that foreign
goods cannot be sold in competition
with us. True, there hos been duty
on matches for many years, but it has
not been kept at our request. There
may have been q time when such o
protective duty was necessary to de-
yelop the industry in this country,
but that day has passed long time
ago. 1t will probably surprise great
many people to know that loss than
300, 600 worth of foreign matches are
sold annually in the United States.
These arc chiefly fancy brands, put up
in odd and attractive packages. The
fact is, matches cannot be made az
cheaply in Europe rs we make them
here. In Sweden nearly all the work
is. done by hand, while in America
machines are used almost exclusively.
I'VE have one machine, for illustration,
4 which takes piece of straw board and
forms l65 perfect boxes of it every
minute. The cheapest hand labor on
earth cannot compete with machine
like that"
After the passage Of the bill, leav-
ing 20 per cent. duty on matches,
Wood and Willow Ware said: "Match
Trust and Protection. The Diamond
Match Company was able to induce
tho managers of the German tariff
law of the last Congress to leave it 90
per cent. protection in spite of the
fact that officers of the company had
been talking about putting up fnc-
tory in Liverpool to compete with
foreign manufacturers. Now it is
announced that plans have been COM
pleted for the factory, aud that o. G.
Barber, President of tho company,
will soon leave for Liverpool to put
the plans into effect. Evidently the
only reason for the 90 per cent. tariff
on matches is to enable the so-called
trust 10 make its prices in this country
that much higher-providing domestic
competition does not compel them to
be reduced"
Protection to the match industry
las to all other industries) is great
big swindle on the American people.
But the people don't seem to mind it,
and the manufacturers are not asking
Congress to give the country free
trade and thereby stop the swindle.
which puts millions into their pockets
each ye AS long as everybody is
satisff swindle will be continued
, and czoS much longer.
g. BYRON w. Holt.