Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-02-16

tllllng firms met May 10, 1887, and formed the Distillers and Cattle Feed ers' company. The trustees were .Jo- seph B. Greenhut, William N Hobart, George K. Duckworth, Lewis H. Green, Peter J. HennCsSy, Alfred Bevis, War ren Fl. Corning. AdOlph Woolner and John H. Francis. They were to remain in office ayear, and the trust was to con- tinue 25 years. Within a year the trust had absorbed S1 different distilling companies, all duly organized under the laws of the respective states where they did business.
 In less than three years from tho date of organization the trust had absorbed or crushed nearly all opposition. but on Feb. II. 1890, for the purp.sso of mak- ing more conpIt;, a I iIVinCible the monopoly in pr":'.' : ;icohul, spirits and distillerv plu,iu = and for the pur- pose of more of, f,rlul..y preventing com- petition, tine tTu-tsCS organized under the laws of Illinois q corporation which they called the Distilling and Cattle Feeding com pany and which was Capi- talized at $a5, GOO. 900. Eight of the original subscribers, Greenhut, Hobart, Corning, Green. Hennessy, Woolner, H. L. Terrell and Nelson Morris. each took $4. 315, GOO worth of stock, and Fl. NJ. Kingman took $50, ,00U worth.
 Four years after its organization the trust controlled 95 per cent of tho en- tiro production of high wines, spirits and alcohol in the United States and disposed of 45. GOO, GOO gallons annually. Upon entering the trust each distilling s,,s : aI many companies leased their distilleTies to the trust at certain rentals. Dozens of these dissilleries were shut down, crippled or entirely dismantled, and it was not long before 12 distilleries were doing all the work. The output was cut down, and mastorful scheme for con trolling the trade was carried out by President Grcenhut. The output of the trust was disposed of to customers through certain distributors, and with each sale thcro was presented to the GUS toner a rebate voucher promising to pay the purchaser cents a gallon on the amount purchased at the end of six months provided the purchasers had bought all his supply of such articles as Yere manufactured t- the trust from tLC AAltAhbAAS N'A s44S N- tANN ' --N AACAhNAN"
 Every effort was made to crush out all opposition, and one of the trusts most troublesome competitors. tho Shufeldt | distillery of Chicago, was blown up in a very mysterious manner. One Thomas Dewar, United States gauger. declared that Secretary George Gibson of the trust gave him an internal ma chine and offered him $l0, 900 if he ] would blow up the distillery. Gibson was deprived of his office by the trust and spent some timo in Canada. Con- greSs investigated the trust and consid- I erable of a sensation was caused at the time, but nothing came of it.
 Once in full control of tho whisk-
 business, the trust began the gigantic scheme for making money. Prices were raised. largo dividends paid, the price ] of the stock was driven up, and at the l opening of 1898 it was on the top wave | of speculative popularity. In ono week in May, 1893, $I5, 1000. 900 worth of its stock changed hands. For some time previous the trust, relying upon what it believed was sure tip" that congress
 would increase the revenue tax on whis- | ky from 90 cents to $l.2 %, accumulated an enormous surplus stock of whisky in bond with the idea when congress ] increased tho tax the .i>t would be en- riched S5 cents on every gallon of whis-
 ky it possessed. It was estimated that if the tax was increased the trust would clear $2, 900, 900 0 month for many months after the law went into effect.
 There was such a public clamor about the matter. however. that congress did not increase the tax. and the trust lost | m enormous amount of money. The struggle to oust President Greenhut on the part of the majority stockholders is 1 8 matter of recent history. The trust .s
 now in the hands of three receivers.