Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1896-04-27


steam and street railways was So, $685..
4O7, 1923; mines, quarries, etc., 81 ,291,-
291, 579. Other natural monopolies-
telegraphs, telephones, gas and electric
light plants, canals, docks, etc. will
bring this total to about $12, 200, 000,.
600. Fully two-thirds of the capital in
vested in these natural monopolies is in
pools or some other form of trust. The
other third is not actively competing
with itself, for there never was nor never
will be full competition in any of these
Industries. Perhaps one-half of the &c.
139, ,397, 7S5 capital employed in manu-
factures in 1890 was and is in some
form of trust. 1t is probable, therefore,
that about $40, 900, 600, 900 of our capi-
tai is not competing with other capital
But this is about half of our total capital
employed in productive industries.
Nearly all of the remaining half, $13,-
279, 252, 649, is employed in agriculture.
In all agricultural industries there is Sc
we're competition. The farmer sells at
competitive prices; he buys at noncom-
petitive prices, or prices fixed by trusts
and monopolies. So literally true is this
statement that it is difficult to think of
any article sold from store or mill the
price of which is not fixed to some ex-
tent by some one or more trusts. Often
dozen trusts are concealed in single
article. Suppose he buys a carriage. 1t
may 0r may not be trust product, but
its cost of production depends largely
upon the cost of it's different parts. The
bolts, nuts, tacks, glass, hardware, nails,
leather, wheels and springs i'll it were
probably made by trusts. The materials
for the varnish and paint used were also
trust products. Going step farther
back, we find that the saws, axes, files,
hammers, ETC., used i'll making the car
riage and in shaping the raw materials
are trust products. His carriage was
shipped over trust railroad made of
trust rails, on which run trust locomo-
tives, the wheels of which are encircled
by trust tires The combined result of
all these trusts adds So, or it may be
$780, to the price Of his carriage, depend
ing upon the kind and quality, where it
was made and where it was finally sold.
Ordinarily the prices of trust articles
are not much higher because of trusts.
In many cases, however, the trusts in
crease prices by 20 to 100 per cent
Steel rails sold for about $40 per ton
two years ago, when the trust was dis
organized and waiting to see that the
duty was not all taken off of rails. A
duty of $7.S4 was left, and for more
than one year prices have been held
firmly at $2S at Pittsburg and 500 at
Chicago, though the Illinois Steel COM
pany is reported to have this year sold
10000 tons of rails to Japan at $21.26,
delivered at seaboard. Prices of struc-
tural iron and steel fell from $40 to
about $50 when the trust temporarily
broke in 1892. Prices of tacks were ad-
vanced from 1890 to 1894 by from 100
to 300 per cent. Prices have since been
sustained by the trusts. A Cartridge
trust was formed in 1888. Since that
time the prices of cartridges have aver
aged moro than 100 per cent above what
they were early in 1888. The Paris
Green trust, just before the potato bug
season in 1898, raised prices from about
1915 to 81 cents per pound. Wire nails
are selling at So. 40 per keg today; cut
nails at so. 10. Fifteen months ago
prices We're 80 and 50 cents respectively
here and over So in Canada, where there
was tariff protected trust. Our manu-
facturers "got together" and made the
change.
A dozen trusts could be named that
together extort at least 500, 600, 900 to
5000, 100000 a year from American
consumers, Probably $500, 900, 900 is
about the present cost of trusts to us;
$500, 600, 900 more can be added as our
annual tribute to steam and street car,
telegraph, telephone, mining, gas and
water monopolies. Is it any wonder
that we have produced 5000 million
aires since 1860, or that wealth is SO un-
evenly divided? BYRON W. Holt
New York, March, 1896.