The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-02-25

New York. Feb 24-There was a.
large attendance of spectators this
morning when the joint legislative
! committee resumed its Investigation Of
trusts, monopolies. etc.
On calling the committee TO order
Chairman Lexow said the Coal trust
would be taken up tomorrow.
President Duke Of the American To-
bacco company again took the stand.
He said that the American Tobacco
company was capitalized originally at
S25, 000 900. which was afterwards in
the Duke company and Allen & Ginter
received $T,6OOO00: Kinney & Co. Kim
ball & Co., and the Goodwin company,
$500. 900; the Duke company receiving
Sc, 600, 900 for good will, such as patents
and trade marks About 900
worth of stock was issued for live as
sets of the various companies and go
100000 for good will. trade marks and
patents. Witness said when the stock
was increased to S29. S35. 900 there were
about 40 stockholders now there were
between 1000 and 5000.
MAKING OF CIGARETTES.
He denied that his company had Sc
cured control OF all the cigarette
making machines by combining with
the other companies He said that
prior to consolidation the five original
companies employed 1886 hands. and
in February. 1896. the American To-
bacco company had 1914 employees
In reply to another question the wit
ness said that common stock in 1894
paid u per cent; in 1895 it paid nothing
and in 1896 it paid 8 per cent in cash,
and there was also a surplus of 81 ,4O0.
600. Witness attributed the decline in
the price of the stock from III to So to
unloading. He said that he had more
of the stock now than ever before. He
declared that the output in cigarettes
had almost doubled since the CONSOLE
dation.
Josiah Brown of Springfield n J..
secretary of the American Tobacco
company, was then called, but his
testimony was unimpOrtant.
Francis B. Thurber, president of the
American GrOcers' Publishing COM
pany. took the stand and read a long
statement concerning a history of the
trusts. Mr.. Thurber said that the to-
tai results of the combinations, intelli-
gently administered. were beneficial to
the public at large and to the labOring
class. The profits of capital have been
steadily decreasing and those of or
ganized labor steadily increasing.
AT no time" said he, would a dol
lar purchase so mucn as al the pres
ent time. There are good trusts and
bad trusts. but the good trusts so far
predominant that such aggregations of
capital should be encouraged. accom-
panied by safeguards against abuses
MAKES THEM VINCE.
George D. Wheeler, a wholesale cigar
dealer from Syracuse. the next witness.
testified that the American Tobacco
factors agreement had
wrought him injustice, in the fact that
it refused to sell him goods because he
refused to buy exclusively from it.
The jobber, he declared. could not do
business without factors agreement.
Witness denied that he was under sal
airy with the National Cigarette COM
pany. a competing firm.
Counsel for the American Tobacco
who was present. at this
period declared that the witness was
simply the mouthpiece of the National
Cigarette. who, he said, brought Oil all
the litigation against the American
Tobacco company.
Witness retorted that he was respOn-
sible for that litigation, and not the
National Cigarette company.
The committee adjourned until to-
nOrrOW