Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-04-29

| weight to deliver it,, which puts the pr,s.
| at - a ton at ones home
But this Is only hint at the nou,orss,
grasp that one man has on the wboJe IT,
industry. He, with Samuel coykenda,
president OF the Consolidated Tow,a..
Company, controls also the transnortae
| tion facilities of any competitor who no..
| think he can buck against the monopoIy
The Journal told last week. In an ~
elusive story, how the Consolidated Tow
/ ing Company. under the guidance =,
Morse Il Coykendal, bought, in Marc
| the only independent towing line on IT,
Hudson river, which gave them the al.
solute mastery Of rates for towing canal
| ice, brick lumber and other craft ba
tween this city and Albany. This mean.
that prospective competitors In the loo
business are as securely under the thurh
of the ice monarch as If such concerns
bore the name of Morse over their door"
There are -FOUR small Ice cutting and SUM-
ply companies that are acting indepen.
IDENTIFY of the trust. but IT is not appar.
ent that they can do anything
There are about 1890 canal boats usad
in the transportation of ice during ,ha
season of six months zach boat makss
a round trip week. The price for the
last year. when there was cOmpetition n,
the towing business. has been 800 n ronnd
trip.
That was the price asked by the Pon.r
Towing Company. which was last rnonth
bought out by the towing trust But nov,
that there is no competition to mar the
plans of Morse & Coykendal the lift
independent" companies look for a rise
in the towing rates. The canal boat men
paid from s. to SIS boat for heinz
towed from Albany to New York in ls9i
when there was competition. Now the
towing monopoly ask s25 down and ,Is
up. What the rate for ice canal boats
\ l. 81. Nh.a
grain canal boats. will be in the future
cannot be even guessed at. but the small
cutters are looking for an advance he
fore the end of the present season.
1t has been rumored that W. L. r. Scott
and William Montgomery & Son are
about to sell out TO Morse, but both com
panies declare that they have not been
approached by the combine with anv
propositions looking to the purchase Of
their interests.
The artificial ice manufacturers are M,
liable TO worry the natural ice monon
oily. In the first place, natural ice is pre
ferred by the trade and I'm the second
place, the artificial concerns do not pro.
pose to fight the trust. 1t is cheaper for
the combine to ignore the small business
done by the artificial people than to buy
them out or put the price down so low
as to crush them. And the artificial ice
manufacturers seem pleased at the pros
=.
Mr.. G. c. st. John. vice president of
the New York Ice Company. was seen
yesterday at his Office at No l73 Broad
way. He said that when Morse began to
extend his power the ice industry was on
fair road to ruin.
why" said Mr.. St. John. Morse is a
Moses. 1t is TRUE that he now has con-
troll of the industry from Philadelphia to
Maine. but he is the savior Of the ice
business.
When he began TO buy in companies
we were earning axle grease for the
wagons and oats for the horses. that's
all. Now. thanks to Morse. we can see
a little financial sunlight. But the pub
lie is not to suffer. Morse is too shrewd
manager to jump the price to a point
that would tempt capital TO enter the
ice business.
He will decrease expenses in all the
departments of the industry and run the
whole system on an economical and
scientific basis. That's where his profit
will come from. not from the consum-
ers. "-New York Journal.