The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-03-07
Ghe Wessenger.


Some publication in the north con-
tends that the trust movement is "a
positive craze" The Messenger has
taken some such view. If not a
~craze' it is surely not a virtue.
Bradstreet's published in New York,
and of established character, has this
TO say Of those amiable, benevolent
and most useful institutions" tina
are sweeping owe and selling the bus
mess Of the country:
What the public for convenience de-
dominates trusts continue to make their
appearance from day TO day, and TO in
clude almost every imaginable line OF
manufactures. Among the
ions brought out this week are COM
binations Of the iron pipe concerns and
also of the principle car-building works
of the country, the latter being under
the title of the National Car and
Foundry while those which
are now said to be in process of forma-
tion include the varnish MANUFACTURE
ers, the shipyards of the great lakes
n an enlargement of the organization
which already embraces a considerable
proportion of the concerns engaged in
producing prepared cereal foods. The
list, in fact, of actual or prospective in
corporations and consultations Of this
general character might be indefinitely
extended. 1t would seem that the WILL
ingness with which the public pur-
chaSeS such portions of the stock or
the companies as may be offered in the
market, the profits which are currently
realized by promoters and underwrit-
ing s~yndicateS, and the advantageous
valuations at which manufacturers are
able to sell their plants and business
under such arrangements, from a COM
bination which has caused the move
mani 70 a ~ M fhp Oh r 1ntpr Ot a nos
tive craze
The prosperity to the country
brought by trusts is quite like the great
boom in business manufactured by Wall
street. Tt is prosperity" not for the
millions but for the few, the grasping
spectators and the fellows in the COM
Dimes. Are these trusts" really be-
nevolent and safe for the country?
Are they indeed friends of the people?
Who believes it. The tobacco trust cut
down the prices so in the Piedmont sec
ton of our state that the farmers lost
quite $1,500, 900 by it in a few years.
Yea! verify. When Bradstreet signals
danger and other public watchmen
sound the alarm it is time for legisla-
tors to consider.
The st. Paul Globe, an able exchange,
sees evil for the country in the trusts
hat count now by the many hundreds,
possibly by the thousand. 1t recently
said, and it is sound we believe:
1.-THE Globe prefers to believe that
little good may come out of the trust
for he common people. The trust is a
natural monopoly. 1t presses hardest
rnnn h nncCnc of fhA ~nnr1n hncA
who are least able to endure it's exac-
ions. The wealthy and the powerful
do not bear the burdens of the trust
The farmer, the mechanic, the laboring
man are the trusts victims, because
the trust imposes unnatural n I'M
necessary prices upon the needs of life,
whether these are oil, coal or
eOther articles that enter into daily con-
. sumption.
A high authority upon trusts has
~truthfully declared: "A monopoly in
those things which the plain people
consume. day by day, those things
which they eat and wear and use in
their daily life, is a menace to the flu
ture of the nation itself, inasmuch as
it affects the character of the next
generation"
And again: The moment an indi-
Vidual, partnership, corporation or COM
bination seeks a monopoly, that mo-
ment his or it's business methods be-
come ubiquitous.
Especially is this the case where the
sole object of a combination is to es-
bills a monopoly"
The new companies created last year
alone represented apparently $916, OOO,-
600. 1t is known that the great con-
centration of money of the country
at New York, and the consequent very
low rates of money, has given a pow
erful stimulus to all of trusts,
embracing all kinds of industries. We
mentioned lately that in New Jersey in
one day twenty-four trusts, we believe
was the number, that were formed.
The Philadelphia Press, republican
and gold organ, published recently
a list of the cities in which idle
money was lying and the sum aggre-
gated 1872, 600, 900. The question needs
to be repeated-Are trusts blessings,
real or in disguise?