Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1899-12-08

principally OF plaster OF paris pepper which
was 80 per cent. charcoal and sawdust,
wheaton -four which contained only small
percentage Of residue oil wheat, je!lies made
of glucose and starch paste, colored and
favored artifcially and preserved with sail
cylic acid, and olive oil which contained less
than 10 per cent. extract Of olives, the prin.
cipal ingredient being cotton seed oil.
DR.. Jenkins, continuing his evidence,
stated that adulteration OF foods and drinks
generally had greatly increased of recent
years, with the increase Of competition, but
that the adulteration of foods and drinks
with substances deleterious to health had
decreased.
All the witnesses, without exception, ex-
pressed themselves In favor of United
States law controlling the standard purity
of foods and drinks. Legislation In accord
with the testimony adduced efore the com.
mission Is looked forward to at this session.
HOW THE TARIFF HELPS TRUSTS.
Mr.. A. B. Farquhar, Of York, Pa, the
well.known manufacturer and exporter of
agricultural implements, contributes TO the
series of articles on trusts now being cir.
culated by the New England Free Trade
League discussion Of steel trusts and the
aid the tariff of $7.S4 a ton gives them in
plundering home buyers Of steel rails and
other steel products. The steel trusts, he
ooronla;no han mt ~ thar pricaa on him
higher than on foreigners TO whom they
sell, with the result Of obstructing his ex.
portation of agricultural implements. The
removal of the tariff on iron and steel would
destroy the trusts power and enable him
to get his steel at about the same prices paid
by foreign competitors TO American steel
makers. Mr.. Farquhar now finds himself,
he says, in the position Of being held down
by his Government while he is pounded by
the various steel, iron, coal, lead and other
tariff trusts. Many other manufacturers
and exporters, It is stated, now feel the
pinch of protection. The practice Of the
trust being to accept reasonable profit from
foreigners and exact from Americans the full
81 "a afforded by the tariff, In additional to
reasonable profit, very severe check is
given to the development Of our export
trade.
TIE trusts abuse Of the power given it
by the tariff is illustrated by one of the re-
cent results, namely, the importation of two
cargoes OF steel guard rails, one being
brought from Scotland, the other from Ger
many. These rails were to ill orders from
various street railway lines in Eastern cities.
This country exports steel rails. A few
months ago one mill shipped 10000 tons to
North China, and larger amount has been
engaged for future delivery. From this one
might infer that American street railways
ought to be able to get steel rails cheaper
here than abroad. As matter OF fact, on
the two cargoes of imported rails just men
toned there was a saving of % per cent on
the trusts prices. The trouble arises from
the fact that the steel combine, protected by
the e7.S4 duty, exacts from home buyers d
rails profit of 100 per cent, while selling
abroad at low figures. For this reason, it
is cheaper to buy guard rails from Scotland
than from steel rail mill across the street.
The fact that the demand for such rails is
restricted accounts In part for the trusts
excessive greediness in this case and con-
seQuent failure to exclude foreign compe-
tition.
"In this case" Mr.. Farquhar says, "it Is
plain that the pool, or trust, has overreached
itself. some years ago compared protec
tion.grabblng TO the behavior of pigs at their
feeding; the eagerness with which the corn
Is seized results 10 the waste of more than
is eaten The trust could have kept all the
trade in guard rails and cleared at least 90
per cent profit by putting the price lower.
Though its eagerness may carry 1t too far
In special lines where the demand is mel
very large, 1t makes no such mistake with
steel rails of ordinary construction. For
these II carefully keeps the price just low
enough to escape importations, the amount
of the duty being realized by IL as added
profit ian unwarrantable tax upon home
consumers, as is proved by Its exportations,)
and so we hear nothing Of imports Of ordi-
nary rails. In fact, such exceptional cases
are to be taken not as indications Of the
usual working of the trust, but merely as
episodes" The close alliance of trusts and
the tariff is becoming plain to every intelli-
gent man, though some people are per.
petualy trying to confuse 1t by saying that
trusts flourish In free trade England. But
this fog is easily blown away. Assuming
that consultations and combinations take
place in England as they do here, 1t makes
all the difference In the world that there ID
no high.tariff wall in England to protect
combines from foreign competition. We do
not object to trusts merely because they are
trusts, but because, having q tariff duty To
protect them from foreign competition, they
take advantage OF ii 10 put up prices on
American consumers of their products, while
selling them low to foreigners. English
trusts could not do that, since English ports
are open to all the world, and German
French, Austrian and American competitors
would soon take away the business OF an
English trust that advanced prices unduly
ave are not claiming" says Mr.. Farquhar
shat associations Of producers are under all
circumstances an evil, for We freely admit
that In some form they must continue to
exist-that union for business purposes is
something that has come to stay. The evil
comes In when the association Is encour
aged 10 Cypress fellow citizens by mo-
nopoly which legislation has made. Pre-
clsely the same organization may be a ia