The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-08-23

are a good deal more so than the English,
and the trait sometimes leads US off on false
scents from which we have TO retrace our
steps. Fortunately. we generally do it and
get into the right path again. Abraham
Lincoln once said. 1.-THE people sometimes
mak mistakes. but they always wabble
right" Our habit Of carrying everything
into politics makes popular excitement nat
ural TO US and Increases the tendency to get
excited over purely commercial and eco
nomic questions.
Trusts have existed In England for years,
but they have not excited any particular
attention. much less become a subject of
political discussion and legislation. Per-
haps IL we went a little slower In such mat
ters we would not have so much to undo.
Most OF the antitrust laws that have been
passed thus far have been found either
wholly unconstitutional or detective and
imperative. II has been crude legislation.
based upon imperfect information. super
fetal knowledge and hasty conclusions, all
more or less influenced by a desire to gain
political advantage. The chances are that
we will know a great deal more about
trusts a few years hence than we do now,
and can legislate regarding them with far
more intelligence, discrimination and effect.
A few years experience will enable US to
differentiate the good features of trusts
from the bad ones. the benefits they con-
fer from the evil they do. and thus decide
whether they should be prohibited entirely
or merely regulated, and II the latter to
what extent.
At present there is a disposition to charge
almost every disturbance of business or
prices on the trusts. The term trust" is
a convenient bugaboo and makes a fine
scapegoat for those who do not care to
look beneath the surface Of things. For
Instance, the recent sharp advance in the
price Of meats is being attributed by DEM
ocratic papers to the beef trust. where
as there never was a clearer case of supply
and demand influencing prices than this.
With an increase In the demand for beef
and a decrease in the supply of beef cattle
one need not look any further for the cause
of an increase I'm prices. During the hard
lines from 1888 to 1896 the per capita con-
sumption of beef fell off to such an extent
that prices declined, and ranchmen and
cattle-raisers went out of the business or
reduced their herds to a minimum. The
return of prosperity brought a decided in
crease in the consumption of beef, and the
war with Spain caused a heavy demand
from the government for army beef. With
a depleted cattle supply this increased de-
mand could not fail to cause an advance in
prices. With all the big packers in the coun-
try scrambling for cattle, with the demand
far In advance of the supply, and with the
none coming on, how could prices help but
advance? There is no trust in the case,
nothing but the plain operation OF the
familiar law of supply and demand.
Another case in point near home is that
of the Indiana Bridge Works at Muncie,
which. it is said, is about to close temporar-
lily or account of the difficulty of securing
structural iron and steel material. The
Muncie Times says: 1T is not because there
is not plenty of money and prosperity and
work for the bridge company. but because
a gigantic corporation has reached out its
kraken-like arms and has fastened it's ten
tacles all about the iron industries of
America"
Mr.. c.. M. Kimbrough, president Of the
company. says I'm an interview:
At no time during the past has II taken
longer than ninety days to secure structural
material for ordinary bridge and structural
work, and, ordinarily. thirty to sixty days
mas been sufficient time. During the early
part of this year we We're able to secure
complete with an advance notice
OF from sixty to ninety days. We now have
standard shapes and sizes due us on orders
not receive before the 1st to the 18th of Sep
TENDER. The Carnegie Steel Company, OF
cent. of our metal during the past ten years,
declines TO book orders of a miscellaneous
character for complete delivery, inside of
edy? Open more mines, erect more fur
naces. build more mills, employ the ex-
perienced help thrown out of employment
by the formation of the trusts; invest the
millions of idle capital in this. the greatest
and surest wealth-producing industry I'm
the world-the iron industry.
Now, the Journal regrets to see any Indi-
ana industry embarrassed by any cause
whatever, but 1t would not be fair to let such
a statement as this pass unnoticed. There is
no trust in the mining business nor In the
pig iron business. nor in the bar iron bust
AltSS. 1utTe Is temporary FAMINE In raw
material. and 1t is affecting the Carnegie
industries as we'll as others, the Cramps as
well as shipbuilding yards on the lakes. 1t
is a singular fact that pig iron, the raw
material of all iron industries, has ad-
vanced In price during the last nine months
more than any iron-manufactured product.
From Nov. 1, 1895. to Aug. 1, 1899. the price
of pig iron advanced "a per cent. yet there
is no trust in pig iron. Early I'm February
entire output Of the Lake Superior iron
mines. for 1899, had been contracted for at
an advance of % cents a ton. Quotations on
Bessemer pig at Pittsburg rose from $40. 75
a ton. Jan. 4. to sl5.15. March %. and this
In spite of the fact that, according TO the
Bulletin of the Iron Association ffty-four
new furnaces went into blast during the
first quarter of the year. Early in March
the Iron Age stated that one shipyard had,
In one day. orders for eleven large steam
ers, OF which 1t could not take one. II has
| not been long since 1t was stated that the
| Carnegie Company had taken a contract
To furnish one thousand tons OF car ma
| terial per day for ten years to the Pressed
Steel Car Company. while agreeing not 70
manufacture steel cars themselves. These
| facts show the need of more furnaces and
greater production of pig iron. but that is