The Advocate and news., 1899-03-08


which is as powerful as the Standard Oil
trust. There was one advantage that the
trust possessed over the enlarged corpo-
ration and that was the reason why 1t
was organized When the corporations
entered upon the trust form they could,
as they thought, initiate their stock, water
it more successfully through the great
central trust, than they could from the
great corporation, because there are GER
tain technicalities in law which they
could not easily get around. They would
find their taxes somewhat increased If
they formed one great corporation and
watered the stock but corporations are
now being formed in New Jersey, which
is very Intent in the matter of taxation,
and they are therefore escaping even that
difficulty.
We have been accustomed in the past,
to competition. We were born and
brought up to think that competition was
the general character Of modern busi-
ness. We were accustomed to think that
only idealists or those horrid socialists
were opposed to competition, but we are
now coming to find that the hard-headed
business man is opposed to 1t. In his
own business with the destruction Of
competition he sees a series of profits,
and more and more you will find that
competition is becoming unpopular, not
by the teaching Of the socialist, not by
that Of any radical theorists, but through
the experience of the business men OF
the country. Since a week ago / took
occasion to notice how many trusts were
being formed Of late. In the last message
issued January 5 by Governor Pingree to
the legislature, he gives a list Of over
hundred Of the permanent trusts OF the
country. The Kansas City Star Of No
vember 10, quoted very interesting two
column article from the New York Her.
aid, classifying the leading trusts Of the
country by occupation" It appears that
in oil there is a capital Of $153, 100000 in
four combinations. In steel the total cap
italizatiOn Of few trusts, which are
really working together, $347, 100000; in
coal $161, 100000; in sugar, $115,O ,OOO,O 900;
in whisky, and alcohol, $4,000, 900. In
the manufacture Of electric light apph-
ances and power appliances for street
railway purposes, S139,000,000.
Within week the following facts have
appeared in the local papers / notice in
the Kansas City Times Of January 30th,
under the heading Mecca for the Trusts"
record Of trusts of New Jersey, from
which it appears that at the beginning
of last year $1,500, ,000,0 900 of capital had
been organized in the trust form in New
Jersey, and $7OO,OOO,OOO more last year.
January S1st and Saturday, February 4th,
the Chicago Record tells of soap trust,
also Of the formation in Chicago, Of a
milk trust and Of sewer pipe trust at
Akron, Ohio. It Is unnecessary to dwell
further on the growth Of these enter
prises. But what Is their meaning? In
the first place they are development Of
the corporation as much as the corpora
tion was a development Of the partner
ship; the corporation rendered possible
the collection Of large amounts Of capital
that could not be collected for railroad
building, for the running Of large fac
tories and stores, and it has been Gus
tomary to look upon this concentration
of capital, which the corporation rem
dered possible, as necessary thing in
the development of our machinery and
of the arts
Now the trusts represent simply an
other step up the ladder in the same
direction. Business was getting so ex-
tensive that the trust was formed to in
clude all the corporations of the country
doing a certain line of business. The
trust, then, is development Of business
organization; that is one phase of 1t,
but when we say that we omit an impOr-
tank qualification on iropOrfnuf difPar
ence between the corporation and the
trust. Great as might be the corporation
it was not formed for the purpose Of
putting close to competition; 1t was
formed simply for the purpose Of bring
ing together large amount OF capital
for business purposes. The trust Is in
tended to be all-embracing and to put
a stop to competition; that makes It a
very different problem, so that we are
perhaps now able to see what Mr.. Lloyd |