The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-04-21
r OF TRUSTS

Some of the judges and prosecuting
attorneys in some sections have thei
eyes on the baleful trusts. Some Of the
judges have very correct views as to the
dangers and wrong doings of the trusts
and do not fal to correctly describe
them. Judge Travis. of Kentucky, in
the circuit court, recently said:
There is nothing on earth that the
trusts won't do. I believe that an ag-
| gregation of great wealth always has
a tendency to brutalize; I believe that
the aggregation of great wealth al
ways has a tendency to remove every
instinct, and every spirit, and every
feeling of humanity that men ought to
have. You will find in the hearts of
the worst criminals that come into
court something that is good, M
thing that is desirable, something that
is worth having, but you will find moth
ing on earth in organizations Of wealth
that is good Or that is worth having.
There is no limit; there is no business
in which they are not willing to en-;
gage; there is no people that they are
not willing to rob; there is nothing
sacred; nothing that they will let
alone; there is nothing poor enough for
them to have pity n there is nothing
humble enough for them to pity. They
would rob the graves of the dead II
they could reach their hands into
them"
That is severe, but it is perhaps just.
At any rate so able a paper as the New
York Journal of Commerce has spoken
at length in severe condemnation OF
these "~aggregations of great wealth."
and has driven through them the hot
spike of censure and ~reprobation.
The United States are surely in Attic
ton, for it is certain there is IAN enor-
nous number of w~ater-logged business
concerns, known as trusts" recently
set afioat, and many fools are disposed
to take a ride upon them. 1t says "in
the smash that is bound to come the
certificates of these organizations will
sell at their real value, which means
an appalling lost to investors
In this connection let US mention that
the enormous wooden mills trust lately
organized in New Jersey, with a we'll
watered capital of $65, 900, 900, hopes to
be greatly aided by the present greedy,
~grasping, vicious republican high tariff
tax. How the sheep growers growled
and sighed, over the hybrid tariff called
Wilson" and %repudiated by most good
democrats. 1t had a free-wool clause.
The Houston Post noting the effects of
the Dingley dragnet, says:
"Since then wool has been down to
about the free wool basis! There has
been a depression in the trade that has
provoked widespread comment n
complaint. The tariff has benefited
but one class of men interested in wool
the manufacturers! With cOmpeti-
ton shut off, a tariff bonus and the
home product at their mercy, the mills
have been combined into a trust"
And that is the way the people are
blessed by the monster that is praised
by organs and ignoramuses. Hear the
American Wool and Cotton Reporter
on this wool trust. It is unquestiona-
bly, good authority. It says of the
new trust that the properties it has ac-
quired has brought in for the last two
years 35 per cent of profit. The tariff
helps immensely each grinding corpor-
alton. The Wool and Cotton Reporter
says that this is the only language we
can find that properly describes the
present trust mania. There can be but
one conclusion to the movement
great commercial and financial crash!"