, 1899-09-21
TRUSTS IN ENGLAND.
HOW COMBINATIONS FLOURISH
UNDER FREE-TRADE.
They Thrive Moro LuxuriantIy In British
Than In American Soil, and All the
Better Because of the Absence of =
Protective Tariff.

Writing to the New York Press from
London under date of July 26. Mr.. III.
Curtis Brown, a stan correspondent of
that paper, presents with much force
and distinctness the subject of trusts
IN England. Such a presentment is
o timely. 1t comes at a moment
when facts are important in order to
accurately determine the extent to
which trusts abound In a country
where protection is unknown. From
Mr.. Browns article, which appears in
the current issue of the American
Economist. it is learned, among other
things. that in free-trade England the
modern trust had its origin and has
attained to its most complete develop
ment. To-day. says this well-informed
writer, there are more trade combina-
lions to the square inch in England
than in the United States, and it will
not be long at the present rate before
every trade in the tight little island
will be in a position to regulate compe-
%tition."
In spite OF the fact that the tendency
oward monopoly in England in the
last year has been significant and al
most startling, the average English
mar will tell you. We nave no trusts
in England Mr.. Havemeyer evident
ly had that idea when he declared that
the customs tariff is the mother of
trusts" How mistaken is this belief.
and how firmly the trust movement.
under another name, has taken hold
upon English commercial life. nay be
convincingly learned from the facts set
forth in detail by the Press CORE
spondent. According to this well-in-
formed writer.
Organizations which in America
would be popularity called trusts now
control in England the fine cotton spin
ming. the dyeing. screw manufacture.
salt manufacture. newspaper manufac-
ture. cotton thread. chemicals. the
crushing of oil seed, bedstead making.
glass bottle making, manufacture of
electrical fittings and the cased tube
trade. There Is no open market in pc
troleum, nickel. mercury, anthony,
lead pipe, and fish. The National Tele-
phone company now has a monopoly.
and the number of trades in which the
leading producers have combined and
lave begun to squeeze the smaller pro-
ducers to the inevitable end of estab-
fishing what is tantamount to a trust is
almost infinite"
In one respect the trust idea has
been carried in England to an extent
thus far unknown in the United States.
The combinations operating separately
in different lines are engaged in com
bining themselves into still larger and
more comprehensive trusts. At last
accounts the dyers were thinking of
going into the chemical manufacturing
business. making their own drugs and
dyestuffs. and establishing what would
amount to a practical monopoly in that
direction. Likewise the retail chem
lists, themselves combined into %associa-
tions which regulated prices in many
districts, froze out the manufacturer of
mineral waters by building a factory
themselves and practically controlling
the market.
One of the latest combinations Is that
of oil seed c%rushers, whose chairman is
Hugh Cullen Smith, late governor of
the Bank of England. and the manu-
facturers of the paper used in making
newspapers are said to have formed a
monopoly. Twenty-four leading firms
in the engineering trade have CONSOLE
dated with a capital of $70,0 O0, 900.
Vickers & Co., armor-plate manufac-
turers, have been buying up COM
peting firms until they control the
trade. The Belfast linen yarn spinners
were lately reported to be organizing.
and also the Scottish door cloth manu-
facturers. also the bleachers. who are
reported to have a capital of $50, OOO.-
900.
All this in free-trade England, where,
il Mr.. Havemeyer and his demo-pop
admirers are correct in their conten-
ton, trusts do not and cannot exist.
Il appears, however, that they can and
do exist, and that they thrive wonder
fully well in that non-protected coun-
try-thrive all the better. it would
seem, because OF the absence of protec-
ton and the active and always increas-
ing competition which protection pro-
notes and insures. Such. 1t will be
found, is the truth concerning trusts.
They flourish with or without a pro-
tective tarif-rather better without
thar with 1t.