Evening star., 1899-04-07

of capital in any line temporarily exacts a
liberal profit, Immediately capital flows
into that channel, another combination is
formed. and competition ensues on a scale
| and operates with an intensity far beyond
anything that is possible smaller scale,
| resulting in breaking down of the combi-
| nation and the decline of profits to a min
| imum.
Sugar and Coffee Industries.
"A striking illustration of this is found
| in the sugar and coffee industries today.
Arbuckle Brothers had attained a COM
| manding position as roasters and sellers of
| coffee, and they also Sold but did not re-
fine, sugars Because the American Sugar
Refining Company would not sell them
| cheaper than other buyers of sugar. they
| decided to so into the sugar refining bus
| mess whereupon leading spirits in the
| American Sugar Refining Company seeing
| that the margin of profit in the coffee bus
lness was good, decided to go into roasting
ana L. selling coffee. The result has been that
| thiS contest of giants has reduced the
IrohtS in both industries to a minimum
II hot to positive loss making n ha rd for
| smaller manufacturers and dealers to live
| put saving mlllions of dollars for consum-
ers that would have otherwise Injured TO
| manufacturers and dealers
| The only trusts which have succeeded
Tor any length of time have been those
| which have been conducted on a far-sipbtal
| oasis or moderate margins of profit rely-
| ing upon large turnover and the econ
onlles resulting from the command of large
! capital lnte!hgenuy administered"
| Mr.. Thurber spoke of combinations of
distrihutive forces as well as of manufac-
| turing
| Must Have Trusts.
| Il am not interested in trusts" he said
! except as a student of their politico-
economic features. but am satisfied that
| we must have this organization of io6nstr,
| if We would keep up with the nrocession in
| tie march for the worlds trade. There are
l44o,Ho,H0 people in the world of which
! we nave I'.coOGo0 possessing a larger mr.
! CHASING power than any similar number
| elsewhere and a larger producing nowar
| because we command the great forcas %
| nature and of brain power embodied in ma
| ration. 'i' any o'iier
| WIN consuming power of 1900 eco we
| naEe producing power of 100 no0tssD our
| p pioDieh Is TO keep our labor and capitaI
GI. lnuousiy and remuneratively cmployed
| nF preserving our home market and ralI.b
| lhS out Tor place to dunn our st,rpI,,S
among the other I;56:, 0a9 0oa each of wbnro
mas mas soIAe wants. There are natural wants
| ana educational wants The forn,ar -
principally those of the stomach VA al i
! suppIEihg these We have to co,nnete yr;tb
N, ene lertlle lands and cheap labor of the
Mr.. Thurber said ubile ,,,ar nv, -.
| Gay able to establish individual enterprises
| as rea'nly AS in the past they have onnor-
| tunlt!es through career in the trust as at
t,,rr,},.t ,%S,I.e as formerly In other words the
plpoituiity ior young men to have a career
| mas not been destroyed. but merely shifted
| to other fields.
| S'ep toward Government OyyuersI,i,
| III reply 10 a question, Mr. Thurber said
that the trust was undoubtedly a tendency
IN the direction of government ownership
ne sald leading socialist in New York
! welcomed the trust because he believed il
was the forerunner of socialism
l believe it is a step in that direction, -
SAID Mr.. Thurber, but it is a long way
, off,
He said he thought there was as much
| aPpllcatlon OF the principle of protection in
| labor organizations as in organizations of
| capitalists.
In reply to questions Mr.. Thurber said
| the effect of the trust was to wine ont
competition in the price of the raw ma
| terials. In the case of the sugar trust
J that was the result
MI Ihurber has been one of the most ex-
| tehSlVe wholesale grocers in the United
| states. He was asked whether he could
| buy sugar formerly from three trusts. but
| now there are five sources from which pur-
| chases may be made. He said he was sat
| lSlleu lHat trusts could not unduly raise
| prices because as soon as they did that
| some competition was bound to develop.
| Bribery and "Sand-Bagging."
| There is no doubt" said Mr.. Thurber
| that there is a good deal of striking legis-
| iation put forward in order to sand-bag
| these trusts, and when that is done they
will fend off such legislation by bribery, or
| anything else. l have not seen trusts ag-
| gressive in pushing formative legislation in
| their interests
| AS an instance of this Striking laaisla-
| tion," he said that the gas consumers of
New York combined to bring about a re-
| duction in the price of gas from s275 a
| thousand feet to s1.25, which they regarded
! re. hot
| were introduced in the legislature to reduce
| the price of gas, and he knew that the gas
| companies had been told that they could be
| relieved from such legislation if they would
| pay for such exemption. He did not refer
| to all antitrust legislation.
| The chief antitrust legislation which Ia
| thouSht was necessary was to prevent the
| manipulation of stocks. He believed the
| great mass of trust legislation that had
| been enacted in this country was unneces-
| sary. He considered examination and pub
| lclty on the part of the government of
| trusts would be desirable on much the same
| principle that is applied to national banks
| The result of the lack of such inspection
| and report, he said, would result in many
| investors being wiped out when some of
| these industries go to pieces.
| He said that in commerce there is no such
| thing as monopoly. The moment it is
| known that a large profit is secured from
| any source of industry capital flows into
| that industry and the prices come down.
| Trusts for the Public Good.
| He said he believed trusts were for the
public good and could not be prevented. He
| regarded it as necessary for general pros
| perity that great combinations of wealth
| should be in able hands. There could be no
| equality in wealth, he sad, and if all wealth
| could be distributed today inequalities
| would begin tomorrow. There was great
evil in over capitalization, ne held, and peo-
| pie who go into such enterprises with their
| money at high prices are sure to lose
| In direct reply to a question regarding
| the effect of trusts for good or evil, he said:
II believe they are powerful agencies for
good. There is much that is bad in them
which We should try to eliminate. There is
| good in all and none is all good. "
Commercial crises in the future, he MAIN
tained, are likely to be more frequent than
| in the past for the reason that powers of
production are today great that there
win be times of overproduction unless a
foreign market is opened to receive the
surplus.
| He did not favor legislation restricting
| the capitalization of corporations to the
amount of capital put in them. The gen.
| eral rllle he said caDitaiize on