The Penn's Grove record., 1899-06-16
HAVBMEYER ON TRUSTS
He Reads a Statement Before thu
Industrial Commission.
TARIFF CAUSE OF COMBINATIONS.
The Tariff, Mfr. Havemeyer Declares, to
BE the Mother of All Trusts-Not an
Industry Should Have Protection OF
More Than Ten Per ~Cent.-States That
Business Combinations Are Necessary


Business Combinations Are Necessary
WASHINGTON. D. C. (Special).-Henrv o
Havemeyer. President OF the American
STRENGTHENING Company, was a few days
ago before the Industrial Commission ap.
pointed by President Mckinley in accord.
ance with an act OF Congress in 1898 to In.
vestigate labor, manufactures, agriculture
and business, and to suggest r~eformatory
laws.
Mr.. Havemeyer opened with an attack
upon the tariff. This attack was made In
a written statement which the witness had
prepared. In the course OF this statement
Mr.. Hnvemeyer said:
1.-THE mother Of all trusts is the customs
tariff bill. Tho existing bill and the pre-
,eding one have been the occasion OF the
formation OF all the large trusts, with very
few exceptions, inasmuchas they provide
for an inordinate protection to all the in
forests OF the country, sugar refining OK
cepted.
Economic advantages incident to tho
consolidation of large interests In the
same lint OF business are n great incen Two
to their formation, but these bear q very
Insignificant proportion to the advantages
granted in the way OF protection under
the customs tariff.
There probably Is n OF an industry that
requires n protection of more than ten
Ter cent. ad valorem, and it is to obtain
what is provided over such percentage in
the tariff that leads to the formation Of
what are commonly spoken of as trusts
with a protection to an industry not
exceeding ten per cent. all menace to the
community, of trusts, would cease. Any
advantages that might then acrue to such
combinations they would be fully entitled
to.
1.-THE rate OF protection on sugar is an
eighth OF q cent a pound, which Is about
81 per cent. ad valorem, and is not the
difference in the cost OF refining between
this and foreign countries. The least 1t
should have is eighth per cent, or, In
specific figures, Il cent per pound.
'The United States tariff bill, in asses
sing about $40 per ton duty on imported
sugnr, pays into the pockets of "a few
L~ouisianans. on their annual crop of $780,
900 tons, 10000 900; to the Hawaiian ISL
anders,~ probably represented by one hun
dred and fifty foreigners, on their annual
crop Of $50, 900 tons, $40, 900 900; say 100, 900
tons produced elsewhere in the United
States, $4,000, 900.
from the people of the United States for
the sake OF getting the revenue which $40
per ton on foreign sugar provides. This is
merely illustrative OF the whole tariff
every line OF it-and its effect upon the
people.
Il repeat that all this agitation against
trusts Is against merely the business ma
chinery employed to take from the public
what the Government in its tariff laws
says 1t Is proper and suitable they should
have. 1t is the Government, through its
tariff laws, which plumbers the people,
and the trusts, etc, are merely the ma
chinery for doing it.
whether the Sugar Refining Company
has been a benefit or injury to the com.
munity can be best expressed on n table
showing the prices for a considerable
period prior to the formation of the trust
and for a corresponding period subsequent.
The difference since its formation shows
an advantage to the consumer-note that;
consumer-of over one-eighth of q cent
per pound"
Mr.. Havemeyer admitted freely that the
company did all possible to advance Its
own business interests. He did not think
the corporations were under obligations to
the different States, but that the reverse
was true. "CRpital and labor" he said,
would all adjust themselves If let alone"
The only way to prevent competition,
Mr.. Havemeyer testified, was to keep prices
at q minimum-not necessarily In the In
terest Of the consumer, but as a matter OF
business.
Replying to questions by ProfessorJenk5
after he had finished the reading OF his
paper, Mr.. Havemeyer said the American
Sugar Company was capitalized for much
less than 1t was worth. 'But for the clamor
against trusts" he said. "it could bo sold
for three times Its capitalization" Yot he
thought the refnerles could be duplicated
for S35, 600, 600 or $40, 900, 00o~ The present
capacity of the trust is, he said. As, 900 bar
rels a day, and the output $4,000. He
thought the trust was refining about ninety
per cent. of the sugar refined in the United
States.
Mr.. Havemeyer at first declined to say
whether the company was making money
at present, saying that was the business OF
the company alone, but he afterward mGdo
IN Incidental statement which the commits
sion construed into an admission that the
business was not profitable now.
The witness said that trusts were an ex-
ample of the survival of the flttest In bust
ness.
On the question of labor Mr.. Haveneyer
said the laborlng element were forced to
form organizations, but that in doing so
they sacrificed much independence, and the
unions had the effect of "brlnging other
men down to a low level" He commended
that he was a friend of labor, and said that
good men in the employ of the trust were
paid ten per cent. more than they could
get elsewhere.
Mr.. Havemeyer said that many things
were done in business which looked cold
blooded and harsh, but that business con-
ditions often required conduct justihng
such Characterization.
Replying to a question as to how he
could conduct business at n loss and still
declare dividends, Mr.. Havomeyer de-
cIared, laughingly; Zone is an executive
act and the other a matter OF business"