Washington sentinel., 1899-02-11
Trusts In America.

The industrial monopoly known
as a trust, says the London SPEC
tatoy, is only some dozen years old
in the United States, yet it already
controls about one.half OF the IN
dustrial capital of the Republic;
and as things are now goiag' 1t bios
fair to control three-fourths before
the century has expired. win
the present revival Of American
industry from the great depression
which began in 1898, an enormous
expansion OF trusts is also taking
place. In one day, we read no
fewer than seven Of these
colossal undertakings were organ
ICED. with aggregated capitals
reaching into the hundreds OF
millions of dollars. Among the
industries thus closed to outside
competition were sewerpiPes, Sill
verware, writing paper, pottery
wire, lead, and tinplate. The cap
ital OF the first is put at S3o,ooo,ooo
and OF the last at Sso,ooo,ooo.
This tinplate monopoly is abso-
lutte, 9a per cent. Of the mAnuiac-
turers joining at the start, and the
remaining 8 per cent. coming IN
soon after. AT the present time
in addition to the trusts mentioned
petroleum oil, sugar, cotton SEED
oil, whiskey, steel rails, and other
commodities produced on a great
scale are all in the hands Of trusts.
Even such a prime necessary ot
life as meat is controlled by the
"big four" OF Chicago. e. tour
huge firms which control the i'm
mense stockyards of that city, and
which actually fix the retail price
of meat in Boston. 1t is no won
der that the attention OF the Amer
lean people is riveted on this stu
pendous capitalist development,
that maniieSt 1t anxiety prevails, and
that Mr.. Bryan is preparing to
fight the Presidential election OF
1900 OIL the trust question.
What is a trustp We have the
same in England, says the SPFcta-
tor, but It stands here for a differ
ent thing. In word, trust is a
kind of federation OF joint stock
companies tor preventing compe-
ton. maintaining profits and con-
trolling price and output. The
persons entering into the arrange
ment hand over their several inter-
ests in the companies forming the
trust, and receive from its treas
urer scrip in the trust. Thus while
the volume Of American business
is increasing by leaps and bounds
every moment, the actual number
OF definite responsible business
corporations is decreasing. This
is not only the case in great indus
tries formed into trusts properly
so called, but it runs right through
American business. In Chicago
there were actually as many separ-
ate business hrms in 1870, when
the population was about two hun
dred and fifty thousand, as there
were a quarter of a century later,
when the population had risen to
one and half millions. Legisla-
tive attempts without number have
been made to cope with the trusts.
Mr.. Sherman, who was then a
member OF the Senate, introduced
a measure to suppress them and
secured its passage; but in the first
test case the Attorney General OF
the United States refused to prose-
cute. The Standard Oh Trust,
when hit by the law, merely
changed its title from Trust to
Company" and modified its arti-
cles Of association. Nearly every
State Legislature (they are all law
making factories on big scale, as
the readers OF Mr.. Godkin's recent
work are aware) has tried its hand
at the suppression OF the trust, but
without success. AT this moment
monopoly holds the field more
strongly than ever; and,as we nave
said. bids fair to embrace nearly the
whole of American industy in its
grasp. OF course if the move rep
resented by Mr.. Bryan is serious
land we think il is so far as deep
feeling of hostility to the trusts is
concerned), we shall see an Anti
Trust Party in the field, and the
United States committed to a great
conflict Of new character; a con-
fiicr not political but social, "well
defined conformation OF social
classes" to use Roscher's historic
phrase. There will be the million
aires on the one side, with those
whose interests are bound up with
the interests Of the millionaires,
and on the other side the great