Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1899-09-15
The TRUSTS IN N'
An Illustration Of the ms g Of
Combines In waterloo ,r
Mills.
Industries Naturally Belonging to
the West Sometimes Discour.
aged by the East.
Strauss Tells About the Excitement
In Europe Over the Dreyfus
Affair.
Special to Times Republican.

Special to Times Republican.
Des Moines, Sept 15-Another case of
the influence of the trust in Iowa is re-
ported from Waterloo There is little
doubt that If they could all be gathered
together it would be found that the ag-
lricultural state of Iowa furnishes ample
/ in many lines of industry. The Water
loo case concerns the paper mill, closed
by the trust. But there are two sides to
this as to every other question. While
the trusts have closed considerable
number of institutions in Iowa, yet it
should be remembered that there are
some big and wealthy concerns in the
state which operate under trust ar
rangements The great oat meal mills
at Cedar Rapids and Sioux City, the big
iinseed oil mills, the cracker factories,
the glucose works at Marshalltown-
/ these are among the big institutions
which Iowa possesses because aggre-
gated capital has seen the advantage of
coming into western state and devel-
Ioping industries.
From a general survey of the Iowa
| field, this statement seems to be war
ranted: The trusts aim to locate their
manufacturing plants where they can
get the raw material cheapest, can turn
| it into products cheapest, and are most
convenient to market Thus the glu-
ma TN, lt,r hal In, ~,
eorn fields of a corn state. Oat meal
can be made profitably in Iowa, and
/ Iowa men have made fortunes out of it,
though the trust has probably opposed
more plants than it has helped. IAn-
seed oil manufacturing has been fos-
tered in the state by the trust. The
trouble is that when trust takes con-
troll of an industry already developed.
securing enough plants to supply the
lcountrys demand, there is no chance
for extension of that industry into new
territory. That has been The Iowa ex-
lperience There are glove factories
lenough in the east for the country. and
the proposed glove trust. it is rumored
wants TO get the Iowa factories, at
Grinnell and Des Moines, and close
them. The concentrated capital OF. New
York does not view with favor the de-
velopment of possible competition in the
west. So the east proposes to use the
power of its organization to keep the
west out of the business. The same is
true of many another line of business
that might be named.
The Waterloo pager mill made straw
board, used mainly in the manufacture
Iof egg cases. II was operated several
Years till finally it fell into the hands
+ of the trust. That organization wanted
10 reduce the output and keep the in
ldustry concentrated farther east; so it
closed the Waterloo mill, and paid the
owner of the real estate enough to
make 1t an object to keep the institu-
tion idle That at least is the under
standing at Waterloo. The plant
stands idle to this day, and has been so
lfor three or four years. Yet it made
money when it was in operation.
! HI. r. Heath operated the first oat
Imeal mill in Des Moines. The story is
that the trust paid him we'll to quit
running; SO well that he could better
afford to have his plant idle than to OPP
erate it. He finally Went to Fort Dodge
and built big mill there, the people of
that town giving him large concessions.
But for the trusts power and influence.
the industry might have been devel-
| loped in this state without bonuses The
Cedar Rapids and Sioux City mills.
strictly trust concerns have made
money from the time they We're opened.
| Frank r. Sleeper built the first starch
Imill in Des Moines and ran It proftably
without joining the trust. But the trust
got after him and bought him out He
was understood to have agreed, when
| he sold, to stay out of the business for a
certain time. Then he Went to Sioux
City and built another mill, which is
now in the trust. 1t thus seems that
| the trust has not prevented the devel-
Ioping of this industry, but instead has
been compelled TO buy plants as they
We're started. Whether the people who
wear billed shirts are paying more for
the privilege than they would if there
were no trust is hard question to an
swer. one thing can be said for the big
trust concerns, like the starch. oat meal
and linseed. and that is that the big
lcomhiuations generally run their plants
more steadily. and are less dependent
on fluctuations of a local money mar
| ket, than those which are independent
and have not such substantial backing.
AS has been said, there are two sides
to it.
| A prominent Gear man-prominent
enough to make his opinion worth the
iwhile-offers a new explanation of the
Des Moines News sudden conversion to
the cause of Senator Gear. in which
that paper has recently been so ardent.
He says that when John J. Hamilton
used to live down in Bloomfield twenty
years ago. he and Senator Gear We're
personal friends. Mr.. Hamilton hasn't
forgotten that friendship. When Editor
Nye, of the News. went away on his va
cation some weeks ago Mr. Hamilton
mounted the editorial tripod once more
and pretty soon his old feeling for Gear
began to manifest itself. He got strong
| er in the Gear cause, and by the time
Mr.. Nye got home the paper was pretty
thoroughly committed. Mr. Nye wab-
bled a bit for a few days, but finally
lconcluded it was best to be consistent,
lor hoo