Omaha daily bee., 1899-04-30
RAPID GROWTH OF TRUSTS
Several Important Combines Have Offices or
Branches in Omaha.
CAPITALIZATION RUNS INTO BILLIONS
ATcct of Trusts on some of Omnhn's
Establishments and Trnde-sevcral
Local Combinations Man
aged Like Trusts.

branches here, looked after by managers
placed in charge. Owing to the favorabl,
laws of the state, large proportion o
the trusts in the United states are organ
lied in New Jersey, with the principal offices
in New York city.
The first trust was organized in 1850
when the Standard Oil company branchet
out and gathered in a large number o
smaller concerns that were regarded al
competitors Since that date trusts hav,
been organized with great rapidity. There
are now several hundred of them, with 4
combined capital of approximately about
| $500, ,000 with many more with nearly
half as much capital still in an embTyotlc
state.
After the Standard Oil trust came the
| Cracker trust, known as the National Bis
cult company, which absorbed all of the
cracker factories of any size in the United
States Soon after its organization, this trus,
made its appearance felt in Omaha, for
prior to that time there were two cracker
factories here-the McClurg and the Gar
neau-each employing from 75 to 100 hands.
| After the two concerns went into the trust,
the McClurg factory was shut down and has
remained closed ever since.
New smclter Trust.
The latest local plant to be gathered in by
! the trust is the Omaha and Grant Smelling
ana Refining works For years this concern
withstood the assaults of the trusts, but re.
Gently it succumbed and a few weeks ago
became part and parcel of the great COR
| poration that owns nearly all the large
smelters in the United States While tbs
president, e. w. Nash, retains his office
here, the headquarters of the trust is in the
east, from which point the output, the
| prices of ore and the wages of employees are
| dictated.
Another of the great trusts with plant
| in Omaha is the National Distilling and Dis
tributing company corporation that con-
trolls the Willow Springs distillery. This
plant has been in a trust, out and in again.
Some years ago when the whisky trust was
organized with headquarters at PEORIA, ILL.,,
the Willow Springs plant became a portion
of the property, but upon the collapse of
that corporation it pulled out and stood in
dependent until a few months ago when 1t
joined the combine.
BY some the plants of the Omaha Water
company and the Omaha Gas Manufacturing
company are regarded as parts and parcels
of the truets that control the operations of
the water and gas plants throughout the
country. However, they are not, techni-
caly speaking, trusts, yet many of the
heavy stockholders and officers reside in the
east where the general offices are main
tained and from whence all of the orders
for the expenditures of large sums of money
for improvements have to come. In addl
tion to this, the same people who own most
of the stock in the two corporations own
stock in like corporations scattered through
out the country, giving the whole business
the general appearance of trusts and trust
operations.
The National Lead and Oil company, a
trust, with its general offices in St. Louis
maintains an office and salesroom here, but
has no plant and the same is true with
reference to the Creamery Package and Sup
ply Manufacturing company, an Illinois con-
Cern. This trust controls the appliances
used in the cheese and butter industry.
Combinations Managed Like Trusts.
While they are not recognized as trusts
Omaha has three concerns that manage
their business in manner similar to that
pursued by the trusts, aside from the fact
that there is no stock to manipulate. These
three are: The Omaha Coal Exchange, the
Ice Dealers association and the Milk Deal
ers' union. or course they do not regulate
the output, yet they have an agreed scale
of wages that they pay employees and they
also agree upon the terms and price of the
sale of products OF the scores of firms
handling coal, ice and milk, each and every
one has the same price, and if a consumer
quits one he contracts with another, paying
the same price for whatever he buys in that
particular line.
The members of these little associations
or unions have their officers the same as any
other truet, have their agreements between
dealers and their fines for violating the rules
adopted by the respective associations, thus
holding the members in line.
Local Opinion on Trusts.
Even the insurance agents of the city have
a combine which to all intents and purposes
is trust. They map the town and fix the
rates on every building and on every stock
of goods. If you go to one agent, he quotes
you certain figures and prices on your risk.
You may try another, but you will find
that his rates are the same, so it makes no
difference to which agent you go, his terms
are the same as those of his competitor in
the business
There was a time when agents divided
commissions with their patrons, but that
time has passed, and the man who is caught |
doing it now is jerked up before the local
Board of Underwriters and fined He is |
not only fined but he is reported to his |
company as being man who is unfit to be |
in the business.
lnefe Is a ulHeTenCe OF OpllllOn MS W |
whether trusts are beneficial or injurious to |
the interests of the consumers of the coun- |
try Some of the commercial men here in |
Omaha contend that trust factories pay as |
good wages as independent ones and put out |
a superior class of goods, while others say |
that they reduce wages and furnish "A |
product that, If not inferior, is no better
than factories put out before they went into
the great combines
One man who has much to do with the
commercial interests of the city in speak
ing OF trusts, said: "They certainly are not
organized in the interests of the poor man
or the consumer but instead they are for
the benefit of the individual who has his
money invested in treasury stock.
Last year was the most prolific for the
organization of trusts of any in the history !
of the country, but the first three months
of this year overtop 1t. 1t seems as though
every industry, with the exception of labor
has a desire to become a trust. In my judg
ment these concerns Will continue to organ
ize until they become so topheayy that they
will totter crumble and fall of their own
weight"
Speaking OF the organization OF trusts,
in recent Issue says: THE to-
tai stock capitals, excluding small local