The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-09-09
A KING OF COMBINES.
HE IS CHANGING THE STATUS OF
TRADE IN BRITAIN.
Forms Agreements Between Manu-
facturers and with Operatives
Which Prevent Competition-tA
Substitute for Trusts.
From the New York Press.

Which Prevent CompetitiOn-tA
Substitute for Trusts.
From the New York Press.
London. Aug. 2S.-There is in Birming-
ham middle-aged Methodist-like Rookie
Observation-Disclosures and self-made, who,
by inventing and managing a kind of sub
sutute for trusts, bids fair to change the
whole status of manufacturing and skilled
labor In England. and perhaps elsewhere
in the world. If he had lived in the United
States his extraordinary operations would
have made his name a topic for music
han ditties before now but the English
newspapers are cumbrously deliberate
| about taking up new men who have done
surprising things. and in consequence the
name of E. j. Smith is not much known
to London, however large it may be writ
ten across the face of Birmingham and
other manufacturing centers.
Yet this remarkable man has already
made himself felt TO 10000 working people
to 500 employers and TO the stockholders
back of $75O0O0OO in capital and now has
in hand operations which, If successful
viii nearly, if not quite, double those fig
ures. He estimates that In less than ten
years nearly all the manufactures in Eng
land will be running according to the new
order of things.
The scheme in Nutshell.
/ If the Smith scheme works as we'll in ell
lines of manufacture as ID has in the nine
or ten practical monopolies already estab-
lished, il would be rather difficult to ex-
aggerate its Importance. Described in the
most condensed form, the idea Is about
like this You bring together oil the man
ufacturers in some line of production and
bind them not to sell below a certain
| price; you bring together all their work
] men and bind them not to work for any
manufacturer who sells below the estab-
! lished price. You hold the manufacturers
by making their price high enough to
give them good profits; you hold the work
men by giving them percentage of that
increased profit. You keep the whole com
bination in line by a Vigilant committee
that pounces down on any one who cuts
the rates Any manufacturer outside of
| the combine NUT perforce pay the COM
bination rates TO his workmen, or else
! those workmen will join the combination
and yet he can't afford TO pay combine
wages unless he charges combine prices
for his goods; so competition is squelched,
If by any chance the outside manufacturer
manages to meet these conditions the COM
bine finds other ways to make it hot for
him.
That is the plan i'm the main, although
some of it's items have been omitted for
brevity's sake. IL is a beautiful plan for
the workman and for the manufactured.
The consumer, who usually has to pay
somewhat higher prices, is not always en-
thusiastic about it,
Differs From Trusts.
The plan differs from the old, simon-pure
trust plan in important details. the chief
of these being that prices cannot be raised
without the consent of the workmen. But
the workman is not going to consent to an
increase in prices which. although IL gives
him, for example, a per cent increase in
his days wages, reduces the demand for
| the goods TO such an extent that the mills
have to slow down and the workman has
Ito lose 10 per cent. of his time So there is
| a case on record where the workmen act
ually threatened 10 strike because their
wages were to be increased by a rise In
| price.
| Another important detail wherein the
| Smith idea differs from the trust idea is
! that the members of the Smith combina-
! ton may compete as much as they like,
providing they do not go below the dead
line in prices. Each house keeps its own
| commercial travellers
! Many letters of inquiry have come over
from the United States lately asking for
details about this new substitute for trusts.
! One of the United States consuls made
/ report on It, and a few days ago a rep
! resentatiVe of the labor bureau came over
with a letter of introduction from Secre-
| tary Tracy 10 talk with Mr. Smith on
/ the subject and see what would be the
effect in the United States if the plan
should be adopted there / thought it would
be interesting, therefore, to make a trip
TO Birmingham, and see what manner of
man it was that had made such commo-
ton, and TO get from him further details
about 1t.
Busiest Man in England.
/ Mr. smith lives in large and comforta-
bic house in Birmingham Fifth avenue,
which bears the wry name of Hagley
road Like his house. the frnancer is we'll
built and comfortable looking, with a
benevolent and soothing aspect. He was
about to take a vacation, and had a few
hours 10 spare for the first time in months.
The last time he went away he returned
after ten days absence to find in his box
letters from seven trades asking to be or
ganized.
Mr. Smith must be one of the busiest
men in the United Kingdom So many
great industries are coming to him to
be organized into what in America would
1 be loosely called trusts" that he has
to turn some of them away lie Is a paid
officer in all those that he has organized,
and is called upon by each to perform
/ important and significant duties He Is
himself a manufacturer on a large scale,
although his son now manages the busi-
ness. He is a sort of political boss in Bir-
| mingham. He Is chairman of a big credit
assurance company in London. He edits
two trade magazines. He does a lot or
church work and had until recently big
class in Sunday school. He recently lee
tured on economics at Oxford He writes
frequently for the magazines. He was
editor for years of the Birmingham Meth
odst. He has just finished two novels,
which are to be published under pseu-
donym-and he writes poetry. Probably
Emperor William of Germany is the only
other man who has such numerous and
| varied occupations.
Birth of the Plan.
The most of the Smith operations have
been carried on in the metal trade the
| first industry to be organized having been