The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1899-04-20
che 0iacial Paper Of San Juan County
THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 1899.
THE MENACE OF TRUSTS.

The trust movement goes on will
accelerated speed. despite all the efforts
of legislatures and courts to check it
and all over the country people who
give the subject any thought are won
dering what will be the outcome of sc
many gigantic combinations of capital
If it is impossible to prevent their or.
ganization, and it certainly seems to be,
it ought at least to be possible to enact
and enforce laws for their regulation in
such way as to prevent them from
becoming such menace to good gov
eminent and industrial independence
as they now threaten.
So many trusts and combinations
have been organized in the various
branches of the iron and steel industry
that apparently there is little oppOr-
tunity left for any more of them, and
the combination of combinations has
already begun. No less than fifteen
great combinations i'm the various
branches of the iron and steel industry
have been organized In the past fifteen
months, with an aggregate authorized
capitalization of 4SS million dollars.
In some cases only part of the author
lied capital stock has been issued, but
the aggregate actually in existence is
enormous, and new combinations now
under consideration will add 100 mil
lions to the total.
Since January l. 1898, combinations
with an aggregate capitalization of
1,725 million dollars have been organ
lied and the aggregate capital of all
the trusts and consolidated companies
of this country, according to a recent
conservative compilation, amounts to
the enormous sum of 1882 million dol
lars, or almost as much as the total
capital invested in all manufacturing
industries of the country in 1890, the
last census year.
That the trusts are not altogether
evil in their tendencies, however
must be apparent to any one who
makes even cursory study of their
effect upon prices. F. B. Thurber,
president of the United States Export
association, in testifying as to trusts
before the industrial commission in
Washington a few days ago, said that
trusts began with the consolidation OF
the railroads into trunk lines. Trans
portation rates had been reduced from
S3.0S ton of freight mile in 1865 :c
seventy-two cents in 1895. Under the
consolidation effected by the Standard
Oil company Oil had deprecated in
price from 25.7 cents a gallon in 1871
ST. cents in 1898. The sugar trust re-
suited in cheaper sugar, due to the
purchase of the raw material at 9
cheaper rate than individual refiners
"That there have been instances O
hardship and injustice attending thi!
revolution cannot be doubted" he ad
mitted, "bu. 1T is equally certain tina
the total results have been beneficial
to the public at large and to the inter
ests of the laboring classes especially
who constitute the majority. TIL,
profits of capital have been steadily
decreased, while those OF labor and
especially organized labor, have steadi
ly increased. I used TO think thai
combinations of capital would abro
gate competition, but experience ha
shown that. instead of abrogatlng com
petition, it has elevated that force t,
q higher plane," Mr.. Turber said. "I
combination of capital in any lin,
temporarily exacts liberal profit, Inn
mediately capital flows into that chan
mel, another combination is formed
and competition ensues on scale ant
operates with an intensity far beyon,
anything that is possible on smalle
scale, resulting in breaking down O
the combination and the decline O
profits to minimum"