The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1899-10-13


bfles. telegraph and telephone lines,
electric lights, all are being seized by
mighty combinations of millions.
The Standard Oil, next to the West
ern Union, Is the oldest trust in the
United States. The point of interest
about 1t, so far as the welfare of labor
is concerned, Is that it has not only
| brought under its exclusive sJojection
the refining Of petroleum, but has
seized control of nearly all the al
lied industries, and, furthermore, is
now, through its individual owners,
the Rockefellers and their associates,
reaching out after and appropriating
entirely distinct industries, such as
sugar importing and refining, iron,
steel and copper mining and railroad
and vessel transportation.
Indeed, the Standard Oil trust pipes
the oil under the ground from the pc
troleum fields to tide water and
there ref1nes it: makes barrels and
casks; produces vaseline, coal tar and
| other residuary manufactures of pc
|
owns and operates railroads; owns
and operates coal, iron and copper
mines; owns and operates lines of
steamships and sailing vessels COM
presses cotton; refnes sugar; grinds
coffee; manufactures tobacco, cigars,
cigarettes and snuff; builds cars and
engines; builds ships; cuts timber and
saws 1t into lumber; makes gas, gas
lamps and electric lights, ard engages
in the profitable business of electrical
illumination.
A Powerful Trust.
The Rockefeller-Flagle Payne
Archbold combine is also a banking
trust, whereby it manipulates the rate
of discount on gold for export and
import, and passes the Spanish indem-
nifty fund of 100000 through its
iron hands before delivering 1t to
King Alfonso at Madrid. AS a bank
ing trust the Standard Oil loans mon
ey to the southern planters and helps
control the production OF rice, cotton
and tobacco The production of cot
ton is further controlled by the baling
appliance Of John e. Searles, formerly
secretary Of the Sugar trust. The
Standard Oil millions are controlling
factors in the Sugar trust, the Tobac-
CO trust and the Copper trust
Thus it is difficult to estimate the
number Of persons who in one way
and another are employed by the
Standard Oil trust. Five hundred
thousand employees, direct or indirect,
Is a conservative figure.
The Iron and Steel trust Is the latest
Of the big combines. With its capital
of half a billion it will employ, directly
and indirectly half a million people,
and will directly employ 205,000 per-
sons
The Iron and Steel trust is the most
farreaching Of all the trusts. The nu-
cleus 10 the Edgar Thomson steel
works, developed by Carnegie and
Frick into the Carnegie-P Phipps syndi-
cate, and now combined with the Illi-
nois Steel company, the Cambria Iron
company and other large works at
Bethlehem. Allentown, Johnstown and
Pittsburs in Pennsylvania and at Bal
timore, and at Joliet and elsewhere in
the middle west. The Federal and Re
public steal combines are in the new
trust.
This trust is the most farreaching,
because the amount of capital required
hA nf hn hna
such that once q monopoly of it's kind
Is firmly established it will thereafter
| be next to impossible to overthrow it.
It Is therefore an ideal trust and mer-
its the most attention from labor's
point of view. The Iron and Steel
trust will be able to go through a
| longer strike or lockout with less loss
| Of profits than any other trust now in
| existence. It's product is not perish
able, it can hold stock on hand, it can
overproduce for periods Of scarcity or
strikes, it can control production at
| the mines. So, in one way and anoth-
| er, in evil hands it can throttle not
only competition, but also the entire
| throng Of its own labor.
Coal and Railroads.
The Morgan Coal trust is the com
bine, under the immediate direction
of J. Pierpont Morgan, which operates
The eastern coal-carrying roads and
the mines whose products these roads
transport. Most of tho mines are
owned by the railroads. Mines not
owned by individuals or by corpora
ttons other than railroads are leased
or their output controlled by Mr.. Nor
gan.
There are 10000 persons employed
in mining bituminous coal, and there
are 1850 persons engaged in mining
anthracite coal-a total of more than
100000 persons to tks credit Of this
one trust.
By the Vanderbilt-Morgan Railroad
trust Is meant the various railroads
now under the joint control of ]. Pier
| nnnt Morpran and tho UapdarhiIt fam