The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1900-04-04
rprs7s AND COMBINATIONS.

Fhag.e seems to be 4 growing
tendency towards trusts and
combinations. and the people are
fast realizing what harm these
institutions are doing. \ COM
binat;on Of business interests
means; the concentration Of mon
ey 10 crash competition. and
when the combine succeeds IN
crushing cut competitions. It is
then the people feel the baneful
effects. There are many sections
where combinations have so ma
ntpulated that the people have
resolved to boycott them ana go
to the aid Of men who would not
90 into a combine.
Just see how the combinations
have run up prices on every az
ticle Of commerce they could get
their hands on. and they have
about oobbled everything: they
have not even allowed the cotinS
that we are to be buried in escape
their greed. There is only one
Nay to obSruct the movements
of men who conspire to enSlave
the people, and that way Is sim
ply for the people to organize AZ
they did q few years ago when
they squelched the bagglng trust,
and stand firmly against patron
ling combinations.
Of course when a combination
of monied men organize and con-
centrate their business they have
matured plans Whereby they pro
pose to make greater profits and
larger dividends, and to do this
they must crush out competition
first, and get a monopoly: after
the monopoly has been secured
and they can succeed in controll-
ing everything they handle. the
thumbscrewS Of oppression are
put to work and the people are
the helpless sufferers. Look at
the guano trust and see what it
has done: advance in price has
been made on every Ingredient
and the consumer is the victim,
and this condition has brought
about a state Of affairs which has
made things very unstable: one
farmer will pay one price for his
guanos and his neighbor will pay
another. Il is according to the
man and the securities he has
put up.
Combinations are dangerous
to any community: they shoUld
be outlawed by legislation. and
if the constitution viii not per
nit legislation, then the people
themselves should stamp them
out of existence by Withholding
their patronage from them. Ii
this is not done and these com
bireS are. encouraged, the day is
not far distant when the country
viii be gobbled up by them, as
was the case in Kansas d few
years ago, when the people We're
forced to set the law at defiance,
and prevented the land sharks
from collecting their mortgages
through the regular channels.
The people OF that State are like
those Of other States, they were
forced to go into debt and give
mortgages. Those mortgages
We're hypothecated to syndicates
and other monied institutions;
oppression set in and grew from
bad to worse: they were forced
to get their supplies from the
combines holding the securities
and pay extortionate prices, un-
til debt, charges and interest
overwhelmed them. Then the
courts We're resorted to for the
collection Of the securities: it
was then that the people rose up
and organized against this legal
lied robbery and resisted the col
lection of these mortgages. The
sharks had to Withdraw their
operations from Kansas, and
they are now operating else
where. The question is. viii on.
people encourage combinations: