Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-06-21
TELEGRAPH CONTINUED BERKlEY LOCAL
CRUSH THE CRIMINAL TRUSTS.

When George Washington was elected
President he was considered the rich
est man in the United States. He had
property worth about a million dollars.
but he was sometimes hard up for
ready cash.
In those days every American citizen
owned himself If he did not like the
terms of his employment he found
another employer or struck out on his
own account. He was a man. and no
pouy else was anything more.
but now the citizen hads himself
heibifssly confronting a power thar is
rapidly absorbing ali the wealth ana
I'll. me business Opportunities OF tne
Nruh|E. ne c;tilnoi lace that power as
Il man facing lien. " men he Is in IN.
service OF trust lie cannot seek an
othei employer, for there IS no other
employer IN the trust ; FIELD lie can
ho1 SO INTO bushes for himself. Tor he
t."s, controls all the avenues OF pro-
uuction. lie must learn 10 cr!ns.e for
the favor Of lis masier-the absolute
io!d OF mis- means livelihood.
III me middle of March of last wear
there were S5o trusts and combina-
'ions In existence in the United States
WIN "a total cap. talization of s.. So. So. :
In ten weeks after that six,v-throe
new trusts were formed, With CAPT.
tallzdtion of $l.5S5,a5S,0o0. That brought
the total capital of American trusts a
lhat time up TO $I.4l6 aS5.T19.
AZ the enc of the year 1899 New Jcr-
sey reported that ii alone had char
tered 2'oO0 corporations, with an aggre-
gate capitalization OF SlAus. tDy.Vt-l.
One of these. tine Federal Steel com
pany. was capitalized at 100000 GOO;
another. the Distilling Company of
North America. AT $l25. 900 900: another.
me Standard OIL Company, at SllO OOO. :
ooo representing an actual investmen /;
value OF not less than one billion. ana
twenty-four Others running from $780,
100000 to $4,000. 600 each.
AL the present time the total wealth
OF American trusts IS certainly not less
than ten billion dollars
But the mere concentration of indus
try is not the thing tnat is most omi-
nous. Concentration in itself is a ne
cessary accompaniment of evolution.
II the trusts We're lesit,nately devel-
oped in the natural course of business
they would do no particular harm and
might do good. 1t IS not the trust but
the criminal trust that is dangerous.
nlrty years ago the oil region of
Western Pennsylvania was flourshinS
and happy-iilled with busy. pros
porous population. with thriving cities
ana active, enterprisng business men,
liut while the wells continued to flow,
blight fel! upon the people. Fortunes
wtthcred away. Industries dried up,
towns shrivellcd ana died. The people
did not know then what was the mat
ter. but they know now. L; was crime
that ruined them. They were in the
grip OF criminal trust"
The Standard Oil combination. even
in those days Of its infancy. was able
TO destroy whole communities by the
methods az the midnight assassin. 1t
made secret contracts with the rail-
roads by which 1t received rebates OF
half the amounts paid In frelghts. no,
only by Itself. but by its competitors
! Thus the independent refining compa-
mics not only paid exorbitant freight
charges themselves. but they actually
! paid the carges on the Standard oil
shipments, so that the combination got
/ It's own cargoeS carried for nothing
In addition the railroads agreed to spy
upon the business of the Independent,
reiiners. their patrons, for Standard
OILS benefit
That was one form of crime-a subtle
form, which. perhaps, men who passed
the contribution box on Sundays might
call strategy" But there were other
more vulgar forms, such as send per-
sons without wealth to prison. Chas
b. Matthews built an oil refinery In
Buffalo. The trust. by brides and
threats of ruin. scduced his partner
and induced him to blow up the works
He filled still with crude OIL weighted
down the safety valve with iron. pack
ed It with plaster Of paris. fired UP
under it until the hrebox was cherry
red. and ran away. by miracle no
lives were lost 1t was no fault of the
criminal trust that there were not a
hundred.
Lives do not count when the com
moved. In April 1855 the proprietor OF
an Independent distillery in Chicago
caught a spy Of the Whisky Trust in
their works. In September OF the same
year They r0TInItt r.TTv -tIr v,-iv-c Of Il
vat had been tempered with for the
l re I'll ba