El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-08-17
INVESTIGATION
OF THE TRUSTS
Valuable Information In An
Official Report
GENERAL INCREASE
In Wages and Employment Sho Wn
To Have Taken Place Under Com
bindtiON.

To Have Taken Place Under Com
bindtioA.
The department OF labor has issued a
bulletin on the subject of TRUSTS and
Industrial Combinations" which has
been prepared from data gathered by
the bureau and from testimony taken
before the industrial commission by
SProf Jeremiah w jerks. II was upon
request of the industrial commission
that the department Of labor made its
Investigation into the subject of trusts.
The chief things shown by the bulle-
tin are she effects of industrial COM
binatious on ages and on com modities.
The bulletin Is based on alta regard
ing forty-one Industrial combinations
twenty-fOur of which were formed In
1898 and 1899, five being organized in
1891, and one as early as 1865. The
capital stock authorized by these cor
pOrations, was 81 SIS $50. 600, the total
amount OF stock and bonds issued by
them being 81 ,395 $50, 1926. The stock
OF the larger part of these concerns ls
widely scattered.
A greas deal of data in statistical
form is furnished in the bulletin to
show the effect OF industrial com bina-
tions on wages and on prices OF commo-
Rdities. The great demand for certain
classes Of goods, IL is believed, has un-
settled prices in ,he last year to such
an extent that it is difficult to Judge
whether the higher prices OF manufact-
ured commodities and the hlRher
wages of working people are the result
of Dom bination or merely the natural
result of an excessive demand. Price
of commodities and wages before and
after the formation OF industrial COM
binations are compared.
st will be noted 1.-THE bulletin states
In cumming up the data on wages,
THAT smong skilled laborers the In
crease In the numbers of different
classes comes chief y in those receiving
from S35 to $40 and S45 to $50 week,
so far % the higher-priced ones are
Concei Z. I'd. A notable Increase Is also
shown on shose receiving from SIS to
, $40 and $40 to S25 week. There was,
on the other hand, tendency to lessen
the number of the more poorly paid
men.
"Among unskilled laborers both the
number and per cent of these receiv-
ing less than S5 q week were increas-
ed. There was then decided de-
Grease until the class receiving from
% to 80 was reached. There was
very noteworthy increase In both the
number and per cent of employees
receiving from So to 50 per week, in
the higher class receiving from SO TO
one receiving from $40 to SIS. Among
clerks she rates of wages were
considerably more stable than
in the case of the two
preceding clssses. The per cent
of clerks employed in each class vari-
ed but little except in the classes re
ceiving from SO TO $40 and from SIS to
$40 per week. In the case of the en-
oloyes unclassifed, but excluding
superintendents, foremen and travel
ing statesmen, there was something OF
an increase In the per cent employed
in the case of the lower-paid wage
earners as well as In the case of tn ose
those of medium grade there was, gen.
orally speaking, decrease.
''On the whole, taking the summary
of all the employees, bnt excluding
superinteno ents, foremen and travel
ing statesmen, there was under cOmbi-
nation q slight increase OF wage earn
ers of the lowest class, and thereafter
in the classes whose wages ran from
SS to S25 per week decided increase
in both the number and per cent of
men employed, although there was
also a considerable increase in some OF
the classes receiving the higher wages.
In those cases, however, the number
OF persons involved was so small that
the general effect upon the wage earn
ing class as . whole could be but slight,
even assuming that the figures for
these combinations would hold good
for industrial combinations in general.
It would, of course, be too much to
say that these results chow the general
effect of com biuetions on wages. The
returns are not numerous enough. Be-
sides that, many of the com binations
we're formed at the beginning of a
period of general industrial prosperity,
so that an increase in wages was per.
hsps to be expected. The tables do
show. 30 far as the figures go, that these
com binAtions have not decreased wages
among these Glasses of wage earners. |
Later tables chow further points |
Like tendencies appear also in the |
tables regarding large private comps-
nies.''
Out of twenty-eight combin ations |
answering the questions as to whether |
the organization fixed the prices at |
which dealers shall sell to the consul
mers two only answered in the affirma-
tive.
"They state" the report says, "that
the penalty for making any variation
from the price fixed was the cutting
off of the supply. Twenty-four of the
Com binstions answered the question
directly In the negative and two re-
ported that they did not sell to dealers,
while thirteen made no answer. It Ia
not unlikely that an effort more or less
determined is made by these client
com blna atoms to fix prices, although
one could not make that assumption