The times., 1901-04-11
NO TRUSTS In CQRDAGE.
ii. B. GrinssoOd TcstiHes Before the
Industrial Commissions.

Industrial ommiSsioD.
| According to the testimony of II. b.
| Grimwood. Secretary-and incidentally the
only officer-of the American Cordage As
| sociation. the manufacture of cordage
! from hemp in this country is not con-
| troiled by a trust. Indeed from the facts
| presented to the Industrial Commission by
| Mr.. Grimwood. it would seem that octopi
did not thrive well upon hemp diet The
| National Cordage Company was formed
! in 1887 at a time when the conditions of
! the cordage trade were in a condition to
| be immensely benefited by such COM
! bination. 1t was intended to gradually
| combine all mills under one management
| ard thus reduce the cost of production
and distribution aud make more stable
hemp market by a general agreement on
| prices.
1t would have tended to cut down ex-
penses in other directions; for instance.
| one buyer for the combination would take
the place of twenty or thirty who form
| erly secured the market for independent
concerns. The National Cordage Com
pany failed, however. in 1893 Mr.. Grim
wood attributed this partly to inefficient
management and partly to lack of sufIi-
cient capital to tide over period of de-
preston. The United States Cordage
Company was then formed, the stockhold-
ers in the National Company being as
sessed on their holdings of preferred and
common stock to the amount of 81, 900. 900
The management of the concern was en-
| tirely changed, and vet in a year this
company failed also and, Mr.. Grimwood
said. substantially for the same reasons
! that affected the former company. On the
same basis of assessment of sharehold-
ers the Standard Rope and Twine Com
pany was orga ganized and has continued in
business until the present time. At the
time Of the formation of the Standard
Company, however. the capital stock was
scaled from s20000,0oo to So. 900, 900, the
50, 100000 in water thus run off placing
the concern on a firmer basis than any of
its predecessors.
At present no one company controls
more than % per cent of the output of
manufactured hemp in the United States.
There is. however. an English rconcern
which practically controls the supply of
raw hemp. Mr.. Grimwood said he thought
that American manufacturers were in
terested in this company.
The American Cordage Association was
formed three years ago for the mutual
interest of the manufacturers Mr. Grim
wood is the sole officer of the association:
there is no constitution, no bylaws. in
fact. not a scrap of writing TO show that
there is such an association, and yet MIR.
Grimwood said the association had done
effective work in the line for which 1t
was organized The manufacturers of
cordage composing the membership of
the association meet at irregular inter-
walls. whenever they think the situation
is such as TO demand a general consuita-
tion. Prices are fixed at such meetings,
Mr.. Grimwood said, although there is no
agreement made TO force the mauufac-
turers to adhere to them. The cordage
manufacturing companies made more
money, Mr.. Grimwood said, speculating
in raw hemp than they did In selling their
manufactured product. and the wide filIc-
tuations in value of the raw material and
the way in which the available supply
was now controlled. were in part re-
sponsible for the failures that marked the
attempts TO centralize beyond certain
point the hemp industry of this country
r X. Wright, PRESIDENT of the Georgia
State Industrial College and one of the
two colored paymasters in the army dur
ing the Spanish American war, also testi-
fed before the Industrial Commission
yesterday on the question of ind IStrial
education in the South.
Calling attention TO the great progress
of negro labor made in the last few years,
Mr.. Wright said that in he South at the
time of the emancipation, not only was
the labor system then reyolutionized. but
practically paralyZed for time. For the
five years following the war the struggle
over the reconstruction of the States and
the enfranchtSement of the negro not
only kept labor in the South in a chaotic
condition, but so unnerved the white peo-
pie OF that section that they did not begin
the work of rehabilitation until 1870.
Had the Government then given the
.NFaaa afS Ia md Trr-fxv r.E
land rather than the ballot. which ne has
now practically lost, both eX-slaYe and
eX-maSter would have been better Of
The slave found himself without an effort
of his own invested with the privilege
not only TO hunt, fish. and lounge around
as he had seen his free master 10, hut
with the right to talk politics and vote
1t was very natural that the negro, in
his attempt to enjoy these pTTviie ges.
should have misused them and that he
should have consented to be used by the
carpetbagSerS an dtheir white associates
as his only alternative, his late masters
being wholly unprepared TO treat with
him on any terms other than those of
quaSi-slaYery.
There was now practically peace and
harmony between the races throughout
the South The laboring population had
never learned the art of politics. and were
far less Interested in them today than the
white men who were striving TO deprive
the negro of the ballot. Speaking Of the
conditions in Georgia, Mr.. Wright said
lHdl IIOtl Il idilGitSSs HVinsitSS CitSS tI
eX-slayes in 1865, the negroes had become
taxpayers to the amount of S1411S,73O IN
cluding the ownership of 600 $50 acres of
farm land.
The greatest drawback and discourage
mept of the colored farmers was a lack
of working knowledge of the soil and of
improved farming implements. There was
little or no effort to improve the eOlored
farmer. No farmers institutes were held
among them and little no agricultural
literature reached them Both in field
and barn the old methods of agriculture
were still in vogue among colored farm
owners.