The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-10-24
odious nIonopolies.

From the Chicago Tribune:
The anthracite coal trust stands alone
among American monooolies in that it
controls not merely production but
transportation, distribution. and sale.
The trust mines most of the anthracite.
It transports all that is mined, and
charges disproportionately high freight
rates for railroad services. 1t deter
mines where and in what quantities hard
coal shall be shipped and the prices
which wholesalers and retailers shall
pay for it and shall ask consumers for
it. Some men sitting in an office build-
ing in New York fix the price which the
Chicago coal dealer shall charge his GUS
toners. and he dare not disobey his
orders. The coal trust retains control
of its product from the time it is mined
until it has actually been delivered TO
the consumer. No monopoly can be more
complete. unlawful and more intoler-
able.
The completeness of the grip of the
trust on a great industry makes it the
object of the envy of other combines
There are other trusts, however. which
are not far behind the coal trust as re-
CARDS the ability to dictate terms to
the consumers of two products, one con
sumed by all. the other used in immense
quantities by the farmers The prod
ucts are sugar and barbed wire.
The sugar trust has not the monopoly
of production possessed by the coal
trust, but it makes so large a percent
age Of the refined sugar consumed In
the country that it cntrols the market
1t has had competitors but it has
crushed some, has bought up others. and
has made treaties of peace with still
others. 1t has no direct monopoly OF
transportation. 1t does not own a
single railroad But ii is suspected
not without cause, that it exerts the
same powerful control over transporta
ton that it is well known the Standard
| Oil company did. 1t is suspected thai
| the sugar trust has preferential secret
! which give IL the 1dUanfaQp
competitors, and which serve to hide its
profits
There is no uncertainty as regards the
mastery of the sugar trust over distri
button and sale. 1t determines where
sugar shall go and to whom. 1t die
| tates to the men to whom it sells the
price which they shall ask of their Gus
| toners. They are not independent deal
ers. free to buy where they will and dis
pose of their. goods as they see fit. They
are merely the agents of trust, anC
are punished if they disobey its orders
The coal trust is powerful within linn
tied area. The sugar trust rules from
Maine to Arizona, from Oregon to Flor
| ida.
The city jewellers know little and car,
less about the barbed wire trust. l
does not directly affect them. IT is dfr
ferent with the farmers. They know
there is such a trust and they resent it
exactionS. 1t is a trust which, as Gov
ernor Cummins says, has not a par
ticle OF competition" 1t makes most 0
the barbed wire which is made.
makes so much that 1t is an object 70
railroads to have its business. It is no
unreasonable to suppose that the trus
has its special arrangements for freigh
rates lower than those charged it
rivals. That the trust has a monoDol
of distribution and sale is unQuestion
able AS Governor Cummins says, g:
fixes not only the price the dealer mus
pay but the retail price he sells it for a
we'll Firms have been refused harhe,
Wire by the trust merely because the
dealt in other articles bought from indie
pendent steel companies. and they wer
forced to surrender" This is the des
potism which American citizens hav
submitted to. with unexampled patienc
for an astonishing length of time