The independent., 1903-04-16
TRUST TACTICS
Trust Manufactures Public
Sentiment


Sentiment
Were ii not such a serious matter
1t would be laughable to look on at
the battle being waged against COM
petition. Under the guise of protect
ing the consumer against imposition,
all sorts of laws are enacted purely
and simply to aid the trusts to crush
their competitors.
The warfare is SO relentless that It
arouses the American spirit Of want
ing to help the under dog, especially
when he is such tiny little spaniel
and his adversary, the upper dog, a
huge mastiff. No matter how small
the concern that tries to compete, the
big trust remorselessly crushes it.
Take the oil inspection law in Ne
braska. 1t is nothing but an aid to
the Standard Oil trust. Providing a
number of soft snaps for professional
politicians the oil inspection idea was
warmly welcomed by the republican
party. 1t provided way of reward
ing partisan zeal. Once established
no legislature, no matter what the
pciiliSdl SOlupICAiOn, cNSl uid IiLS
stamina to abolish the farce.
A few years ago the homeopathic
were crying for recognition. They
were shut out by legislation in favor
of the regulars. Once admitted to
the inner pasture they Immediately
demand more barbed wire in order
that the osteopaths may be kept out
And so it goes.
An example of the insidious methods
of the trusts is found in the case of
baking powder. AS The Independent
understands it, the Royal Baking
Powder company is the cream tartar
trust. 1t controls substantially the
entire output of wine lees and cream
tartar, and consequently monopolizes
the field of cream tartar baking pow
der manufacture. This trust was ca
pitalized at $40, 100000 at the last re-
ports.
But baking powder can be made of
other substances. Alum is used as the
base of some of the brands Whether
cream tartar or alum is the more
wholesome is matter upon which
doctors differ, as indeed, they do
upon almost every article Of food.
Purely as guess The Independent
would lean toward the cream tartar
side in the controversy-bu If an
alum baking powder is not sold un-
der false pretenses and some persons
desire to buy and use 1t, they should
be permitted to do SO.
Not content, however, with molop-
olizing cream tartar and the balin
powders made thcrefrom, the trus!
must secure legislation preventing the
alum baking powders from being sold
at all. The propaganda to secure this
was cleverly engineered. Newspapers
and physicians were subsidized in var
ious subtle ways to sound the death
knell of the deadly alum powders"
The doctors got a lot of free adver-
tising without violating their nom
sensieal code of ethics. The newspa-
pers got coin of rhe realm for run
ning-not advertising of the ordinary
kind, but interesting scientific news
matter"
Down in Missouri the cream tartar
trust succeeded in securing law
making it misdemeanor to manu-
facture or sell alum baking powders
within the state. At the last session
the alum people tried to recover their
original status. A repeal bill was in
troduced and in the senate it tied
Lieutenant Governor John A. Lee cast
the deciding vote which prevented its
passage, and now the cream tartar
trust is spending thousands of dollars
with the newspapers, printing Lees
reasons for his vote, under the quise
of news item.
We note in the Iowa State Register
tDes Moines) of April 10, 1903, this
insidious attempt to shape public
opinion. 1t seems to be an ordinary
news article, and carries a double
column head, why Lieutenant Gov
ernor Lee Dislikes the Alum Taste