Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-05-19

iidtural FORCES nave been steadily at
work to show that, after all, economic
law may do more than statutory at
tack. While perplexed community
has been trying to make up it's mind
whether the remedy lies in state sup
ervision or federal charters, or tariff
reduction. or an amendment to the
constitution of the United States, the
great forces Of competition have been
working for the safety of the public
against the trusts
The evils wrought by them are al
legged to be many. They injure every
consumer in the country by raising
prices; they drive the small producer
out of business; by their consolidation
OF plants and other economies, they
throw an immense number Of employees
out of work, and so on. But there is
, another side-the danger to investors
is also great. AS consumers, producers,
employees, raw material merchants,
trade union members. and stock mar
ket investors, We We're told that we
We're all at the mercy of the new in
dustrial combines. and We're likely to
end our days in the almshouse. But,
as matter of fact, While consumers,
investors and others have been put to
| a god deal of Inconvenience since the
trust movement began, they have not
been the chief sufferers The greatest
loss has fallen on the,people who have
engineered the movement. In a num-
Der of cases inflated securities, backed
by names that had previously COM
| manded respect, Were unloaded on the
public at figures which meant heavy
| losses. But great as We're these losses,
| those of promoters and underwriters
who We're caught with "undigested Sc
| curities" on their hands We're greater.
| Take, for example. the case OF the
Amalgamated Copper company. When
the stock of this combine was offered
for public subscription in 1899 the
prospectus contained only sixty-seven
words, exclusive of the date line and
the names of the officials. 1t was an
nounced that the company was organ
lied IN New Jersey for the purpose of
purchasing and operating copper pro-
ducing properties that its capital
was $75,000.000. divided into 100000
| shares; that it had no bonded or mort
gagged debt and that it had purchased
large interests" in certain properties
that We're named. That was all.
| Amalgamated stock was floated at par,
and advanced to 1902; then 1t fell to
| S3A. The issue was widely scattered
among investors, and the losses in the
first year, 1899, We're very heavy. Sub
! sequently, $s0,000,00O more stock was
issued. and the price was jack-screwed
| up to $50 in the summer of 1901, from
which it fell to 601a in the autumn. The
difference between 100 and 6O1s on a
$155, 100000 capitalization represents
/ S107, 900. But, as a matter of fact
the stock, after various fluctuations
touched 33& in 1908. What possible
law against trusts, however drastic in
Its provisions, could have inflicted such
| terrible punishment?
| Nor is it by any means sure that in
Yestors could be guarded by an
ti-trust laws. Those people who
bought trust securities aNfew years age
knew what they We're doing. They
We're after heavy profits, and they
could not have been ignorant of the
risk they We're taking. When q mar
buys per cent preferred stock under
par-sometimes a good deal under
he knows that he has no one to blame
but himself if he comes to grief. Ant
when he buys a common stock AROUND
40 or so, with the expectation that i
Will soon be receiving dividends rang.
Ing anywhere from to - per cent, hi
is gambling on the future. Laws ma!
be passed without end to protect in
vestors, but the latter will continue tt
be reckless. They will still be Willing
to lend a credulous ear to the stories
of promoters.
4 The people who are menaced by tn,
industrial operations Of the trusts cal
survive even if it prove impossible t.
frame efhclently restrictive laws. Tht
J industrial combines are among those
evils which react favorably on every.
body but their perpetrators. Over cap
II italization necessitated excessive pro-
fits, and these induce competition. The
: latter eventually causes low prices, OF
i which the community gets the benefit
Overcapitalized trusts produce one
sure result-they force everybody tt
work his hardest to increase the econ.
omies of production, and these in time
must accrue to the advantage of con-
| s,lnoerc