The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-04-28
TR1rsTs cuRING THEMSELVES.


 We shall, of course, near q great deal about Trusts this year. They are in politics. The Democrats lose no op- lportunity to denounce them, and the
 Republicans are profuse in their prom ises to divest them of their harmful features. Nobody, however, is quite sure what ought to be done. Meanwhile purely natural forces have been stead- lily at work to show that, arter all, eco homie law may do more than statutory attack. While a perplexed community has been trying to make up its mind
 whether the remedy lies in State super- vision or Federal charters, or tariff re- duction, or an amendment to the Con- stitution of the United States, the great forces of competitor have been working
 for the safety of the public against the l Trusts
 The evils wrought by them are alleg- ed to be many. They injure every con-
 sumer 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 an IotheI side-the danger to investors is also great. As consumers, producers, employees, raw-material merchants, ltrade-union members, and stock mar ket investors, we were told that we were all at the mercy of the new indus trial combines, and were likely to end our days in the alnshouse. But, as a matter of fact, while consumers, inves- tros and others have been put to q | good deal of inconvenience since the Trust movement began. they have not been the chief suffers. The greatest
 loss has fallen on the people who have engineered the movement In a number of cases inflated securities. backed by names that had previously commanded respect were unloaded on the public at figures which meant heavy losses. But great as were these losses, those lof promoters and underwriters who were caught with "undigested seeuri- ties" on their hands, were greater. Take for example, the case of the IAmalgamated Copper Company. When the stock of this combine was offered for public subscription in 1899, the pros lpectus contained only sixty-seven words, exclusive of the date line and the names of the officials. It was an-
 nounced that the company was organ |ized in New Jersey for the purpose of purchasing and operating copper pro- |ducing properties; that it's capital was $75, ,000,000, divided into 750000 shares
 that it had no bonded or mortaged debt; and that it had purchased large interests" in certain properties that were named. That was all, Amalga- mated stock was fioated at par and ad-
 vanced to 102; then it fell to SS 3-4. The issue was widely scattered among in-
 vestors, and the losses in the first year,
 1899, were very heavy. Subsequently
 $S0, 0,000,000 more stock was issued, and
 the price was jack-screwed Up to 1S0 in
 the summer of 1901, from which it fell
 to 50 1-2 in the autumn. The difference
 between 130 and 60 IA on $155, ,0O0, 900
 capitalization represents $107, 725, ,0O0.
 But as matter of fact, the stock, after
 various fluctuations touched B 1-S in
 1903. What possible law against Trusts
 however drastic in it's provisions, could have inflicted such terrible punish |ment?
 Nor is it by any means sure that in-
 vestors could be safeguarded by anti
 Trust laws. Those people who bought
 Trust securities a few years ago knew
 what they were doing. They were after heavy profits, and they could not have
 been ignorant of the risk they were
 taking. When a man buys a. ( per cent.
 preferred stock under par-sometilnes a lgood deal under-he knows that he has