Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1907-03-08
Ways Of CURLING Trusts.

of information for full and accurate
knowledge. A fortnight ago, we
reproduced one of his articles under
the caption of The White Plague, y
which gave some startling statistics
regarding the prevalence of that
dread disease. tuberculosis, and its
astounding proportional mortality.
with the latest and most successful
means of preventing as well as fight
ing its terrible sway. Last week S
article was history of the electric
telegraph, from its practical incep-
ton in 1874, when the expressive and
reverential message, What Hath
God Wrought" flashed from Balti-
more to Washington, to the present
day when thought is projected
through the air-currents without a
wire
Mr.. Haskin's last article, dated
Feb. 22d, is devoted to some methods
of fighting trusts. Those which have
proved most successful have been
based upon forming trust to fight a
trust, or as he calls it fighting the
devil with fire." The Sherman law,
he admits, was full of good intents,
resulted in occasional indictments
and then relapsed into innocuous
desuetude. to use Mr.. Cleveland s
scholarly form of expression. An
attempt to revive the law, made by
Mr.. Roosevelt, resulted in eleven
bills in equity and thirteen indict-
ment being returned. In the equity
proceedings six injunctions have been
granted, and others are pending;
from the indictments one conviction
has been secured, in another q plea of
immunity has been made and the
others are pending.
He then shows how the American
and English dark tobacco trust"
who had run the price of this varie-
ty of tobacco, grown principally in
Kentucky and Tennessee, down to a
fraction of what it was worth, by a
union of the American trust, its
British cousin the Imperial company,
through the Reggie, which buys for
the only European countries that are
patrons for that brand. In 1902, at
a meeting held at Guthrie, KY, the
Dark Tobacco Planters Protective
Association" was formed, pledged to
limit the production and hold the
crops for reasonable prices. There
was, for q time, a vigorous and de-
termined warfare, but the protective
association stood firm and the result
was that the foreign trust capitulated
and the price of tobacco rose from 3
to 4 cents per pound, to 6 and 10
cents. Its head was Felix G. Ewing,
of Cedar Hill, Tennessee. and his
plans had met with such wonderful
success that $4,000 tobacco growers
cheered him in Guthrie, last Septem-
Der, every one of whom had made a
personal sacrifice in money to aid in
a successful fight against a common
enemy.
The Standard Oil has met with
many lawful efforts to curb its rapac-
ity in Missouri, Texas, Ohio, Indiana
and by the Federal government, but
none have succeeded so well as the
Four Brothers Oil Company in Gen.
trail New England, which has forced
the retail price of oil down from fif-
teen to eleven cents, and is said to
be selling IS per cent. of the oil in
that territory. The origin of the
fight was to force out of business an
axle-grease factory, conducted by
the Hisgen brothers, by the oil COM
pany, which likewise made axle
grease. All dealers were warned
not to handle the Four Brothers axle
grease, or be shut off from the oil
business. The Hisgens then went
into the oil business themselves, and
the oil company reduced prices to
shut them out. But the public real
lied that their failure would result in
increased prices to make up losses,
stood by the independent company,
and retailers of trust oil were looked
upon as scabs" and their trade was
paralyzed.
Allusion is made to the plan adopt
ed by the government for affording a
healthful regulator for the oil trust
in allowing denatured grain alcohol
to be sold without the Internal Rev.
enue tax for use in the arts and
trades. This brings the price so low
that it may be used in competition
with kerosene and by-products, for
illuminating, motor and other pur.
poses. The trust then attempted tt
make corner on wood alcohol, the
article suggested for denaturing, but
the Commissioner of Internal Reve
nue. enlarged the regulations by al
lowing other articles to be used fol-
denaturing and the trust was beater
again.
Bernhardt, the actress, fought tn
theatrical trust, who had closed tn
doors of 500 theaters to her, to exac
their own terms, and she played tn
whole season under an immense tent
and the people applauded that act a
well as her acting. And she will b.
an important witness against tn
trust cases in New York soon to b
on trial.
! Mr.. Haskin likewise alludes to tn