Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-18
KING OF THE TRUSTS"
SENATOR KITTREDGE ATTACKS
THE LUMBER MONOPOLY.
Declares That Wholesale and Retail
Dealers Are Helpless in
It's Grasp.

Addressing the Senate today on the '1um-
Der trust" Senator Kittredge declared It
to be 1.-The king OF trusts In restraint OF
trade"
Continuing he said: I'm its far-reaching
effects there Is none to compare with It.
1t Is remorseless in its grasp on the people,
and the only change which it contemplakes
ts to increase the price Of its products at
stated and frequent intervals without re-
gard to cost. The consumer not only bears
the burden OF its aggressive policy Of adj
vancing prices. but also of the profits Of
Intervening agencies. For him there Is no
escape from the avarice of this monopoly.
To him the lumber trust Is tangible. hv-
ing reality. When he sees these advancing
prices without reference to increased cost
of production he needs no argument to con-
vince him that the government to which he
contributes his support and renders true
allegiance is derelict In It's duty unless 1t
employs all the resources at Its command
to relieve him of these expressions. The
people demand this a right and not as
a favor. The trust has become so bold In
its operations within the last year or two
that 1t has eliminated In many localities all
semblance of competition, and from CEN
trail point controls both the wholesale and
retail trade and fixes the price to the con-
sumner.
Its prices are identically the same,
whether in Minnesota or Arkansas. Illinois
or Texas. or Indiana. or Missouri. or Louis
lana, or Ohio, or in any other portions OF
the country"
INSCRIPTIONS Methods.
"The methods by which this TRUST has OBJ
tanned control of the lumber business of this
country are no longer necessarily a secret
It not only arbitrarily advances the prices
of lumber, but resorts to drastic and un-
{ndanandant
dealers.
1.-THE retail dealers are not alone in the
clutches Of the trust. The wholesaler Is
subject to its demonation as well. II he
sells to an unauthorized dealer he Is sub
ject to boycott and other penalties.
1.-THE mill men are also subject to like
domination and like discipline
Mr.. Kittredge detailed the methods he said
competition. including the blacklist" AS
to the effect on the price Of lumber he said /:
within the past five years the prices OF
lumber and timber products have been ar
bitrarily advanced from 100 to 800 per cent.
This Is nothing better than robbery and Is,
in fact, the plumber of commercial out
law.
Would Repeal Lumber Duties.
Had the existence Of the trust been
known to the trainers Of the tariff act Of
either 1890 or 1897 it Is not probable that
it would have been thought necessary to
foster the lumber industry by protective
duty. However that may be, and whatever
may have been the argument In favor Of
such duty, there is no longer either neceS-
sity or excuse for its continuance. It is not
the policy Of this government to foster mo-
nopolies and while 1t must be apparent that
the present duties are not solely responsible
for the exorbitant prices OF lumber, yet
am unqualfiedly in favor Of their repeal.
This criminal combination is a menace to
the whole country on which 1t preys. OF
all the trusts perhaps this Is the only one
Of which it may be truthfully said that 1t Is
literally with us from the cradle to the
grave. The federal government alone has
the legal authority and judicial powers to
punish and dissolve 1t.