The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-07-18
WASHINGTON
From our Regular Correspondent.

AFTER Just about year OF pre-
liminary work and investigation,
the government this week made its
promised move against the Tobacco
Trust. This legal fight will be
interesting i'll a number of ways.
1t will be against trust almost as
powerful financially as the Standard
Oil Company and if successful it
probably will be the first of the
producing moropolies on which the
government will try the receiver
ship plan of dissolution. This fight
against the Trust proper follows a
number of preliminary skirmishes
III which the government has won.
1t discovered soon after the investi-
CATION of the Trust had started that
there were more things than to-
bacco controlled by it. 1t had the
control Of tin foil and more impor-
tant still it had the absolute con-
troll OF the licorice industry with
out which ii is Impossible to make
chewing tobacco. The licorice
monopoly was brought to its atten-
tion by the complaint of some small
producers who had been shamefully
run out Of business by character
istic trust methods, to wit, that the
trust would not sell to them or
allow anyone else to sell to them if
they dealt with independent licorice
firms.
The preliminary licorice fight
was won and then came the assault
on the main trust citadel. 1t will
be notable fight for the nations
tobacco bill is larger than its liquor
bill. Also the American Trust is
connected very closely with the
English Tobacco Trust. 1t is a
question what effect the American
prosecution will have on this. But
the way the two came to be COM
bined is interesting enough to bear
relating. 1t was in 1908 when the
so called American commercial in
vasion of England was proceeding
that the Tobacco Trust decided it
might as we'll get share of the
spoils. 1t accordingly started in
and before the British public real
lied it had bought up one of the
Oldest and most widely advertised
tobacco manufactures in the United
Kingdom. 1t had planned to buy
a number of others, but there was
a howl of indignation that swept
over the country. The Britain is
stolid and long suffering, but woe
to the man who interferes with his
tobacco or his beer. There was i'm
mediate and patriotic opposition to
the Trust. The British Imperial
Tobacco Company was formed and
that resulted in England having
Tobacco Trust Of its own before it
knew it. The war between the
American Trust and the local trust
was long and bitter. The invading
trust followed the usual American
line of premiums and bonuses and
before they got through were Civ.
ing away present with each FIVE
cent package of cigarettes or some
such matter. The fight was too
hot to last. It was costing the in
vaders a fortune and the home
manufacturers were actually losing
money which is an awful thing for
an English tradesman. Thomas
F. Ryan, who was not then the
evermasting figure in the financial
world that he is now. was brought
over and displacing J. w. Cobb, led
the American fight. But Ryan soon
found that he had an expensive
fight on his hands and that it would
be more profitable for all hands to
compromise and take it out of the
public. This they promptly did.
The British Imperial Company
and the American Trust coalesced,
each electing its own officers on
the directorate of the other COM
pany. The British Company
pledged itself to keep out of Ameri-
can territory and the American
company pledged itself in the same
way to keep out of the United
Kingdom. But there was the rest
of the world left, and they organ
lied between them the British
American Tobacco Company in
which they had approximately
equal interests, and this company
was to 60 after the trade of the rest
of the world. The truce has con-
tinued up to date and the interests
of the three companies are so close
ly connected that it will be hard
tor the government to fight the one
without fighting all of them. The
Americans got an idea from their
English experience too. The bulk
of the retail tobacco trade in the