The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1908-12-14
BY gibson GARDNER.
Special Correspondence to The Press

| iueHQeQ UT sent 10 jail
| These are questions which the
government is trying to solve.
Ever since the 3Oth of July testi-
mony has been taken in this town
and New York, and there is more
coming
If being big is being illegal
then we are Illegal" said Thomas
Coleman Dupont, president of the
concent. I'VE are big. We have
grown with the country. We began
when the country began and have
| kept pace with its growth"
The evidence brought out in
these hearings is very interesting.
In its development and growth this
commercial combination is typical
of the modern so called trust.
The real story of the powder
trust, however, begins with the
French revolution. Our powder in
dustry was fathered by a French
emigre who escaped the guillotine
by a narrow margin to land on the
shores of the Brandywine and
there set up a business, which in
the governments bill recently filed
finds as managers such names as
there: Alexis /. Dupont, Alfred 1.
Dupont, Eugene Dupont, Eugene E.
Dupont, Henry A. Dupont, Harry F..
Dupont, Irene Dupont, Francis 1.
Dupont, Pierre S. Dupont, Thomas
Coleman Dupont and Victor Du-
pont, jr.
The head of the tribe was a
French aristocrat, Pierre Samuel
du Pone dNemours, a member of
the Institute of France, a council
Tor of state, knight of the Order of
Vasa, member of the Legion of
Honor and of the Order du Lys,
member of the states general from
Nemours, secretary of the Assem-
bly, of Notablee and twice president
OF the constituent assembly. These
honOrs and this lineage were suf-
ficient to laod him in Jail after the
states general was dissolved and
Robespierre came into control, and
when du Pont was not in Jail he
was in hiding. But it was this
forced seclusion which led to his
sons going to Essen for safekeep-
ing, and it was the accidental cir
cumstance that at this place were
the government powder factories,
which resulted in this son, Eleu-
there, becoming interested in the
process Of manufacture and learn.
ing enough of the art so that when
he finally fled with his father in
1900 he was ready to go into a
: useful business.
Father Pierre and son Eluthere
were entertained by President JEFF
ferson at Monticello, and were en-
couraged to start powder mill on
the banks of the Brandywine. This
was the beginning of the powder
industry in America The beginning
of the powder trust dates from
1872. At that time nobody thought
about universal consolidation or
any scheme to restrain trade but 1t
seemed to be good thing for some
OF the bigger companies to get to-
gether and have a sort of general
agreement on certain broad lines of
policy relative to the trade, so the
E. l. du Pont d'Nemours & Co., the
Hazard Powder Co., the Laflin &
Rand Powder Co., the Oriental
Mills, the American Powder Co.,
the Miami Powder Co. and the Aus
tin Powder Co. of Cleveland formed
what was known as the Gunpowder
Trade Association of the United
States, for equitable adjustment
and maintenance of prices"
The only firms which did not go
into the trade agreement were the
California powder works, the SYRIA
cuse Manufacturing Co. and the
Lake Superior Powder Co. These
concerns continued to sell expos
ives on competitive basis, so this
trade association, in order to lad
just prices" went after these three
firms and by cutting the price or
explosives in their territories until
they were on the verge of bank
ruptcy, convinced them of the adj.
vantage of belonging to the asso-
citation. So they came in and di-
vided territory
From 1881 to 1886 the monopoly
was threatened by a firm known as
Kings Great Western Powder Co.,
dong business near Cincinnati. and
b ythe Marcellus Powder Co. in
New York state. So the Gunpowder
Trade association reduced the price
OF gunpowder in the territory of
these concerns from $40 a keg to
80 cents keg. This argument had
weight and at the end of three
years the independent concerns
were taken over by the Gunpowder
Trade association.
Between 1886 and 1891 the Gun
powder Trade association was
deemed to be too loose an organiza-
ton and the members were cinched
up In contract known az the finn