The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-01-27
ANOTHER EVIL | THREATENS Kentucky May Throttle the Trusts. PROPOSE REMEDIAL LEGISLATION Seeks to Strike at Root of Cause of Trouble. Business Mea Say Passage of saeasurs Means Destruetien of Tobacco
 sussIdy ia kentseky-la-
 vestisatins Trusts.
 
REMEDIAL LEGISLATION

--Having suffered for two years from the torch and the deadly weapons or the Night Riders" Kentucky Is now threatened with e new. peril growing out or the long conflict between the grower and manufacturer of tobacco. Remedial legislation is the name by which this new peril is known and it has done more to stir the business fn- terests of the State than all the barn burning. dynamiting and assassinations that preceded its advent upon tho stage of action.
 Not only is the American Tobacco Company. the especial object of the wrath of the growers. threatened with destruction. so far as Kentucky is cons cerned. but numerous other interests, almost as important to the prosperity of the State. are indirectly threatened by the so-called antitrust IegisIati ton now pending In the General Assembly.
 The measure which is exciting the greatest interest at this time and which win meet with organized cppo1 sition on the part of the business men. especially in those sections where Co. bacco factories and warehouses are io- cated, was introduced by Representa- tive c. F. Crecelius. It's adoption would mean. according to the busi- ness men who are opposing it, the ab- solute destruction of the tobacco in dustry in the State. Louisville bsisi- ness men, who are particularly inter- ested. claim that it would close Che in4 nenbe tobacco factories at that place and divert the tobacco business of that city to Cincinnati. or some other city outside of Kentucky.
 While delegations of business men will come to Frankfort to lobby against the bill. there are many who look upon 1t as c club designed to beat the to- ka fAlA fraA ~aS 4at 1t was not drawn with view to be-. ing passed but for the purpose of driY- Ing the trust into closing with the growers for the immense amount nf tobacco which has been pooled fer 90 Hong and which haN rheeu tke basis af all the friction between the grower and the nnanufacturer. Wkether or not the trust Will be frightened into abandon- ing it's long-standing attitude of Ap- parent indifference to the pool. remains to be seen. The general opinion Is. however. that 1t will let the business men of the State. who would suffer even more than the trust in the event of it's being forced from the common wealth. fight the battle of opposition.
 Trust offered ts Buy.
 Those who hopa to see the trust sur fact that the American Tobaceo Com pany offered to buy 1O.0o0s000 pounds of Buriey tobacco from the pool. The offer was rejected. of course, because under the rules, not a pound must be sold unless the entire amount placed in the pool is disposed of. The conn pany claims that it cannot handle SO mach tobacco at once and negotiations are of.
 In the meantime the activity of the Night Riders continues though suck vigorous precautionary measures have been taken in the leading tobacco cen ters as to insure confidence on the par. of insurance companies and nunefouf risks, cancelled at the height of tn excitement occasioned by repeated raids" are being rewritten. At Lex- inwton. where the approach to tho. warehouse district is guarded by 2 Gatllng gun. policies aggregatiug many thousands of dollars have been re- stored.
 Interest in the Iong-drawn-out in- vestigation of the Government into the operations of the alleged trust. has been renewed by the fact that the president of the International Union of Tobacco Workers. Henry Fischer, of Louisville, has been subponaed as witness It Is known that the IobAc- co Workers Union has for several years been collecting evidence against sup posed independent tobacco concerns, which. 1t Is claimed. are run by tne trust merely for the purpose of de- esiv,n9 inc public. Many of these se- called independent concerns were nam : ed at a recent meeting of the Execu- tiva Committee of the International Tohaoeo workers Union and the pre- sunaptiou is that the Government VIII seek to obtain from the President or inc organization the evidence he has to support the charges SC freely maaes
 
 nroauca facts showing that the inde- pendent concerns are independent ln name only, the Government will have taken a long step in it's effort 70 show that inc American Tobacco Company Ss a trust. in fact. formed in violation of inc law against price-nxin9 corn- pines
 Cost Kentucky eS0,soo.eoe.
 If has been estimated that the to- bacco war has cost kentucky seo.vvv,7 oeo Ir destruction of property, the de- ynoraIIzation of business and the dee nraciation of values. Now. because of this great loss and the intense strife and bitterness which has attended #. there ia A disposition on the part of many to end 1t all by throttling the trust that Is held responsible Tor the condition. .A husineaH men of the State, who would restore harmony and save the indus trv which is the very foundation Of tbs states prosperity. Is difacult and delicate one. At this time there is ab~ SoluteIy nothing to indicate the ap- nroach of peace, while the almos& nightly destruction of tobacco barns shows that the Night Riders are n0t resting upon their arms in anticipa- lion of hostilitIea being declared on.
 They expect little from either the Tasiaiature or Government, and will l1,s = - to -.ix, rnon the torch and