The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-05-31
Trusts That Threaten War.

Miss Ida M Tarbell, writing in the June American Magazine on the tariff question, takes occasion to call atten- ton to the ever-increasing monster United Shoe Machinery Company which threatens to become one of the great est trusts in the world. It already practically controls the linen thread industry of the country, and threatens to absorb all the shoe manufacturers. There is just one force to hinder the final absorption of the shoe business, says Miss Tarbell. She continues:
 There is rival trust with as rapa- cious a rnaw and as brutal a strength as any the country has produced, on the trail of the shoe. that is the beef trust
 Nearly twenty years ago when the amiable Mir. Mckinley was disposed to give a duty on hides Mir. Blaine wrote him an emphatic letter in which he said, Tt win yield a profit to the butcher tbeef trust) only. the last man that needs it. Mfr. Blaine prevented the duty then--bnt Mir. Dingiey gave 1t. and certainly the beef trust has profited as much as the shoe has suf- fered.
 "But while the cost of the leather has been steadily increasing under the duty on hides, there has been going on in the beef trust the inevitable com bination which special privileges al. ways breed. Buying practically all the cattle on the hoof, the packers owned all the hides. Hides go to tanners to be prepared for sole leather. It has always been a prosperous and widely spread business in the country. But the dream of the beef trust is to allow nobody to do anything directly or in- directly connected with the steer which 1t can do. It owned the hides: why should it not tan them? And prompt ly 1t began to acquire tanneries. There is no space here to go into the history of the steady absorption by the pack CTS of this great American industry which has been going on in the last few years. It Is the familiar tale; all that Is essential here is the fact that today the united packers, Armour. Swift and Morris control fully thirty of the largest tanneries in the coun- try. There Is no well-informed and candid person in the leather or shoe trade who does not say that 1t Is in- evitable that the packers should soon own. control and operate the entire leather business of the country.
 And the next step? Signs of what it will be are already abroad. Repeat ed rumors have come that the Armours were going into the shoe business The alarm that they meant not only to ab- 1OTD SAOS IIdAlnS put ndIuesbs D0lLIn8 and other leather manufacturing has sounded!
 Tn the reports of the recent tariff hearings Is a letter from the President of the Wholesale Saddlery Association of the United States protesting against the duty on hides. In this letter he wries:
 "'rhe statement that follows may ap- pear to you very far fetched. but 1t is my confident personal opinion that if the condition which confronts leather manufacturers and the manufacturers of leather articles continue and ad- vances with the same strides during the next ten years that 1t has during the past five, not only will Che beef packers contr0a the manufacture of the leather, but they will likewise control by ownership the shoe harness belt ing. and other leather industries.'
 And this is only one of the several such intimations to be found in the re- ports. There Is nothing surprising in 1t. That the packers should absorb the manufacturing from leather~-is quite logical as that they should make leath- ST.
 And what is to be done about 1t? Certainly any special advantage which these combinations have through the tarif should be taken away. Hides and flax should be free as the Payne bills provide tn ough whether they will be when 1t Is finally passed. no man knoweth."