The Penn's Grove record., 1911-06-16

have asked to be heard are not organ
izations at all. Some, like the oranges.
are the pitiable relics of a glorious
past, and the appearance and manner
of the so-called farmers who appeared
before the committee merely made the
whole thing ridiculous. The game Is
clearly to play for delay until the
practised w~ire-pullers of the senate,
fitting from Office to office, working
from seat to seat in the chamber,
have jotted down enough votes to
kill the bill, either by amendments or
be done and the session adjourn with
the only record of achievement that
| of the house Democrats"
Gates In Steel Inquiry.
The opening of the COMPRESSION
Ell investigation into the steel
trust was expected to be a SEN
sation, as John w. Gates, of "bet-
you-a-million" fame. was the witness.
One of Gates friends, who has in his
time played poker and the stock mar
ket and kindred games of skill with
him. but descended into playing the
political game of chance and landed in
congress, whetted public anticipation
thus: John doesn't give a dn.
He's out of the steel trust, out of the
market, and will talk right out
straight from the shoulder to this
committee"
But John didn't. He was 1anked on
one side by his personal counsel, a
Pittsburg attorney closely associated
with the steel trust, and o IN the other
by his soma true chip Of the old
block. When a question that any one
Of the three though embarrassing was
put the three heads swung together
by a common impulse and the answer
was apt to be disappointing to the in
q%uisitors.
1t was easy enough to get Mr.. Gates
to testify to matters which are already
Of common ~notoriety, though perhaps
not heretofore supported by a witness
under oath. Thus he cheerfully ad-
mitted that he helped to form the
United States Steel corporation be-
cause he had a lot of doubtful prop
critics he could not sell, and that
thereafter he did sell them. He tes-
titled that the sale of the Tennessee
Coal and Iron company was a forced
sale. engineered by Pierpont Morgan,
and when asked about the pathetic
statement of Morgan and Gary to
Roosevelt that they had only taken the
property to avert a panic, and would
lose money by the purchase, respond
ed, II never heard n rumors that
Mr.. Morgan would be forced into al
assignment"
Throughout the examination, much
of the testimony in which has already
been printed. the listener who studied
the hearing philosophically must have
been struck with the Difference shown
to the mighty name of Morgan.
Tobacco Growers and Decision.
The tobacco growers, who are the
very basis of the tobacco industry,
take with a calmness amounting to
indifference the decision of the Su-
preme court In the tobacco trust case.
According to their spokesman here.
they expected nothing from the suit,
and are not disappointed by the de-
cision. What they look for is rem
edial legislation, addressed directly
to the improvement of conditions In
the tobacco trade, and not stored
away in the convo.utions of a general
antitrust law.
Chief among these spokesman is
Representative James c. Cantrill OF
Kentucky, himself a grower of b
fragrant weed. Mr.. Cantrill has de-
voted practically all his time during
the last few years to an effort to i'm
prove the condition of the tobacco
growers and to combat the extortions
of the trust. To accomplish these
ends he has not sought legislation.
but has rather relied on organization
among the farmers. He is president
for Kentucky of the American Society
of Equity, and has been a consistent
advocate of the system of pooling
crops. Withholding them from market.
or even limiting the acreage planted
in order to force the trust to terms.
II am not particularly surprised by
the decision" said Mr.. Cantrill. In
fact l anticipated nothing else. 1t
seems to be a decision which at first
glance would appear to be wholly
against the trust, but which, on an
alysis, is seen to be wholly in Its
favor.
However, we can fight the trust
and protect ourselves by methods of
cooperation, with but little legislation.
We want that legislation, though, d.
rected against evils of which tobacco
rover complain and not general an
thrust legislation. For example. the
government issues monthly a state
ment of the acreage and condition of
the tobacco crop, and, after cutting, a
statement of the number of pounds be.
ing cured and its condition. Armed with
these figures the buyers take the field.
You've got a big crop this year they
say to a grower of hurley tobacco,
for example, and we're overstocked
from last year. We have 4,6O0,O 600
pounds on hand and don't really need
to buy at all, but will give you b cents
a pound With the buyer armed with
figures, the farmer is at his mercy.
The surplus in the warehouses may be
merely imaginary, but his information
concerning our stock is precise-fur-
nished under government seal.
1--WE ask, and / have a bill to that
effect, that the government give us
as much knowledge Of the buyers
stock as it gives him of ours. Other
legislation, such as permitting the
grower to twist his tobacco without
thereby becoming a manufacturer sub
ject to tax, will also be urged. Give
us this and we are Indifferent to the
courts action in this case"
copyright, 1911. by Joseph B. Bowles.)
Its Uses.
There Is one advantage about the
unwritten law" murmured the law
student.