The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-07-31

would be the case were wheat or corn or
 even iron the object of monopoly of that Kind. About 10 years before Mir Rogers perfected the Amalgamated Copper or l ganlzation, James k. keene had bitter ex- perience in an attempt to corner wheat Almost the only thing MT. keene gained | from that experience was philosophy
 which he expressed in these words: The wheat crop of the United States Is too big for any man or set of men to corner.
 There may have been temporary appear ! ance of successful cornerng of wheat | but 1t was an Illusion Joseph Letter was persuaded that he could succeed In dom | mating the wheat market, not deterred by the fact that others had failed But the wheat belts of the United States he dis- covered are too extensive and the wheat crops too large and too widely scattered l to make an attempt of that kind success | ful.
 Some have attempted to gain absolute control of cotton. Alfred Sully did that but the cotton harvests are garnered in all the southern states and no one man or even one group of men has ever or will ever be able to gain control of cotton. MT. Rogers believed that 1t would be
 possible so to perfect an organization. with abundant capital, and great popular sup port, as to make it possible for this or
 ganization to have absolute mastery over
 the copper industry. But MT. Rogers left
 one factor out of consideration. There
 were scattered throughout the United
 States many copper properties, some of them not very large, but all of them able to produce in the aggregate a great deal of copper. These were not included in his plan. When the owners of these mines perceived that stupendous movement was under way having the control of the copper industry in view and presumably a great increase in the price of copper, these owners began prospecting their own properties. About that time. too, demon
 strstion was made that Alaska in the TO-
 mote northwest, Chili in the remote south or the American hemisphere and Peru with its abandoned silver mines of Cerro da Pasco possessed enormous deposits Of copper. It could not be done. Great abil- Iity and great capital could not consum- mate successfully this plan, and so, in obedience to economic law. gradually but surely the eyes of those who controlled
 the Amalgamated Copper company were opened until at last decision was reached
 to dissolve the organization. ,.
 Several times In the past excellent proof
 has been furnished in the careers or great industrial corporations which sought
 to obtain monopoly that In the long run. and not a very long run either. attempts
 of this kind meet with failure. There
 was one industrial organiza ton perfected
 some years ago whose output was ropes and kindred commodities. Apparently 1t
 esta ablished monopoly. It's capitaliza-
 ton was somewhat in excess of $30.0Oo coo, and it was understood to be making hand
 some profits upon this capital. a consid- erable part of which was water. Other men of capital discovered after investiga-
 ton that they could duplicate the plants of that company for very much less than its capital If they could do that they could manufacture in successful competi- tion, for they would not be obliged to earn as much money as the other com- pany was compelled to earn. Competition in this way asserted itself, and what was intended to be a monopoly became some thing very different.
 The modern view which is taken by leaders in the great industries Is that in the United States no monopoly can be se- cured so far as the chief products in the soil minerals are concerned and that the only monopoly which can be obtained is one which the government not only per mits but also encourages, which Is monopoly passed upon putent rights.
 The passing of the Amalgamated Copper company to the scrap heap of unsuccess- ful enterprises is looked upon here as iden- tifying the date of the last attempt to secure monopoly over great American i'm dustries. The action of the government at Washington has put an end to some at tempts of that kind. but the opinion conn monly held here Is that sooner or later all monopolies which are not based upon pat ent rights and which seek to control in- dustries which are dependent upon the products of the soil will fail.
 Sometimes 1t is said that there ls cu- rious coincidence of dates associated with the passing of the Amalgamated Copper company and the placing in the United States of war orders which Involve the use of enormous auantitieseof copper. The oretically a great organization like tho Amalgamated Copper company should be fourishipg at this time. but theory of that kind is a false one and is, in fact, no more than hypothesis. The Amalga- mated Copper company dies at a time when the worlds demand for this metal is without precedent