The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-04-04
Mergers


What Wall Street admits is the largest merger
in the history of the oil industry has just taken
place with the acquisition of the Pan-American
Petroleum and Transport company by the Stand
ard Oil company of Indiana the most powerful
subsidiary of the Rockefeller interests
The assets of the Pan-American include besides
oil wells and immense concessions of Mexican oil
properties refneries and fleet of oil tankers con
sisting of 81 ships with dead weight Of 272,50O
tons, formerly controlled by e. L. DOheny of Tea
pot Dome fame
just in world politics the struggle centers
around re-division of the world between two or
three great imperialist powers so the American
continent the present period is one of huge con
solicitations of industrial combinations already
gigantic in size and unbelievably powerful indie
pendent enterprise a large scale is a thing of
the past.
Two events, one occurring in the United States,
the other in Mexico, have created the opportunity
for which Standard Oil has been waiting-the cleo
ton of Coolidge by huge plurality guarantees a
kindly attitude by the government towards the
big capitalists under the slogan "no interference
with legitimate business" the rise of the Gales
government and its complete domination by Wall
Street assures American capital of the privilege
of cashing in such holdings as those just ac-
quired from Doheney by Standard Oil. Mexico has
been "paciied' the Standard Oil now has the edge
its British competitor gt Pss
In other lines of industry the same process can
be The General Electric increases its capital
izaton and becomes second only to the steel trust
the Morgan interests perfecting another huge
merger of-coal gas electric power, iron and chem
zeal concerns in the south. Gold flows in a steady
stream into the United States and is exported in
the form of loans which force other nations to pay
tribute to the American municipalities ~ ~
The American working class is exploited as never
before. More commodities are produced at lower
cost than in any other period, the permanent army
of unemployed grows even while industry is active.
The keynote of all this is MISUNDERSTANDING
camps, student reserve corps the division of the
nation into military areas, the organization of
skeleton army sections with their corresponding in
dustrial subsidiaries, the clamor for increased
naval ornaments, the great maneuvers of the fleet
in the Pacific the humping of the tom-tOms by the
capitalist press. {s1
The capitalists are torn between two desires
They wish to see industry running at the highest
possible speed, but at the same time they hail with
Joy any slackening as a signal for the beginning
of another open shop offensive. In the coal mining
and textile industry this scheme is already under
way.
The official labor movement talks glibly of pros
perity and sees sign of the grave danger CON
fronting the whole American working class. The
capitalists combine and re-cOmbne their forces and
multiply their strength. The labor unions under
the influence of leadership that is less awake
than the middleclass liberals marches straight to
disaster
The urge for profits from industry is no longer
the great force it in this country once upon
time powerful section of the capitalists now
fill their Golfers from the interest on foreign loans
They wait while the workers starve during
periods of unemployment, make war on the
workers organizations and weaken the working
class so that it cannot effectively resist being used
cannon fodder.
united front against wage cuts and the open
shop is today something more than a defense of
of the standard of living. 1t is the first step
in resistance to the plans of the rulers whose
increasing Capitalization Of power in the form
of mergers in basic industries is a prelude to an
other blood bath for the workers.