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The   Record  and  Guide.





February 4, 1868





The War on the Trusts,

Tammany Hall, under the leaderehip of Dick Croker and Roger
A. Pryor, have begun a campaign against the great monopoliea
known aa " truata." The following has been introduced into the
Legislature by a Tammany member, which shows very well the
animus of those who object to tbe great corporations :

Section 1—Any person or personB who shall attempt to form or shall
(orm any trust, society, corporation, company, aESOciation, combination or
other collection of persona for the purpose of controlling or withholdine
from the people, trade or the markets, any of the products for food or the
neceeearies of life, or any article of food or fuel, or who shall combine to
raise the price or market value of any product for food or the necesaaries
of life, or any article of food or fuel for the gain or greed of any of said
person or persoDS, or trust, or society, corporation, company, aseoclation,
combination or other collection of persons to the detriment of the people,
trade or the markets, shall upon conviction thereof be deemed guilty of a
felony and Ehall be punished accordingly.

Undoubtedly there are millions in the United States who will
Bympatbise witb this movement against these great monopolies.
They will not be ignorant people either, but will be largely com¬
posed of the middle claases; that ia, merchants, traders, brokera,
storekeepers and many others whose occupation would be gone if
these great trusts should get the control of the leading industries.
A trust, aa we have frequently pointed out, is a great labor-saving
machine. It produces and distributes its goods in a large way. It
haa abundant capital and secureB all the economies which is
possible under wholesale management; hence the trust eliminates
from the trade it monopolises superfluous factories, etores and
rentals, and gets rid of myriada of small manufacturers, brokers,
traders and clerks. Hence the fear and wrath of large sections
of the middle claases which the truat will finally reduce to the
jranka of the working people. But the apologists for truats claim
that though individuals may suffer the mass of the consumers will
be ultimately benefited. We have frequently referred to the Stand¬
ard Oil Company in this connection. The Tribune makes the follow¬
ing statement reapecting that great monopoly: "In 1873, when the
Standard Oil Company began to get control of the markets, the
price of refined oil in thia market was 26X to 27 cents, and, except
in one or two isolated montha, it haa never been as high since
that time. Laat year tbe price wan below 7 cents per gallon nearly
all the year, and tbe saving to the people in cost of oil consumed
was great. The 500,000,000 gallons now consumed, more or less,
would have cost $135,000,000 at the price of 1873, and did cost about
$35,000,000 at the price of 1887."

Thia does not tell the whole story. When [there waa unlimited
competition the quality of the refined oil was very uncertain.
Much of that on the market was dangerous to handle or to burn.
The dealers thought of nothing but their own interests. People
who abuse the Standard Oil Company would do well to keep these
facts in mind. Its working haa been an enormous benefit to the
consumers of refined oil in all countries. It mined thouaands of
refiners and merchants becauae it could afford to charge low figures
jn view of ita immense business. But the good it has done bas far
outweighed tbe evil.

Thia tendency to concentration of wealth and business is char¬
acteristic of the age we live in. The community can be better
served by wealth maseed in few hands than when it ia distributed
among tens of thousands of petty merchants and bosBes. The
great stores which have sprung up in all the large citiea of the
world have a significance in this connection. We allude to such
eatablisbmenta as tbe Bon Marche and Louvre in Paris, Whiteley's
in London, Wanamakers in Philadelphia ; Jordon, Marsh & Co. in
Boaton; Macy's, Ridley's and Park & Tilford's in New York. Mr.
D. L. Webster, the Boston leather merchant, whom we have quoted
elsewhere, makes tbe following pertinent remarks on this topic :

No thoughtful person can doubt that the largeretall Btores for dry-goods,
groceries, clothing, etc., in Bo&ton, where the one price system is strictly
maintained and the business conducted fairly and honestly, as it must be to
make Buch busineES successful, have been of immenso benefit to the com¬
munity, notwithstanding the fact that many of the smaller dealers base
been obliged to retire from business on account of these establishments.
The poorest and most ignorant can buy at such places the goods they desire
BB cheaply as the shrewdest, and at much less cost tban it was possible to
purchase them a few years since when from twenty to fifty stores were
maintained to do the amount of business now carried on in one of these
great palaces of trade. It is, doubtless, the case that many of the men who
would be managing tho smaller etores, if it were not for the larger ones
which have superseded them, ara now engaged in the latter as heads of
departments, where their responsibility and usefulness is much greater and
their compensation surer and larger than, on the whole, it would be if they
were engaged in carrying on business for themselves in the precarious aud
ohafCering manner in which it was done previous to the last thirty or forty
years. Even tbe Standard Oil Trust, that many people take delight in
characterizing as a most wicked monopoly, has, without question, on the
whole conferred a great benefit on tbe community. Who doubts that tha
materials they manufacture and deal in for lighting our homes, factories,
atores and '^ior many other purposes (which cost the consumer, on tbe
average, less than a fourth as much as the materials formerly used for the
same purposes), are now much cheaper than they would bave been if it





were not for the great ability with which this trust company has handled
its immense capital in manufacturing and distributing its products f

So much in favor of trueti, and the larger business establish¬
ments which are monopolizing wholesale and retail trade. Of
course there is another side, Undoubtedly some of the recently
organized trusts are intended to plunder the public. They aim at
charging extortionate profits, and public opinion, as well aa the
law, chould intervene to protect tbe community. But the danger
is that Tammany politicians and the lobbies everywhere will try to
take advantage of the popular prejudice against trusts to exploit
legitimate business enterprises. Tbe public must not be deceived
by the clamor of tbe blackmailing lawyers and tbeir coadjutors in
the press. Tbe business'of the world tends in a certain direction
and its course must not be stopped. Tbe swarm of petty dealers,
merchants, brokers and bosses muat go. They are parasites in the
trade of the country. They are a detriment alike to the congum«r
and tbe producer. They are mere sponges absorbing everything
and giving no return.

Undoubtedly the moat reprehensible form which thoae organi-i
Kations of capital has aaaumed ia in tbe international syndicates,/
now at work doubling up the price of the metala.   The price of tin;
since last July has advanced 63 per cent.; lead baa advanced from-*
4.35 to 5.10; zinc in the year has advanced over 20 per cent. The copper
of the world is practically owned by a great Parisian syndicate. At
tbe Calumet at Hecla tbat metal can be produced at 7 cents a
pound.   Ita price haa been put up to 16 cents a pound.   Undoubt¬
edly the operations of thia syndicate are a detriment to the trade of
the whole world, for an inordinate advance iu the metals strikes a
blow at all the great industries upon which the prosperity of na¬
tions depends.   But the success of these internationat syudicatea
ahowa bow mighty ia the impulae in the direction of the concen¬
tration of capital for carrying on the induatries of mankind.





The House of Representatives waa fully justified in instituting an
inquiry into the causes of the Reading strike. This is a matter
which affects the whole community—everyone, in short, who
uses anthracite coal. It is not a mere dispute between the Read^
ing Company on one side and the miners on the otber—if it was, it
would have been unjustifiable for Congress to interfere; but every
railroad company, every manufacturer and every householder is
interested in the coal famine created by the dispute. Congress has
a right to interfere in behalf of the community when the use of
an article of prima necessity ia involved,





The stock market is very dull and likely to remain so until some
definite action is taken by Congress to return the Treasury surplus
to the channels of trade. The procrastination of our representa¬
tives is simply intolerable. They do not seem to realize that the
piling up of money in the banks is due to the check given to busi¬
ness because of the unsatisfactory coudition of our national
finances. There is no hope for any revival of busineaa or specula¬
tion in stocks if tbe tariff debate takes the precedence over meaa-
ures designed to restore the money of the people to tke channels of

trade.

__-------»

In Europe all the very large cannon are wrought or built up, but
we are trying the experiment of casting the steel gun whole, a very
much cheaper and more expeditious process. One such gun haa
been cast in Pittsburg, and to all ,'ippearance it is a success, but it
has not yet been tested. Should it stand tbe test of the trials
it will mark a great advance over Europe in the making of great
guns. Our ordnance officers think that the gun of the future will
be made of aluminum bronze. It will be very much lighter,
stronger and cheaper than the steel gun. And then the bronze itself
will bave a far higher value tban old steel. Aluminum, it muat be
remembered, is tbe metallio basis of all clay soils. Tbis metal has
some very remarkable properties ; it is almost aa light aa glasa, it
does not ruat, it ia stronger than ateel, and with alloy can be made
to replace any of the other metala. It is not in universal use
becauee of its great oost, but science is at work solving that
problem. Its use for guns and fire-urms would revolutionize
modern warfare.

Prof. Richard T. Ely, of the John Hopkins' Univeraity, a writer
of great ability on social topics, is out in a report on the taxation
question which is very suggestive. He admits the difficulty of
taxing personal property, which nevertheless be agrees ought to
pay its share of the public burdens. His proposition is for real
estate to bear all local or city burdens in the way of taxation;
but be would bave the State raise ita revenue from taxes on cor¬
porations and by an income tax, which from hia point of view is
the most equable of all forms of taxation. The daily Tirnes
assents fo tbis view, but declares tbat en income tax is unpopular
and that its inquisitorial methods would never be tolerated by the
American people. But the Times overlooks the f&ct that England
has an income tax which has been enforced for a great many
years and is aa collectable as any other tax.   Then it is abaurd to