The Peoples Voice (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 7, No. 23, Ed. 1 Friday, December 30, 1898 Page: 3 of 8
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THE BURGLAR AND HIS TOOL.
CHICAGO'S GRAIN TRUST.
THE LOWER THE PRICE THE
HIGHERTHE PROFITS.
rii« Olijpflt of the Trust are to I>ra*
Unilu to (tit('4fo. to Itlwk tlir Na-
tural Flow of Commerce, to Kill Com*
petition ami Keep Trices Down.
It it not the purposo of tliis paper to
iitcuss, admit or deny the right or
Justice of private individuals or corpor-
ations to combine issues to legally, and
in the interests of public policy, con-
duct their business for more protit by
•uch combination, but to declare that
tvhen public officials, or corporations
licensed by the people for a certain
ipeciflo purpose, violate the sacred du-
ties for which they were incorporated,
iud by that violation enslave the labor
jf a continent, it is time mankind turns
ts Clod-given right to liberty and
•quality iu commercial and social life,
md insists upon the enforcement of
kuch measures as shall effect radical
•hunges. It is impossible intelligently
and laborers learn that their battles
are the same, and that wheat iu the
tin's and Mi's, corn under SO eeuts, and
oats around ",'0 cents in Chicago, with
ruinous rates of freight to be paid out
of these figures, present a condition
important to all—a disease known at
"under consumption.*'
The underlying primary cause of de-
pression in prices is a public official,
acting as a private grain dealer iu a
public warehouse, with the permission
and co-operation of tailruad compan*
iea
Many of the causes of "hard timss'.
in recent years arise from this alliauce
and to sever it aud demand a change
that will rectify the evils will necessi-
tate a public sentiment as strongly or
Rheumatism
Is etussC bj acid In the blood. Hood's
BarssparlUa nsutrsllsss this acid and carts
the tches and paint. Do not tufftr any
loafer when a remedy Is at band. Taka
the freat medicine which Las cured so many
others, and jou may confidently expect It
will give you the relief yoa to much desire.
Sarsa-
parilla
It America'! Greatest Medietas. Trlet 91.
Prepared by C. I. llood ft Co., Lowell, Mast.
Hood's Pills curt tick headache, 25 cent*.
There Is nothing more unsatisfactory
than compulsory love.
Hood's
The woman who always weart
gauized, inllueatial and determined at Im^e ** faultlessly dressed.
IN SPITE OF THE LAW.
NEW TRUSTS AND COMBINES
FORMING EVERY DAY.
Competition is no Longer The Life of
Trade ami all the his: Concerns of the
Country Htive C'omhhlert to Kill it
and Make Profits Sure.
troU petroleum oil refineries in all the
principal northern cities of the United
States, and it produces about 65 per
cent of this country's total output of
rclined oil. It embraces 40or 50 small-
er companies aud controls U*e pipe
lines laid for the transmitting of oil to
tide water. It has for years absolutely
controlled the market price of petro-
leum.
In accordance with the mandate of
the federal courts the Standard Oil
trust started to "liquidate," but this
has now been ostensibly in progress
for years. The trust certificates are
being formally cauccled, and the trus-
tees are assigning to the owners the
legal title to the stocks which were
formerly held in trust. The biggest
oil combinations areas follows:
Capital.
Standard Oil company..
American Cotton Oil Co.
National Linseed Oil Co.
Proctor A Gamble Co...
8100,000.000
ao. noo.ooo
18,000,000
4,500.00C
In spite of the fact that there is a
federal law prohibiting trusts, new
ones are being formed every day, and
those now in existence have an aggre-
gate capitalization of $,702,780,900.
The tendencv to concentrate special in-
dustries and bring them under the
domination of monoplistic corporations
gathers force steadily. Almost every
branch of the manufacturing business
now has its combination €r trust,
which controls both output and prices.
Competition is crushed out by the big
aggregations of capital. The small
manufacturer finds that he must either
joiu the combination or go to the wall,
and in many cases he does not even
have a chance to join the combination.
Within the last six months articles
of incorporation have been taken out
by more than 100 companies of abnor-
mal capitalization, whijli are designed
lo ''take over" and concentrate the
business of scattered companies in the
various fields of iudustry. And this in
the fece of the fact that the United
•States supreme court has now pro-
nounced even the railroad combination
known as the Joint Traffic association
to be a violation of the federal anti-
trust law.
Trusts are multiplying much faster
than suits to dissulve them can be
brought in the courts. It is only a few
r,ecks ago that the great Federal
jteel company, with a capitalization of
f?00,000,000, ms incorparated in New
Jersey. Recent meetings have been
held in this city by the leading manu-
facturers of acids and chemicals with
a view of forming a 850,000,000 acid
trust. The silver plate interests have
just combined under the name of the > the vast sums of money that have be-
International Silverware company, ( come concentrated in steel and irou
with a capital of $;i0,000,000. An Amer- j companies may be obtained from the
can Malting company has been organ- . list below:
ized with 530,000,000 capital. Then I Capital,
there are the American Thread com- ! Federal Steel Co 8200,000,000
Total capitalization $153,000,000
The biggest trust of all—so far as
stock capitalization stands for bigness
—has just been formed in the slate of
New Jersey. It is called the Federal
Steel company and its authorized capi-
tal stock is 8200,000,000. The objects
of this colossal corporation are tersely
outlined in the articles of incorporation
as follows:
"Mining of all kinds; manufacturing
of all kinds; transportation of goods
merchandise or passengers upon land
or water; building Iiouscb, structures,
vessels, ships, boats, railroads, en-
gines, ears or other equipment, warfs
or docks; constructing, maintaining
and operating railroads (othqr than
railroads within the state of New Jer-
sey), steamship lines, vessel lines or
other lines for transportation, and the
purchase, improvements or sale of
land."
There is reason to believe that var-
ious existing industries will soou gath-
er under the sheltering wings of this
expansive coporation. Some idea of
pany, capitalized at 818,000,000, and
the Knit Goods company, with $.'10,000,-
000, both recent organizations. The
Tobacco trust is now assisting in float-
ing a new corporation—the Continental
—to control the factories making plug
tobacco, capitalizing it at 875,000,000.
One of the largest of all trusts is in
process of formation by owners of the
great flour mills in this country. A
capitalization of 8150,000,000 it pro-
posed for it
New Jersey and West Virginia are
conspicuous among the states that in-
vite great combinations of capital by
liberal incorporation laws. More largo
industrial companies, commonly de- production of anthracite coal and fixes
Carnegie Steel Co 25,000,000
Merchants Steel trust 25,000,000
Illinois Steel Co 18,650,000
Lake Superior Consolidated
mines 30,000,000
American Steel & Wire Co.. 10,0')0,0:)0
Lorain Steel Co., (Johnson
company) 9,000,000
Colorado Fuel and Irom .. 13,000,000
Total $317,050,000
One of the most notable railroad and
industrial combinations in the world
for many years has been the anthracite
coal pool, which, by a tacit and care-
fully guarded agreement, limits the
to regulate the output and prices
Following are the names of the princi-
pal coal combinations
Capital.
Anthracite coal pool. 8100,000,00<
Bituminous coal pool 25,000,00(
Tennessee coal and iron.... 20,000,00C
Consolidated Coal Company
(Maryland) 10,000,00(
Colorado coal & iron devel-
opment company G,500,00(
Total capital ization 8101,750,00C
In almost every American city of im-
portance there is a gat trust, and in
certain sections of the country these
trusts control the illuminating gaa
companies of whole states.
The following shows the aggregate
amount of capital concentrated in the
various trusts of the country:
The oil trusts. 8150,000,000
Steel and iron 347,050,000
Coal combines 161,750,000
Gas trusts 432,771,900
Havemever s sugar trust.. 115,000,000
Cigarettes and tobacco.... 108,500,000
Control of the telephone... 56,720,30C
Alcoholic trusts 67,300,000
Electrical combinations... 139,327,00c
Miscellaneous trusts 1,334,250,000
Grand total $2,702,708,300
It would be difficult to estimate the
actual value of the proparty represent-
ed by this vast niass of bonds and
stocks. When an individual mauufac*
turer or miner sells his property to the
promoters of a "combiue," he natural-
ly puts a very high valuation upon it.
When the combine then organizes into
a trust and issues its securities—or in-
securities—to be sold to the public, it
usually gives about "three for one" in
paper, so that the originaily high val-
uations is trebled in the capitalization.
This makes "enough to go round," and
it only remains to got the shares
"listed," on a stock exchange and
"rig the market" until they are un-
loaded on the public.—Boston Herald.
to present the methods of operation o
.he Chicago Grain trust iu a few col-
umns, but references are here made to
Important features of it, with existing
.•esultH, in the hope that some reader
may profit by a knowledge of them.
The Chicago Public Warehouse Com-
bination is made up of English. New
I York and Chicago capital, and is sup-
' ported by the western railroads enter-
• ing Chicago. The objects of this trust
' are:
1. To set as agents of railroad in-
terests to draw grain to Chicago, thus
preventing its diversion to any inter-
mediate junction point to some other
Hue, which might cut short the full
freight for the longest possible haul on
the original road.
To mix, manipulate, sort and manu-
facture untold quantities of inferior
grades of gi\ in into those improved
grades which will apply "on contract
under the rules of the board of trade,
and s'*Jl them for future delivery. This
grain is so manufactured as to barely
pass inspection in such improved
grades, the object being to make them
as undesirable as possible to the pur-
:haser, in order to force its eontinu-
ince iu the elevators, to accumulate
itorage charges, rather than seek
ihipment and consumption.
3. To block the natural flow of com-
merce, and hoard millions upon mil-
ions of bushels at market centers to
depress prices; for being carriers of
the trust.
It should not be overlooked that
public grain warehousemen are ser-
vants of the people, licensed by the
state, created by virtue of the necessi-
ties of commerce, who, while author-
ized by law to act as custodians only,
usurp their duties, form a trust, and
year by year kill the interests of pro-
ducers who create them.
When it is clearly understood that
they are the greatest factors in the
pits at the market centers, shaping
values of crops annually of 3,500,000,-
000 of bushels, worth from ouc to two
billion dollars, our farmers aud labor-
ers should open their eyes for light;
and especially so when the motto of
the trust is, "the lower prices, the
larger cur profits.'" Who guards the
farmer's interest in the market, where
to a large extent values are made?
The man who owes a parting shot it
never pressed for payment
Every hitne the wind raises a dis-
turbance is is sure to blow about It.
As a matter of course the spread
ragle speakers are all in favor of ah-
texation.
The man who is fcsrless can go
through twice as much trouble as a
toward.
Head the Advertisements.
You will enjoy this publication much
better if you will get in the habit ol
reading the advertisements; they will
afford a most interesting study and
tome excellent bargains. Our adver-
tisers are reliable, aud send what they
advertise.
A wise word to the foolish is some
limes sufllcient.
Heolth is better than wealth, but
In 18U6 iu a civil suit before the cir- , the latter is always an interesting in
euit court, Judgo Tuley decided that a ***!'&•
public warehouseman could not deal in
grain. The trial before this eminent
jurist was a most thorough investiga-
tion of the legal rights of public ser-
vants, iu the form of monopoly, to
crush the very life blood out of Amerl-
e .a producers.
This trust found it had no standing
before an honest court, but emerging
from a generally conceded boodle leg-
islature, to which they fled for protee- !
tion, they now carry the flag of tri- j
uniph and as it were, plant it on the
very house-tops, as a souvenir of their
victory and the traitors who sold out
to them.
No better illustration of the failure
of our representative system of gov-
ernment can be shown than this act of
the last Illinois legislature. In the
face of an able opinion by a learned
and elllcient judge, pending the decis
THE EXCELLENCE OF SYRIP OF FIGS
is due not only to the originality and
simplicity of the combination, but also
to the care and skill with which it is
manufactured by scientific processes
known to the California Fig Syrup
Co. only, and we wish to impress upon
Train for storage, pending the time of j ion of a higher cmirt*. and fearful of its j all the importance of purchasing the
Future delivery, for which the product, verdict our representative, misrepre- j
ire sold, it. is evident that the lower sented the public by 4egal,zing a ays- « tho CJALI£0UNI * Fl0 Strup go.
',hey can get the values of the crops, tcm fa.-* more injurious to the welfare only, a knowledge of that fact will
■lie less the insurance, interest, and j "f the whole people, than that against B99ist one in avoiding the worthless
Jther charges necessary to hold them, which our forefathers fought ia 1770. [ Imitations manufactured by other par-
.'onsequentlv the larger the profits. It j Human liberty was not consummated | ties. The high standing of the Cai.i-
. , . . • vln.n rnrnw.illit surrendered his sword FOHNIA Flo SvitUP Co. with tho medi-
msrht be btatcd also that the tor:ige i .vnen Larnwauis suricnueiea msswora . , . .
iharges always remain the same, not j to Washington, or when protection to
Jepreciating in proportion to any dc- Amewcan seamen was guatanteed in K[ven mMjons Gf families, makes
uct. This 1813, or when Lee bowed to lirant at uam0 of the Company a gi:
;line in the value of the prodn
system of hoarding grain aud selling
for future delivery most seriously
tends to drive away and discourage
investors, and buyers, who aro the
farmers' best support. It forces them
to liquidate or sell out to the trust
when their securities arc exhausted
by depression in the markets. The
warehouse men then proceed to repeat
the same same on a new set of buyers
who aie under the impression that
grain is a "good purchase;" thus per-
petuating an endless chain of forced the principal buyers and sellers on the
"liquidations.This storage load also j Chicago market and upon the Chicago i
Mjcourages professional bear raiders, board of trade; that by reason of the
md buckct-shops, whose success is 1 advantages they possess, and by reason
at Appomattox.
Judge Tuley fearlessly set forth his
views on the rights of public ware-
housemen as graiu dealers as the fol-
lowing will prove:
"The great weight of the evidence it
to the effect that the warehousemen of
Chicago did not commence to so deal
in grain to any general extent until j
about the year 1885; that the practice
lias grown so rapidiy that now and for
two or three years last past they are
s Company a guaranty
of the excellence of its remedy. It is
far In advance of all other laxatives,
as it acts on the kidneys, liver and
bowels without irritatiug or weaken-
ing them, and it does not gripe nor
nauseate. In order to get its beneficial
effects, please remember the name of
Mie Company —
CALIFORNIA FIG SYRUP CO.
SAX FRANCISCO, Cal.
LOUISVILLE. Uy.
nicvt york, n. t.
jiadc possible to a large extent by the
aperations of the trust. These three
gigantic interests, elevator and rail-
road monopoly, bucket-shops and bear
•aiders, thrive on low prices. Farmers,
merchants, laborers and all others suf-
ii(-inmated trusts, have been incorpara-
ted in New Jersey within the last few
years than iu all of the other states
combined.
The Standard Oil company, being the
most conspicuous, far-reaching and
powerful of the trade eombinatious,
naturally commands first attention in
its price. Recently there have bceu
indications that some of the parties to
the pool have exceeded the proportions
allotted to them and have not strictly
maintained the price agreed upon. The
compact among the companies was so-
cured in the first instance by J. 1\ Mor-
gan, and in the denial that this corn-
It is atrange that papers and politi-
cians who pretend to believe that our
government is not competent to suc-
cessfully own and operate railroads at
home, deem it competent to construct
aud operate the Nicarague caual. The
only reason for this is the fact that
the moneyed interests of this country
are more directly concerned in oper-
ating the railroads and robbing the
people, hence influence the politicians
and the press in their interest. The
money required iu constructing tho
Nicaragua canal would construct and
equip a double track railroad from the
Pacific to the Atlantic, which, if run
b3T the government in the interest of
the people, would be many times over
more advantageous to the people than
would tho canal if it could be con-
structed for the sum contended, and
would l e all its promoters claim for it,
which is very doubtful.—News, Tulare,
California.
of ccrtain changes in the graiu trade,
they have practically driven out of
business the class of men who were
before they engaged in buying and
shipping grain on the Chicago market.
And it i6 admitted that they have
dealt in grain to the extent that they
now own st least three-quarters of all
the grain stored in tho public ware-
houses of the city of Chicago, and it
also appears by the evidence that they
4. To kill natural competition. It
s quite generally believed that 7."> to 05
*er cent of the grain now handled
•hrough these public warehouses 6oon- , ,, . , ,
® . 4, . . 4, ! are fast monopolizing the business of
tr or later becomes the property of the . , , , .
„ . 4l , dealing in grain in the Chicago mar-
hrarehousemen, Being- thus allied , " * b
fvith the railroad interests, as explain-
Sd previously, they are shown special
ket.
"The defendant is created and li-
censed to carry on the specific business
of a public warehouse and to use its
property for that purpose. Being li-
censed for one purpose, created by the
Not a Qut«t rinA*.
"I don't p"e as Philadelphia Is 5*
staid and quiet. Do you?" "Why no;
the streets arc never still, for they run
In all directions."—Chicago Record.
the enumeration of trusts. It is the : pact had any legaj existence originated
tvpical trust, although specifically aud | the phrase, "An agreement among gen-
peremptorily forbidden by law from : tlemen." Tho producers and carriers
being a trpst This co-nbination con- j of bituminous coal also have their pool
\ unurl
"James feels pretty sure about lo^
ing his job, doesn't he?" "I imaglnt
so: but ho tries to seem re^igm^d,**—
New York Evening Sun
favor in the matter of elevator-facili-
ties, in many cases without charge, j
and while the original intention of the
itato law was that of simply h custo- ,
iian of the grain of the public, they J
aow transcend that duty, and compete
with the public as merchandisers of
Lhe crops. The public pays full stor-
ige rates, probably tho most excessive
;n the world, and tho warehousemen,
none. It would be jnsl as reasonable , . ,
. . * r* 4. \\r i i in exercising this 'sort of public of-
for the Chicago Sc Great Western road i _ . . ...
to enter the grain trade and make
own rates of freight to itself, as a
grain merchant, as against tiie people
who pay tariff rates
POTATOES
heniout to be sprouted
on share*. Noexp®-
rleooe required i i-
rcctloat for •prouiLig
FREE WITH ORDER.
T. J. SKi^NER, Columbus, Kan.
CURE YOURSELF!
Use lil# U fur uunaturtl
dlBtliart;*!. tutiumniationi.
I irritations or ulcerations
of in ii i o u s tneinbraiiM
aiaftoo. rainless, and not astrlu-
iCHtmojLCo. or potronoui. •
I Kuld by DroffflsU,
1 nr Bent In plain wrapper,
by AxpriMs, prepaid, for
ti 00. or 3 bottles, f: 75
Circular scot on rsqosst
PENSIONS, PATENTS, CLAIMS.
JOHNW MORRIS. WASHINGTON. D. 0.
Lali PrtnrwLl E.Iialr.r iT'fl. r.n.lou Bursau.
8 jTvtn ia i war,14adjudtoatlug claims,atiy sluca.
\f AXTED rase of bad health that R I P A N S
will not benefit. Send 3 cents to Ulpan* 1 hen; '-al
Co yaw York, for 10 samples and l.uuu testlmon! ia.
nonDGV r<EW WSC0VEPY: c''«
W! t"^ 2^ ■ QUlck relief and cures worsj
constitution and the lavr for the speci- Bend for book of testimonialsi and i o dayr
fi, business, it not opposed to public |Kit—tFr...
policy that this defendant should car-
ry on in competition with the general
public another and different business
in which its interests must necessarily
be brought into conflict with its duties
| fice?"'—S. H. Greeley, member of tha
j Chicago Board of Trade, in Farmers
I Voice.
Inquiry will prove that competition
for the crops is already nearly extinct,
and that the trust at no distant day
will set its own price, not only for the
grain sent to market, but force a vulue
on that much larger volume which re-
mains unsold on the farm.
Two things must be done—educate
*nd organize tho masses tell the far-
mers what forces are at work to make
their products sell under cost of pro-
dnction, and force them to mortgage
their farms. Inform manufacturers
why there is no demand for their goods
with millions of producers struggling
for a mere subsistence. Enlighten la-
borers as to the causes for their dis-
Can any one remember ever having ■
heard a chapter read from the epistle j
of St. James in any of the churches? |
St. James was pretty hard on tho rich j
plutocrats of his day and he seems to [
bo altogether out of placo in modern
Christianity. It was he who said:
"What doth it profit though a man say
he hath faKh. and hnvo not worlts? ■
Can faith save him?" The following
verse if read in some of the plutocratio I
churches would create a stampede:
"Behold the hire of the laborers who
have reaped down your fields, which is
by you kept back by fraud, crieth; and
the cries of them that have reaped
have entered into the ears of the Lord
W.N. U.-WICH1TA.-NO. 53-1893
i'hea Answering Advertisements Hiodly
Mention This Taner.
man who seeks your
view; the
charge in "dull times." Let farmers of sabaoth.
As a rule th
friendship has a motive in
woman who does so usually has two or
three of them.
It's poor polioy to live on the fat of
your land if there's a lien on it.
The new silk skirts make as much
noise as a pair of celluloid cutis.
You can always tell a turkey s ago
by the teeth-your teeth, not the tur-
key's.
Courtship and romance are morojn-
Jerastlug lhan marriag
?e and history.
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Allan, John S. The Peoples Voice (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 7, No. 23, Ed. 1 Friday, December 30, 1898, newspaper, December 30, 1898; Norman, Oklahoma Territory. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc115855/m1/3/: accessed March 19, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.