The Peoples Voice (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 7, No. 30, Ed. 1 Friday, February 17, 1899 Page: 3 of 10
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eSS
GeorgeYAshington 11 -
THE GROWTH OF TRUSTS.
THE VEAR 1898 SHOWS AN EN-
ORMOUS INCREASE.
Til* Newly ( ouililiiftl CmiMrM Have mii
AEKr«>Kntril ('t|iiUlitiitloii of More
Thau a Minuter of a Million IKil-
Unk
CUSTIS WAS IN LOVE.
WASHINGTON WAS OBLIGED TO
LET HIM MARRY.
Tim (harm* of Nelly Calvert — Tliey
Mere More Potent Thin the Agril
Hero's Wliliea—Old Letter* la Colum-
bia's Archives lteveul Facts.
LD letters, just un-
earthed from the
archives of Colum-
bia unive r s 11 y,
throw a new and
charming light up-
on the character of
George Washing-
ton. They show
that ho was a
warm friend of the
college and that
he once Journey thither from Vir-
ginia to place his adopted son,
young Custis, under the care of
the professors. Custis, however, did
not graduate from King's college,
as Columbia was then called. He
had fallen in love with Nelly Cal-
vert, daughter of Benedict Calvert,and
ended his studies abruptly to marry
the girl of his choice. The story
of Washington's connection with the
college, which incidentally reveals
much about the father of his country
as the father of a family and some-
thing of college life during the last
century, is best told in his letters to
the Rev. Dr. Cooper, president of
King's college, and to Mr. Calvert.
The first letter, dated April 3, 1773. is
from Washington to Mr. Calvert, and
reads as follows:
"I am now set down to write to you
on a subject of importance and of no
small embarrassment to me. My son-
in-law and ward, Mr. Custis, has, as I
have been informed, paid his addresses
to your second daughter, and having
made some progress in her affections,
has solicited her in marriage. How
far a union of this sort may be agree-
able to you you best can tell; but I
should think myself wanting in can-
dor were I not to confess that Miss
Nelly's amiable qualities are acknowl-
edged on all hands and that an alli-
ance with your family will be pleasing
to his."
But the couple was very young, and
the letter goes on to recommend a
postponement for two or three years,
In which time Mr. Custis "might pros-
ecute his studies and render himself
more deserving of the lady and useful
to society."
That Mr. Calvert acquiesced in this
view is probable. In a letter of April
13, to Lord Dunmore, governor of Vir-
ginia, Washington bids him farewell
in these words: "The design of my
Journey to New York is to take my
son-in-law, Mr. Custis, to King's col-
lege. If your lordship, therefore, has
any commands I shall think myself
honored in being the bearer of them."
By the end of the next month the
young man was duly entered as a stu-
dent, and Washington departed from
New York, leaving a letter to Dr.
Ill'
UJWSr
WASHINGTON TAKES HIS STEP-
SON TO COLLEGE.
Cooper behind him, which serves ad
mirably to illustrate his paternal solic-
itude. A verbatim copy of this letter
reads:
"New York, 31 May, 1773.—Reverend
Sir: Inclosed you have a set of bills for
£100, which please to set at the pre-
vailing exchange and retain the money
In your own hands to answer Mr. Cus-
tis' expensen at college and such calls
as he may have for cash to defray the
incident expenses of his abode in this
city,
"In respect to the first article of
charge, I submit wholly to your better
Judgment, under a firm belief of your
adopting such measures as will most
contribute to promote the principal end
of Mr. Custis' coming here, not re-
garding the extra charge incurred to
the accomplishment of it. In regard
to the second, as I do not know what
sum he ought, with propriety, to ex-
pend in such a place as New York, I
shall not undertake to determine it,
but hope, if, contrary to my expecta-
tion, you should find him inclined to
run into any kind of extravagance you
will be so good, by your friendly ad-
monition, as to check its progress.
"As Mr. Custis may probably want
clothing and other necessaries, you
will please to establish a credit in his
behalf with such merchants as you
can recommend, and when the deposit
now lodged with you is expended in
tills and other payments, be so good
as to transmit to me a copy of the dis-
bursements, and I shall furnish you
with other bills whereby to lay in a
new fund.
"I have nothing further to add at
present, except that at the next vaca-
tion, or at any other time, I shall
think myself happy in seeing you in
DR. COOPER ESTABLISHES A
CREDIT FOR MR. CUSTIS.
Virginia, and that I am with very
great respect and esteem, your most
obedient serv't.
"GEORGE WASHINGTON.
"To Rev. Dr. Cooper, president of
King's college."
Although this is not the kind of let-
ter that President Cooper's successor
of today would be likely to receive, it,
nevertheless, shows the young man
entering college with good prospects of
staying.
But barely six months later love got
the better of learning, and Dr. Cooper
was addressed again in these terms:
"Mount Vernon, 15 Dec., 1773.—Rev-
erend Sir: The favorable account,
which you were pleased to transmit to
me, of Mr. Custis' good conduct at col-
lege, gave me very great satisfaction.
I hoped to have felt an increase of it
by his continuance at that place un-
der a gentleman so capable of instruct-
ing him in every branch of useful
knowledge. But this hope is at an
end, and it has been against my
wishes that he should quit college in
order that he may soon enter into a
new scene of life for which he would
be much fitter some years hence. But
having his own inclination, the desires
of his mother and the acquiescence of
almost all his relatives to encounter,
I did not care, as he is the last of the
family, to push my opposition too far,
and I have therefore submitted to a
kind of necessity.
"Not knowing how his expenses at
college stand I shall be much obliged
if you will render me an account of
them. You will please to charge lib-
erally for your own particular atten-
tion to Mr. Custis and sufficiently re-
ward the other gentlemen who were
engaged in the same good offices. If
the money with you is insufficient to
answer these purposes, please to ad-
vise me thereof and I will remit the
deficiency.
"I am very sorry it was not in my
power to see you whilst in these parts.
I thank you very sincerely, sir, for
your polite regard to Mr. Custis dur-
ing his abode at college, and through
you beg leave to offer my Lcknowl-
j edgments in like manner to the pro-
I fessors. With very great esteem and
regard, reverend sir, I am your most
obedient humble servant.
"GEORGE WASHINGTON.
"Reverend Dr. Cooper, president of
King's College."
Less than two months later the mar-
riage of young Custis to Miss Nelly
Calvert took place. This ended Wash-
ington's connection with King's col-
lege until the revolution, when his
troops were quartered in the halls in
which he had placed his stepson.
Knockcd Washington Down.
Washington was an eminently fair
man. He had a quick temper, but as
a rule he kept it under control. Some-
times, however, it got the best of him.
This was the case once in Alexandria.
One of the county officers told me the
story as we stood on the second floor
of the market house in Alexandria
and looked down at the open court
within *i, which is now filled with
hundreds of booths where the farm-
ers wring their products for sale on
market days. "It was on that spot,"
said the officer, "Washington was
knocked down by Lieut. Payne. Payne
was a candidate for the legislature
against Fairfax of Alexandria. Wash-
ington supported Fairfax, and when
he met Payne here, he made a remark
that Payne considered an insult, and
Payne knocked him down. The story
went like lightning through the town
that Col. Washington was killed, and
some of his troops who were stationed
at Alexandria rushed in and would
have made short work of Payne had
Washington not prevented them. He
pointed to his black eye and told them
that this was a personal matter and
that he knew how to handle it. Every
one thought that this meant a duel.
1 he next day Payne got a note from
Washington asking him to'come to
the hotel. He expected a duel, but
went. Washington, however, was in
an amiable mood. He felt that he had
been in the wrong, and said, 'Mr.
Payne, I was wrong yesterday, but if
you have had sufficient satisfaction,
let us be friends.' There was a de-
canter of wine and two glasses on the
table which Washington had ordered
to smooth over the quarrel. The twe
drank together and became such
strong friends after that that Payne
was one of the pallbearers at Washing-
ton's funeral."
The ltirliest Alan of Him Time.
As the years went on Washington's
lands increased in value, and when he
died, he was one of the richest men of
his time. He owned lands and stock
and negroes, and his estates amounted
( to thousands of acres. He had houses
j in Alexandria and property in Wash-
ington. He had valuable lands near
the present site of Pittsburg. He was
throughout his life a money-maker,
and i was y>ld at Alexandria that
when he was a boy he got $5 a day and
upward for his surveying. He put his
surplus money into lands, and an ad-
vertisement in a Baltimore paper of
1773 states that he had 20,000 acres of
land for sale on the Ohio river. His
will, which is now kept about twenty
miles from Washington, in the safe of
the old court house at Fairfax, Va.,
gives a detailed statement of every ar-
ticle he possessed down to the calves
and sheep. His personal estate was
then put down at $532,000, and this In-
cluded a vast amount of tobacco, large
numbers of cattle, sheep and horses,
nearly all of which he willed to his
wife. This will is now kept in a
wooden box, the top of which is cover-
ed with glass.
Washington a* a Drinking Man.
Every one drank in the days of
Washington, and the father of his
country always had wines upon his ta-
ble. I have nowhere seen it stated
that he ever drank to excess, although
he usually consumed five glasses of
Madeira wine at dessert. During his
youth he was a very fair politician,
and among the items of his election
expenses when he was a candidate for
the house of burgesses of Virginia
were a hogshead and a barrel of whis-
ky, thirty-five gallons of wine and
forty-three gallons of beer..
A wife should not expect her hus-
band to be light-hearted if her biscuits
ar« heavy.
Everywhere the big is gobbling- up
the little. Syndicate office buildings,
department stores and apartment
houses are now the rule in cities, and
ire producing great economic ami soci-
al results. Everything is being done
on a large scale and by syndicate*.
Even fish are caught and canned by
syndicates and combines. About the
only important industry in which gen-
uiue competition still exists is that of
agriculture.
The new concerns incorporated dur-
ing tlie twelve months will be seen to
have an aggregated capital izatioi of
more than a quarter of a billion dol-
lurs. This, of course, is a very differ-
ent thing from a capital of that
amount, and represents merely the
quantity of paper certificates in the
form of shares which these trusts have
caused to bo printed and hope to dis-
pose of to the public. Since the open-
ing of the new year the number of new
trusts incorporated or projected has
multiplied, and the reactionary effect i
seen the dispatches from state capital
announcing the introduction of legisla-
tion intended to check their growing
power.
The common law makes every com-
bination that is in restraint of trade,
and therefore contrary to public policy,
a crime. In addition, we have had no
end of particular statutes passed by
htate legislatures and by the general
government against trusts. But stat-
ues, the decisions of the courts and
the efforts of the federal government
itself have all proven inadequate to
check the tendency of capitalists to
consolidate for the purpose of abolish-
ing competition. But a stronger law
than the statute law and ope which
cannot be evaded has doomed many of
the trusts todissolution in the past and
will operate with like effect upon many
of those being organized today, and
that is the natural law of trade.
The prolific parent of the trusts has
been the protective tariff, which, by an
unhealthy stimulus to the establish-
ment of industrial facilities in excess
of demand, has driven the manufactur-
ers in self-defense to avoid destructive
competition by these agreements for
the curtailment of excessive produc
tion. But the trouble with the trust is
that, like its parent, the protective
tariff, it by establishing artificial con-
ditions and artiffcally maintaining
prices offers a premium to others bet-
ter equipped to enter into the same
lield.
Take, for instnnce, the Nail Trust
established a few years si go. A very
high duty upon nails had excluded tin
foreign product and guaranteed to tin
domestic manufacturer a price which
tempted others to enter into that busi
ness. When the Trust was formed it
for a time controlled the output and
was enabled toexact from the domestic
consumer preposterously high prices,
ivhile at the same time it was cxport-
ng vast quantities to be sold in Europe
it less than half of the charge exacted
from the customers at home. What
followed as a result of this? New nail
mills sprang up all over the country
and competed for the abnormal prices,
and presently the output was too large
to be controlled by the Trust, which
promptly went to smash, leaving the
persons who infested in its shares to
mourn.
This is typical of the experience of
a vast number of the trusts. The Cor-
dage Trust is still remembered with a
Bhudder by investors and speculators.
The fate of the Whisky Trust, the Wall
Paper Trust and no end of others
teaches the same lesson. For a time
one of these companies may hold the
public at its mercy, unless the law in
terferes to disturb its operations, but
in the long run the exaction of an arti-
ficial price is certain to invite competi-
tion, and this is the beginning of the
end.
In theory the combination of a large
number of individuals or companies en-
gaged in the same line of trade or in-
dustry, is commendable so long as there
is no attempt to create a monoply with
power to dictate prices of products or
commodities. The tendency now for a
quarter of a ceutury has been toward
lower prices, and the margin of profit
iu nearly all lines of busine^ is so
small that it becomes necessary to
manufacture or trade on a very much
larger scale than formerly in order to
realize anjrthing like the returns here-
tofore obtained. Iu actual practice,
however, it seems impossible, to avoid
over-capitalization of the trusts.
In the first place each individual or
corporate owner of a plant naturally
appraises his property at a very extra-
vagant figure on putting it into the
combination. The promoters usually
exact enormous prices for their s rvices
| in bringing about the "deal." When
the estimated value of all is made up
it becomes necessary to add a large
imount for working capital, and then
.11 fixing upon the amount of stock to
3e issued, and which the participants
ire to expect in payment for their
plants they naturally allot themselves
an amount of stock enormously fcTeatef
than tha actual valuation, owing to the
uncertainty of the price which they
will be able to realize for theae shares
in the market. Iu the organization of
industrial companies, therefore three
dollars or more in shares have been al-
loted for every dollar of actual prop-
erty embraced in the combination.
Very often several plants are covered
with mortgages, which the trust, iu
addition, is compelled to assume. The
difficulty of earning dividcuds upon
this frightfully expanded capi-
talization is a source of great weakness
from the start, ami aa the poorer or lest
advantageously situated plants are
usually closed down in order to restrict
production and make it possible to reg-
ulate the prices the average trust is
handicapped with a large quautity of
this "dead wood." At the same time it
happens that the most effective com-
petitors iu a given lime of business de-
cline to enter the combination, the
weaker ones and those with obsolete
machinery naturally being the first to
embrace the opportvnity to sell out by
entering the combination.
For* time the trust, if it be not too
greedy, as in thceaseof the Nail Trust,
has things its own way, as new compe-
titors perhaps enter the field but slow-
ly, but iu due course they do, because
they are assured of either beingbou?ht
up by the trust at their own price or
continuing in business to take advan-
tage of the prices secured to them by
the trust maintaining prices at a level
high enough to make a return on its
unwieldly capital.
Thus from the moment of its organ-
ization a greedy trust has within itself
the elements which are destined to
cause its dissolution. It is only a ques-
tion of time and the length of its career
can be measured by ttie skill of its man-
ager and the amount of premium
which it indircctly offers to a new com-
petitor. We have had ample illustra-
tion of the operation of this law, aud
in it there is comfort for the public, dis-
gusted as it is with the thus far vain
efforts to curb these combinations
tlirough the power of the government
and the courts.
It is hardly necessary to say that the
word trust is no longer confined to its
original meaning, aud that, strictly
speaking, there are today no trusts—
that is, combinations of corporations
with "trustees" holding a majority of
the stocks. "Trusts" are outlawed in
the United States, aud in nearly every
separate state. The object aimed at
by trusts is, however, accomplished as
effectively in other ways; for example,
by the consolidation by competing con-
cerns into out great corporation; or by
pools and agreements, with or without
penalties attached, between the com-
petitors in any industry. The word
"trust," as popularly used, now covers
all combinations or associations form-
ed with a view to control prices, mate*
rials or wages
An idea of the enormous growth ot
trusts in 18l 8 can be formed from a
glance at the subjoined partial list of
trusts formed iu that year. As seen in
the table these ninety odd trusts have
a capital of between 81,'.'00,000,000 and
Si,300,000,000. -Their bonded indebted-
ness will increase the total to over 81,-
500,000,000. A few comparisons will
enable us to grasp the meaning of this
great capital:
The total value of our wheat crop
for 1800 is placed at 8310,605,539—less
than one-thirdof the capital of the lS'jj
trusts.
The value of all horses in the United
States in 1897 was estimated at J452,-
640,306.
The value of our mineral products in
1896 was $623,717,288.
The value of our sheep in 1897 wai
only 867,020,942,
The value of our milch cows in 1S91
was 8369,239,993.
The value of sugar consumed in this
country is now about 8220,000,000 a
year.
The total of wages paid in the sugar
refining industry is about 82,000,000—
less than one six-hundredth of the new
trust capital of 1898.
The Ohio anti-trust law, passed last
winter, is to be tested in a peculiar
way. The law is supposed to make
labor unions unlawful, and this phase
of the question is to be tested. Attor-
ney Greene,representing what is known
as the Independent Carpenters' Union,
filed an affidavit with the police court
clerk of Columbus for the arrest of Mr.
Frank Westerinan, charging him with
membership in the union. The affidavit
charges him with belonging to a trust
whose purpose it is to obstruct the free
competition of labor. This affects the
entire unionism of the state, and if the
law is upheld all unions will be unlaw-
ful and membership in them a crime. j
There are bankers today who own a
few thousands, who vainly imagine
themselves rich and independent, who
will soon bo clerking for Morgan,
Rothschilds & Co., and they will have
to take just what they can get as a
salary, too. The banking will all be
done through the big eastern houses
and they will only need one small sub-
bank in each town, and the others will
be told to get off the earth. That is
the tendency and where the gold stan-
dard will land us.
If some men had horse sense they'tf
rufl away. )
Miles and Breckinridge Are Cen-
sured Indirectly.
BEEF WAS NOT CHEMICALIZED.
Washisqtox, Fob. 14.—The report
of the war investigation commission,
w hich w as submitted to President Mc-
Kinley last Wednesday, has been made
public. The rc|>ort says, in part:
No testimony has been presented
showing intentional neglect of duty
nor any attempt to serve personal in-
terests. The charges made that the
secretary of war was pecuniarily in-
terested iu contracts, purchases and
other transactions of the war depart-
ment have been thoroughly examined
aud found baseless.
"In the judgment of the committee
there was lacking iu the general ad-
ministration of the War department
during the continuance of the war
with Spain that complete grasp of the
situation which was essential to tho
highest efficiency and discipline of tho
army.
"During the recent war many posi-
tions were filled by the appointment
of civilians to which retired officers
could have brought professional train-
ing, valuable knowledge and largo ex-
perience."
In the matter of regimental officers,
the commission found that all volun-
teer commands officered my nun of
military experience ami training fared
much better than those officered by
amateurs. The soldiers were effect-
ively cared for, enjoyed better health
and were better fed and clothed. A
most important criticism by the com-
mission is as follows:
"The routine work in tho depart-
ments, in our opinion, is far beyond
what is necessary, ami each year
seems to increase it. The methods
employed make it almost impossible
to transact business promptly. The
heads of all departments, officers of
largo depots, chiefs of staff depart-
ments, corps and divisions, have neces-
sarily been obliged to give to details
the time and attention which should
have been given to matters of larger
moment. No well regulated concern
or corporation could transact business
satisfactorily under such regulations
as govern the staff departments, and
the fact that every officer of each of
the staff deprrtments holding a re-
sponsible position has been obliged to
ignore routine demonstrates the neces-
sity of a thorough reform."
"One of the lessons taught by the
war is that the country should here-
after be in a better state of prepara-
tion for war. Suggestions have been
made that large supplies of all the
material not liable to deterioration
should bo kept on hand, to bo con-
tinuously issued and renewed, so that
in any emergency they might be avail-
able. Especially should this be tho
case with such supplies as cannot be
rapidly obtained in open market."
Perhaps the most significant utter-
ance iu the whole document, so far as
concerns the discipline and efficiency
of the army, comes next.
"For many years the divided author-
ity and responsibility in the war de-
partment has produced friction, for
which, in the interest of the service, a
remedy, if possible, should be applied.
The constitution makes the President
the commander-in-chief of the army,
and he cannot transfer that authority
to any other person.
"The President must have the same
power of selection of his general-in-
ef.ief as he has of his secretary of war;
without this there cau be no guaranty
that he will give, or that the Secretary
of War will place in the gcneral-in-
chief that confidence which is neces-
sary to perfect harmony. Neither the
President nor the Secretary of War
should have in the command of the
army an officer who is not working in
harmony with him."
"The commission finds that the in-
spector general's department was not
as efficient as it ought to have been.
There seems to have been question as
to authority by which inspections were
to be ordered. On at least one occa-
sion, May 17, the secretary of war in-
structed she major general command-
ing the army to inspect certain camps,
viz: Those at Chickamauga, Atlanta,
New Orleans, Mobile, Tampa, Miami
and Key West. The major general
did not act upon such instructions,
stating it to be his place to order in-
spection.
On the 21st day of December last,
Major General Nelson A. Miles, upon
the written request of the President
of this commission, appeared before it.
lie refused to be sworn, as all other
witnesses had been, except one, who
affirmed, stating that he would make
his statements without being sworn,
and was responsible for what he said.
Ho proceeded, and for the first time in
the history of this investigation the
allegation was made that refrigerated
beef issued to the troops had been
.•heinically treated.
"The commission is of the opinion
that no refrigerated beef furnished by
contractors and issued to the troops
during the war with Spain was sub-
jucted to or treated with any chem-
icals by the contractors or those in
their employ."
After stating the examinations made
by the commission of the refrigerated
beef, without any trace of chemicals
being found, the report saj's:
The commission after taking up the
subject of canned meats, compliments
the conduct of the pay department-
engineer department, ordnance depart-
ment and medical department. Tho
condition of tho various army camps
was referred to, but no blame was at-
tached to any department for the un-
satisfactory sanitation of some of the
camps, notably Camp Thomas.
An optimist is a married man who
would do it over again.
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Allan, John S. The Peoples Voice (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 7, No. 30, Ed. 1 Friday, February 17, 1899, newspaper, February 17, 1899; Norman, Oklahoma Territory. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc115863/m1/3/?q=War+of+the+Rebellion.: accessed June 25, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.