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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (June 15, 1899)
"Cbc Conservative. TKAWK , TRUSTS AN1 > TARIFFS. The nmnufnctnro of iron is of roinoto t antiquity. It is spoken of in several plnces in the Pen Iron. tateuch , also in 'tnaa flUO Prophecies. Old English " " nlsobufc tnuiBlrttaodb PP k of "stccl" nlso- erroneoudy : t ir Hebrew word really -.means "bras * . " Homer , Hesoid and Aristotle have a good deal to say of iron. Founding or casting iron is a compara tively recent , invention , jto is true that an iron statue has been .discovered in Egypt which was probably manufac tured afc least three thousand five hun dred years ago , and a recently found statue of Hercules must antedate the Christian era seven hundred years , but the metal is malleable and believed to have been forged. The first castings that we have record of were made to wards the close of the 15th century , and it was not until well on in the 18th that . coke was first used for casting iron , an- thnurto being introduced about 1820. Iron niusfc have been made in immense -quantities by the Romans. Twenty ' , blast furnaces in Germany were supplied for two hundred years from cinders left 1 by the Roman iron works , over which a : great forest had grown , but these fur- : uaces were very primitive and a ton per ( day was considered a very good yield. ] Indeed from the earliest records three t thousand years ago down to the 17tb but slight improve- ( century , there was jment made in the mode of converting iiron from the ore , and the same methods are yet pursued in India , Madagascar and other eastern nations. The style of furnace now used was invented about tlie year 1825. The progress in shaping wrought or malleable iron was about as slow. It was not till the year 1783 that grooved rolls were invented. Up to that date iron bars were forged , and according to . . the best obtainable data , until the 17th i century the total yearly amount of iron -.manufactured in the world -did not fjwxl the product of one of our im proved furnaces today. But it is of the present situation I propose to speak now. Official statistics with regard to the foundry industry are disappointingly scarce. Inthecen- FoumlrieH. ' ' . BU8r0ports''found. lies nud machine shops" appear to gether. The proportion of iron used in foundry castings is about one-fifth in Germany ; though not ascertained foi other countries , we may accept the same fraction as holding approximately true everywhere. Applying it to our Ameri can production , we infer that this coun try thus uses over 2,000,000 tons of pig iron annually. The product of our found ries has hitherto been consumed within the country , our export being , uuti within the last year or two , insignificant export is mainly of pipe , but also * > V ncluded builders' hardware and malle- ables. The condition of productive business s so much of the time unsatisfactory , and the difficulty of finding a market so serious for the producer , that wo warmly velconie a season of brisker demand , teer payments , orders crowding upon is and better opportunities for the dis position of our wares , and we all rejoice n the good times of the year 1899. We have had good times before in 1872 , for instance , and ' 79 to ' 81 , and ' 91 ; o ' 98 , and we too well remember the dreary depressions by which they were followed. If disasters like those are now to bo avoided , it can only be > y taking careful account of every 'ea'ture in the present situation from which a warning can be drawn. Our ; rado is prosperous as a whole. The narked improvement began in 1897 when we broke all previous records in exports of domestic merchandise , ship ping f ton hundred and eighty mil- ion dollars worth , In 1808 United States exports exceeded twelve hundred and thirty-three million , those of manu factures forming one-fourth of this total or three hundred and eight million dol- ars worth 10 % above the highest pre vious figure. All iron and steel wares shared this increase. By this time our exports exceed $70,000,000 worth annu ally , more than five times the value of our imports ; twenty years ago the fig ures were almost exactly reversed , the exports of iron and steel manufactures amounting to barely one-fifth of the im ports. The value of agricultural ma chinery exported , for instance , rose from $5,808,000 in ' 97 to $9,078,000 in ' 98 , or about 70 % . Exports of plows nearly doubled from ' 97 to ' 98 , while those of mowers and reapers more than doubled. Our production of pig iron , for no pre vious year so high as ten million tons , last year reached 11,700,000 tons , exceed ing the British output by 50 % and nearly equaling the whole world out side of great Britain. This increase in production was accompanied by decid edly sharper demand and continually rising prices. The present year has brought nothing thus far to discourage , everything to stimulate that industry. If production continues at present rates , a total output exceeding 18,000,000 tons may be realized ; prices are still boom ing , the increase since last summer be ing 55 % on pig and 70 to 100 % on pipe , rolled iron and steel ; altogether , the op portunities afforded to iron production by the present situation are simply un- equaled. What is known as the problem of trusts is in its essence whether the besl opportunities shal TriiKtK. . f fall to few or many ; and it is made more difficult by the amount that can bo said both for and against the organizations called by that name. The movement against trusts has been long and earnestly pushed by intelligent people , and yet so 'ar from having made any progress , it ias never lacked so much of success as t lacks today. Trusts have never be fore hold their ground so triumphantly or made so many invasions of new terri- ; ory. The combat against them is grow- ugmore and more difficult year by year , indicating that wo have not found the proper method of attack , or have 'ailed to discover their source of power. But before we can safely enter the ists against an enemy , it is well to know something about him ; in what ways he may be dangerous and in what ways harmless or helpful. With no more knowledge of trusts than is dis played by many who talk about them , ightiug would bo only striking out in the dark. The fact is that , technically speaking , there are now few if any trusts in the United States. That form of industrial combination was once pre valent , but it has substantially disap peared. We used to have trusts that s to say , associations of corporations or firms entrusting their management to a board of trustees that carried on opera- ions and divided profits. But these have given place to consolidated corpor ations , smaller concerns passing into arger , without assuming a new charac- ; er or modifying their corporate func tions in any way. This change , first in voked by hostile legislation , admirably suited the purpose of the trusts them selves ; their consolidation grew more complete , and closer unity gave greater power , while the desirability of avoiding difficulties by abandoning the trust form , while holding fast to every advantage it afforded , was quite evident. In fact , while laws to limit trusts may be quite constitutional , it is difficult to see how a law to prevent corporations from consol idating could stand. It would be too much like an attack on property rights , which necessarily include the right to sell , and hence to buy out other people. Whether we have trusts to deal with , however , or giant corporations under another name , need not much concern us ; we are considering the thing rather than the designation. But it is inter esting to observe how superficial the change that enables these collossal in dustrial combinations to escape all the trouble that legislation has prepared for them ; it thus appears how ineffectual any "anti-trust law" must ever be to contend against them. Furthermore , in order to understand the real nature of these combinations , it . is essential to dis- , , , The Combine. . . . , , , tinguish the good from the evil in them. Our most dan gerous enemies have their better side "there is a soul of goodness in things evil. " Trust is a Christian virtue ; only those who have learned how to trust will combine. In the first place , there is sometimes reason for the claim that "trusts make things cheaper. " But the