4 Conservative.
TARIFF TKUSTS.
The sorics of articles upon Tnrriff
Trusts was completed recently by a col
lection of opinions publicly expressed
by eminent Republicans , demanding the
removal of protective duties which fos
ter monopoly. It remains only for mete
to add a few words of comment sum
ming up on behalf of the Now England
Free Trade League , which edited the
sorics.
The writers of these articles set out
fo prove the connection between Pro
tection and Trusts , rather than to dis
cuss the whole Trust question ; and they
have made out a clear case , which more
general discussion has so far been all at
sea and must remain there until the
tariff protection of Trusts has been re
moved. That is the essential first step
to bo taken , and before wo can see how
most effectively to grapple Trusts as
Trusts we must got rid of Trusts as the
beneficiaries of protection.
These writers proved in specific cases ,
the extortions practiced by Trusts whose
products were directly protected by the
tariff , but it was not possible to follow
out all the relations of these Trusts to
others. When Tariff Trusts extort high
and arbitrary prices for galvanized iron ,
for steel sheets , hoops or wire , or for tin
plates , those who control the production
of inferior articles which can be substi
tuted mark up their prices also. So
long as protective duties enable those
monopolies which make machinery and
other finished products to extort their
high prices , they must bear with the
extortions of the trusts which control
the materials they use. It is often in
such hidden corners that the protective
tariff becomes the "Mother of Trusts" ;
and , while some of these children of Pro
tection are encouraged to steal by their
mother , others are unwillingly driven
into combination in self defense ngainst
the favored ones.
In addition to the difficulties arising
from the involved and complicated re
lations of Tariff Trusts , there are the
difficulties of obtaining information. In
most cases those who know either will
not tell , or else try to deceive. In other
cases , however , it is possible to secure
information and fortunately these in
stances are of such prominence that
they furnish overwhelming evidence of
the extortion in which the Trusts and
the protective tariff are partners. Al
though it is not possible , therefore , ac
curately to measure the extent of the
tariff trust extortions , any more than
we can measure the danger of filth and
bad drainage to health , it is plain
enough in both cases that the evils
exist and that their prompt removal is
necessary to clear and purify the air.
The statements made in the League's
series of letters have already been justi
fied in so marked a manner that atten
tion may well be called to one or two of
the instances. On January 0,1900 , the
League published an article on the
American Steel and Wire Company , in
which it called attention to the evidence
that this Trust's extortionate prices
were chocking industrial enterprises.
The letter closed with this prediction :
"But the will
wage-workers more
fnlly appreciate the benefits of this
trust when demand for its product falls
off greatly and w hen it attempts , by
closing mills and restricting production ,
to maintain high prices and pay divi
dends on its highly diluted stock. Such
a time will surely come. "
The time has already come , as every
intelligent reader of newspapers knows.
In the middle of April the Trust sud
denly announced the closing of twelve
mills , whose estimated capacity was 4-
000 tons daily , their managing director
giving poor business and accumulated
stocks as the cause. Those interested
in other iron and steel trusts vied with
each other in denouncing him for what
they termed "reprehensible conduct" .
Within a week a meeting of the di
rectors of that company admitted the
truth of his confessions by making a cut
of about 'JO per cent in the Trust's prices
on nails and wire.
While this reduction was enough to
bear out the League's demonstration
that Tariff Trust extortions were a seri
ous injury to business , as well as a bur
den upon the consumers , it soon received
support from other metal trusts. Quo
tations on Steel Billets , which had drop
ped from $39 a ton in November to $88
by April 1st , have since fallen to $28 ,
while prices of wrought iron pipe have
been reduced at least 25 per cent daring
the last two mouths.
In another place the League ridiculed
the claim put forward by protected
trusts that their effect would be "a
steadiness of prices , " and the ridicule
has been signally justified. The Iron
Age said of the Steel and Wire Trust's
cut in prices , "It is believed to have
been the longest horizontal reduction in
the history of the iron trade. " Bat as
other steel interests have since almost
matched it it is evident that in practice
the protected trusts do not result in "a
steadiness of prices. " On the contrary ,
open competition would tend to steady
them and prevent violent fluctuation.
The events which justify the League's
position are by no means confined to the
iron and steel trusts. The Lead Trust
has reduced its price on Pig Lead by
sudden and arbitrary drops. It was $4.-
75 per 100 Ibs. on May 4th. Ten days
later it was $4.05 and early in .Tune it
fell to $8.75. The protective tariff ,
which excludes foreign lead , enabled
the Lead Trust to extort such a price as
$4.75 and prevented the competition
which would have regulated the price
naturally ,
But all these reductions however tardy
or violent , at least tend to relieve the
people from extortion and to remove the
-JT" v'
cloak under which other trusts are hid
ing. It is no longer possible to maintain
that the high prices of sheet steel and
galvanized iron and tin plate are justi
fied by the prices of materials , a pretense -
tense which has deceived many who
really had no excuse for not knowing
better. The League exposed this pre
tense mouths ago and now the fall in
steel prices sweeps it entirely away ; but
though the market price of the
steel in 100 Ibs. of tin plates has fallen
about half a dollar , tin plates are held
at the top notch , $4.70 , and steel sheets
and galvanized iron at almost the high
est prices reached during the boom.
Why ? Simply because , as is plain at
last to every one , the tariff makes it
possible to hold the prices and the man
agers choose to do it.
In short , all the business of our coun
try affected by tariff trusts , instead of
being regulated by the law of supply
and demand , is regulated by the will of
the individuals who manage the trusts ;
and no business instinct or experience
can foretell what it may please them to
do. This power was bestowed by the
protective tariff , in spite of repeated
declarations that there should be no
such monopolies under it ; and the
utterances of eminent republicans , pub
lished by the League , show how wide
spread is the feeling that justice de
mands the removal of tariff favors ob
tained under false pretenses , and how
strong will be the support which Con
gressional candidates will secure who
pledge themselves to the removal of
duties which foster monopoly.
Extraordinary conditions , both at
home and abroad , have kept us from
seeing the full extent to which these
trusts have put our whole business sys
tem upon an unsound basis. This , and
the other evils of extortionate and arbitrary -
trary prices , will be keenly felt when
the agricultural West has to face again ,
as it may , at any time , the competition
of great harvests abroad. When our
export trade in manufactures , now be
coming such a source of satisfaction in
new quarters , has to meet the fall in
foreign prices , which will attend any
serious check to the present world-wide
industrial and commercial activity , it
will become unbearable that the price of
materials here should be held up by
Tariff Trusts above the price at which
foreign manufacturers purchase their
materials.
When those conditions come , and they
are sure to come , other trusts may or
may not be hurting us ; it has not yet
been proved. It is open to question how
much benefit there is to the community
in great combinations of capital which
dictate their own terms after they have
secured their monopoly by better and
cheaper service than any one else could
render. But there can be no such ques
tion about combinations which do not
render that service and secure their