Jasper County Democrat, Volume 7, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 October 1904 — THE BLIGHT [ARTICLE]

THE BLIGHT

Of Trust Domination As Evidenced In Delaware and Madison Counties. Mills and Factories Shut Down, Workmen Out of Employment, Houses Vacant or Rented for a Song, and Trade Demoralized—Muncie’s Loss $8,000,000 Annually. Perhaps in no state of the Union fins the withering blight of the evil genius known as the trust fallen with a heavier hand than in the two counties of Delaware and Madison. With the discovery of natural gas many factories ■were organized with local capital, and many others came to the two counties from the East where they had been operating for years. Thousands of men were given employment and this particular section of the gas belt, in common with others, seemed destined to be prosperous regardless of what other sections of the Country might Buffer from financial depression. Then came the era Wf trust domination and many of the factories, which had been organized with local capital, passed into the hands of the combinations, some of them being forced to do bo through the manifest intention of the trust organizers to force the smaller establishments out of business if they did not sell their plants. Factory after factory was thus absorbed, and for a few years there was no apparent change from the conditions that had obtained while each individual plant was owned and operated In compel ition with all the others in the Same line of manufacture. But the trust had entered the field to do away with competition, and it soon began to use the power which it had secured through the purchase of competing plants. The employes found that they had no certain tenure of work, that they were employed today and iulo tomorrow, and that these periods of employment gradually gTew further and further apart and the periods of idleness gradually became longer and longer. Then came the final coup and mill after mill and factory after factory was closed indefinitely. Some have now' been closed for three or four months, some for a year and others for two or three years and everything is uncertainty and discontent. where it was once steady employment and a certainty of good wages. The effect of this in the cities of Muncie, Alexandria and Elwood is distressing in the extreme. Business lias fallen off, rental property has depreciated in value,, hundreds of houses are vacant and idle men are on every Btreet corner. Many have left the Btate in search of work in other places and many others would go but their long periods of enforced idleness have left them without money on which to move their families. Some of the skilled workmen of Mancie are working as day laborers in ©f Delaware county, some are driving Ice wagons and others are engaged on odd jobs about the town wherever they can find work and for anything that the employer offers. The business of the city of Muncie has suffered a constant annual reduction under these adverse conditions, and conservative estimates place the loss to the city’s business at not less than $8,000,000 a year. In contrast with the attitude of the trust toward Its factories, the plants owned and operated by private capital are running practically full time and the employes are all at work. Only the employe of the trust is walking the streets or working at seme m ploy men t at a wage wholly Inadequate to the need* of his

family and commensurate Tn no aaaaa with the year* of aarrlce which brought him hia akill aa a craftaman and entitled him to a better wage. On every hand he can aee the mill or fael tory In which he once worked, with doors locked, fires drawn, the smokestacks rearing their heada toward the aky and the buildings dust-covered and uninviting, the whole a monument to the greed whlrh has throttled competition and sent him out Into the streets to earn a precarious existence for himself and family. Here Is a partial record df the factories purchased by the trust and closed down In order to lessen she output of the combination: American Sheet Steel and Tinplate Company at Muncfe. Organized with local capital and afterward sold to the trust. Employed 1.000 men. Number of employes reduced to 500 the first year and closed in August, 190,3. Has not run a day since. American Rolling Mill Company. Established by Muncie capital. Employed 700 ,men. Passed Into hands of co-operative company, and after eight months declared a dividend of 25 per cent. Sold to the trust and was shfit down in December, 1903. Muncie Iron and Steel Company, known ns the “Grasshopper” mill. Was built bv Muncie capital. Sold to the Republic Iron and Steel company, the trust. Finishing department closed for fifteen months. Puddle-de-partment closed four months ago, throwing 300 mon out of employment. Merrlng-Hart Window Glass Company, organized with local capital and sold to the American Window Glass company, the trust. Was never operated a day after the purchase, but was bought simply to get It out of the way as a competitor. Its 300 employes turned out in the cold. The Muncie ,'ulp mill, also organized with local capital and gold to the trust. Ran a kHek or two at a time after the sale, biit was closed permanently four months ago; 300 employes let out. C. H. Over Window Glass factory. Sold to the trust and closed, its 300 employes turned adrift. United Boxboard and Paper company at Yorktown; bought by the paser trust and closed six weeks ago. Employed 100 men. The conditions at Alexandria, while showing fewer factories on the list of the closed, are even worse because the town’s business was almost wholly dependent upon the factories. Prior to the raid of the trust on the industries rents averaged $2.50 per room or $12.50 per month for a five-room house, $lO per month for a four-room house, and so on. Now there are any number of vacant houses in the town, rents have fallen to an average of $1 per room a month, and many families are getting their house rent free because owners would rather have them occupied than have them subject to vandalism, as would be the case if they were vacated. Here is a partial record of the closed factories and of the number of men thrown out of employment:

s- American Window Glass Company; closed two years ago; employed 500 men; has done no work since that time except experimenting with blowing machines. Big Four Window Glass Company; fell into the hands of the trust and was dismantled and 200 men forced into the ranks of idlers. Republic Iron and Steel company; has been closed nine months and its 750 employes have been idle. This is the trust whose baneful influence has been felt in several of the cities of the state. It was organized to purchase rival plants and curb production, and has abandoned two plants at Terre Haute, two at Marion, one at Frankton, one at Alexandria and one at New Albany. The Kelley Ax Company at Alexandria is moving its plant to West Virginia, and its 1,500 employes are added to the list of idle. Many of them, however, will follow the plant to its new location. One of the effects of the wholesale closing of factories by the trusts Is seen in a weed-covered roadbed and piles of unused cross-ties between Muncie and Alexandria. This was an electric line between the two cities, and the grade was all made and the ties distributed, but when the factories began to close travel between the two places practically ceased and the road has never been completed. The impression is that it will not now be finished, not at least till conditions improve, and the prospect for this is very remote. a - Conditions at Elwood are practically on a par with those at Alexandria, and from the same cause. There are many vacant houses, rents have fallen off in consequence, and the business of the merchants and others has suffered by the growing depression resulting from the closing of factories. There have already been several business failures, and this is in marked contrast with the general prosperity of the town before the blighting hand of the trust fell upon it. Such,-indeed, was its prosperity when the factories were run independently that there was but one mercantile failure In the paaid of 1893. Here are some of the more important factories that have succumbed to trust manipulation: Diamond Plate Glass Company; organized independently and was gobbled up by the trust. Employed 400 to 500 men. Has been closed since December, 1903. American Window Glass Company; employed from 100 to 150 men. Organized by local capital, bought by the trust and run one year; closed In 1901 and has been closed ever since. American Radiator Company; employed from 40 to 50 men; ran the plant one year, moved the machinery away; still owns the building, but won’t sell it because of fear of competition. Macßeth-Erans Lamp Chimney Com-