The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 18, March 11, 1897

He waited several hours for a reply. None being sent, he ordered his gunners to send one shot over the city.

This having been done, and still no answer coming from the Spanish commander, General Gomez sent a fresh messenger, asking the mayor, for the sake of humanity, to send the women and children out of the town as quickly as possible.

To this the officer in command sent the reply that Gomez could begin to fire as quickly as he pleased, for not a soul in Arroyo Blanco should be allowed to leave the town; he intended to keep the women and children within the walls, to suffer whatever fate was in store for him.

The women and children pleaded to be allowed to leave, but the Spanish officer was determined to keep them, and they were obliged to stay.

On receiving this cruel answer, Gomez opened fire, using his dreadful dynamite-gun. For several days he laid siege to the town, without gaining any advantage.

The Spaniards tried to get help from the main army by signalling with the heliograph. This is an instrument by which rays of light are thrown from a mirror, and flashed from one point to another. It is much used in war.

The Cubans, however, prevented the heliograph from being used, and hoped that they had the Spaniards cut off from their friends.

By some means the news of the siege reached the main army, and three thousand troops were sent to the relief of Arroyo Blanco.

No sooner did Gomez see the first of the Spanish soldiers appearing over the hills, than he laid a plan to win a brilliant victory.

Pretending to be alarmed at the arrival of the Spanish troops, he withdrew his men from the siege of the town, and appeared to be retreating.

Delighted with their success, the Spanish pursued the Cubans, who led them into a valley between two hills.

This was the trap into which Gomez had planned to lure his enemy.

When the Spaniards had reached a place that seemed favorable to his wishes, Gomez gave the signal—Cubans poured down the hillsides, from behind every rock and bush, surrounded the Spaniards, and completely defeated them, the Spaniards suffering a severe loss, many of them being killed, wounded, or taken prisoner.

It is said that this victory has so alarmed Weyler that he has sent to Havana for more troops, and declares that he cannot stand against Gomez without more soldiers to help him.

The people of Havana do not like this. Weyler has many more soldiers than Gomez, and the citizens do not want to be left at the mercy of the insurgent bands that are in the neighborhood of the city.

A great deal of interest is being taken in the investigation, by the New York Legislature, into the subject of Trusts.

A Trust is the combination of a number of persons who are interested in the manufacture of a certain article.

These persons join together, and agree to pay certain prices for making the goods they deal in, and to ask a certain price for the article when they sell it again.

They put all their money together, and become one company. Each member of the Trust has to bind himself to do what the members think best, and though there may be several hundred factories in one Trust, all obey the one set of rules, just as if they were but one body.

In this way the Trust has a great deal of money at its command, and can buy the finest machinery to make its goods, and, because of the enormous quantities needed to supply all the members of the Trust, can obtain the material needed for the manufacture at the lowest possible price.

Through the means a Trust has for producing goods, it can make and manufacture at a much smaller cost than a single manufacturer, and can control the amount of the output of the goods, so that too great a supply shall not be made at one time, and the markets be so flooded that the price falls and it no longer pays to make them.

The idea of a number of persons clubbing together and helping each other with their money and brains, and working together to produce an article at the least possible cost, is of course a very excellent one.

It would seem as though these methods would help to make the articles that we daily need much cheaper to us, and that the cost of living would be less.

But unfortunately it is not always so.

While Trusts could and should work for the benefit of the people, they are too often used as a means to harm them.

When Trusts get so large that they include nearly all the manufacturers of a special article, they are not only able to produce the article at the least possible cost, but to say for how much it shall be sold.

A Trust is formed that the manufacturers may make a better article at a lower cost—at least, that is what the Trusts say; but the danger is that they may obtain entire control of the market, create a monopoly, and having the public at their mercy, make the prices as high as they please.

A monopoly is the sole power of dealing in any class of goods.

If there were no Trusts controlling the market, no one manufacturer would dare to put his price too high, because another one would instantly step in with lower prices, and take his trade away from him.

This would create what is called competition, because the first manufacturer would not want to lose his trade, and would lower his prices below the second manufacturer. Others would join in, and would continue to cut prices, until the selling price of the article would be brought down to the lowest possible rate at which it can be put on the market.

The public would get the benefit of this competition, and would find the cost of living less.

This competition is the soul of business, because it obliges manufacturers to better the quality of their goods and machinery in order to sell at all; but Trusts do not care to do this, and therefore desire to put a stop to it entirely.

Each Trust has its system of controlling the store-keepers who deal directly with the public, and it makes them agree to sell at such prices as it thinks best.

In this way the prices are kept up, no matter how much they ought to have been lowered through cheap manufacture, or plentiful supply of the material needed to be manufactured.

The money that is made by the cheaper conditions goes into the pockets of the members of the Trust, and they often become enormously rich, through the higher price which they thus force the people to pay.

All the necessary articles of food in daily use are controlled by Trusts.

There is a Sugar Trust, which dictates the exact number of cents a pound you must pay for your sugar. A Coffee Trust, which fixes the price of coffee. It is the Coal Trust which keeps the price of coal so high in winter. There is a Gas Trust, a Salt Trust, a Wall-Paper Trust, and indeed a Trust for almost every necessary and useful article.

You notice probably that the most of the Trusts are producers of articles that we are obliged to use.

If the Coal Barons, as they are called, asked ten dollars a ton for coal, we would still be obliged to use it. We could not go without fires.

If a Meat Trust said our meat was to cost a dollar a pound, we would still have to buy it. Our sugar is another article which we cannot do without, and for which we are obliged to pay whatever price the dealers choose to ask.

Do you see now wherein Trusts are dangerous to us?

The Democrats last fall declared that if their candidate was elected President of the United States, they would make laws whereby the Government should be able to control and regulate Trusts.

The Legislature in Albany, wishing to prevent these combinations from gaining so much power that they become a menace to the public, has appointed a committee to investigate the workings of Trusts.

State Senator Lexow was made Chairman of the committee. He is that Mr. Clarence Lexow, who was chairman of the committee which looked into the way the police were doing their duty a short while ago.

Senator Lexow has come down to New York City with full power to call the officers of the Trusts before him, and make them tell him how they manage their business, how much money it costs them to produce the articles they manufacture, and how much profit they make.

When the inquiry is finished, the committee will report to the Legislature at Albany, which will then decide what action shall be taken.

The Trust Investigating Committee has found out from the Sugar Trust, that the price of sugar has been lowered since the Trust was formed. But it has also been learned that sugar has not been allowed to fall in price as much as it ought to have, and that while sugar is cheaper than it used to be, it could be much cheaper yet, and still pay well for the making.

With all the Trusts the story is the same. They have slightly cheapened the price of the goods they handle, and have then controlled the market and prevented any further reduction.

Each Trust declares that it is a positive benefit to trade, and while it is true that they do employ a vast number of men, and make the best quality of goods at apparently the lowest possible price, it must not be forgotten that the public does not benefit as much as it ought by the low cost of production, and that all small manufacturers are driven out of the business by the enormous power of the Trust.

A man who wishes to succeed to-day dare not try to compete with the Trust; he must join it or be boycotted by it; that is to say, if he attempts to undersell the Trust, all retail dealers will be forbidden to buy from him, and he will have no market for his goods.