638 THE IMPENDING REVOLUTION. 



without a charter, and the witnesses were accompanied in 

 the examining room by the "combine's" own attorney, 

 who told them what questions to answer and what to refuse. 



On the ayth of March, 1888, at a meeting of repre- 

 sentatives of all the coal mining and transportation interests 

 in the Schuylkill, I^ehigh Valley and Wyoming regions, it 

 was decided "to maintain the prices for anthracite coal 

 during the season of 1888-89, beginning on April ist, and 

 to regulate the output of coal so that the market shall not 

 be burdened by an over-production this year." In other 

 words prices are to be arbitrarily maintained by an unnat- 

 ural restriction of the output of coal. Is this a conspiracy 

 against the public welfare? Are these men anarchists? 

 Oh, no; they are capitalists. 



The New York Daily World of February 25, 1888, 

 contained the following editorial: 



"The trust investigation by the State Senate Com- 

 mittee is driving trust men to Florida as rapidly as the 

 bribery indictments drove boodle men to Canada. The 

 sugar- trust secretary, since the investigation began, has 

 found it necessary to his health to seek recuperation at a 

 popular winter resort. The milk-trust company's secre- 

 tary and treasurer has also bent his steps toward the Gulf 

 of Mexico. William Rockefeller, of the Standard-Oil 

 monopoly, who is wanted by the committee, has wandered 

 to the flowery State on a pilgrimage to hunt up relics of 

 Ponce de Leon and eat strawberries and green peas. Yes- 

 terday's session of the committee was mainly spent in the 

 examination of Mr. Scott, a member of the cotton-oil 

 trust. This 'combine' has been in existence about three 

 years. It is the sugar-trust iniquity over again. The 

 trust has been powerful enough to crush out competition, 

 and it practically controls the cotton-oil refineries as the 

 sugar-trust controls the sugar refineries. Us capital is 



