Feb. 1, 1899.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
531 
TEA 
IN MINCING LANE 
COKNEKS." 
AND 
Agaia and again of late has tlie opinion been 
expressed that the law of " snpply and demand" 
will not explain the persistently low prices for 
(Jeylon and Indian teas prevailing in the London 
maiket. The statistical position was seldom if 
ever more favourable. "Fine jilucking" has 
been the rule in Ceylon, ne\w markets have been 
opened up and shii)ments to London have been 
kept below those of the previous year — and yet 
prices have not risen or even been maintained. 
How is this V Can there be some truth in 
reiterated allegations respecting the adverse in- 
fluence of the large tea buying and packet- 
distributing li()u.ses that have, of late years, come 
into existence? We know wliut " corners " and 
" trusts have done with certain branches of 
trade in America. Is there something of the 
same kind to be realised in the United Kingdom ? 
We hope not. But it is not pleasant nor reassur- 
ing to read as we do — in an Australian contem- 
porary — of what is still going on among our 
cousins across the Atlantic : — 
Monopoly fmds its most hideous development in 
the monstrous trusts which seek to control the food 
supplies of the nation. The intention of this usurpa- 
tion is to wring out of the necessities of the people 
the highest price they can be induced to pay with- 
out incurring the danger of a revolution. Sometimes 
it may happen, when rogues fall out and fiercely con- 
tend together, that honest men receive a temporary 
benefit. Thi.s is happening at the present time in 
consequence of a struggle between the two opposing 
combinations of gigantic monetary resources. Have- 
meyer, the aggressive head of the Sugar Trust, and 
Arbuckle, the coutroller-in-chief of the coffee roast- 
ing monopoly, have their hands on each others throats. 
The ca'ise of quarrel arose two years ago, when the 
Sugar Trust curtly notified to the Arbuckles a rise 
in the price of refined sugai. The coffee firm were 
large customers of the American Sugar Refining 
Company, but the trust confident in its monopoly 
after the defeat of the Spreckels' combination, felt 
able to raise its prices, not only against- the inarti- 
culate public, but also against its most prominent 
supporters. Arbuckle wag expected to protest, en- 
treat, and then submit. But to him the rise 
meant annihilation, for it absorbed every cent of 
profit on the five pound package of "Angel" coffee 
— coffee and refined sugar mixed — on which the 
Arbuckle wealth had been built up. When he re- 
presented this to the trust, " all things happen in busi- 
ness " was Havemeyer's cynical reply. "It's busi- 
ness to grow rich ; it's business to ruin others 
when you think they may ruin you." Arbuckle 
determined to take his ruin fighting, and so he 
sought to start rivalry in sugar refining, and 
the trust retaliated by going iuto coffee. It has 
now become, as the " New iork World," declares, 
•a fight of millions against millions, of brute force 
against brute force. Both combatants are bleeding 
at every pore. The Arbuckles havo sustained a 
loss in two years of 4,000,000 dol.. And the de- 
pression in sui<ar is costing Haveuieyer from 
5,000 to G,000 dol. a day. And the competitian 
is growing fiercer as the new mills arc ready to be 
brought into active operatioa. What will be the 
oatcome ? Will the fight continue nntii it ends in 
the welcome tragedy of the Kilkenny cats, or will the 
solution be found in another gigantic combine ? 
Meanwhile housewives in America are rejoicing at 
the phenomenal cheapness of two staple articles of 
domestic consumption. 
Such an example of nuintentioned benefit to the pub- 
lic is of exceptional occurrence. The gigantic trusts iu 
the United Statesare not only equivalent to an orga- 
nised system of robbery, but arc a menace to public 
liberty. Some idea of the extent to which these com- 
iiiaatioai doniuate (be couimeicUil iateiesU the 
n 
country may be gathered from the statement that 
the American Sugar Kefining Company controls 76 
per cent of Urited States refineries, with an output 
annually of 1,330,000 tons of sugar; that the Ameri- 
can Tobacco Trust controls 60 per cent of the ciga- 
rette and smoking tobacco factories in the Cnitei 
States ; and that the American Cotton Oil Trust, 
controlled by the Standard Oil Trust, the largest 
monopoly of them all, owns 70 crude oil mills and 
IG refineries. The Standard Oil Trust, which 
represents a capitul of 97,000,009 dol., is now 
in process of liquidation, some tribute to the 
effect cf the anti-trust laws of the State of 
Ohio ; but there is danger of reorganisation under 
the more accommodating methods which New Jersey 
is willing to authorise. The formation of an iron 
and steel trust, with enormous powers, has given 
rise to the suspicion that the ultimate intentiwn is 
to solidify all the giant interests into one colossal 
corporation, which shall throttle all possibility of 
competition, and, at the same time, enormously iucreasa 
the profits by the great reduction of expenses. 
THE LONDON CINNAMON SALES. 
The Quarterly Sale of ('innanion, held in Lon- 
don, on the 28th Dec. justified the fears we had 
been explessing for some time past, in our review 
of the periodical sales, that the insreasing quanti- 
ties of the si>ice we have been pouring iuto t"ie 
market must bring down prices. One should 
have thought that the unpleasant experience of 
cinnamon growers — and that not so very long 
ago— from over-production, would prevent exten- 
si(ms, especially seeing that the article is nut; a 
necessary of life, but a luxury for which the 
uses are limited ; but when has there not been a 
rush into any product which is reported to be 
remunerative ? Whether it is that the advice and 
warning.s are suspected, as being inspired by sel- 
fish and interested people, or that each believes 
that he will be able to sweep in the gains before 
the fall comes, there is little use in 
preaching caution and moderation ; and, 
perhaps, experience is the best teacher ; whiie, 
after all, it is only moderate profits one can ex- 
pect from any investment in these days of keen 
competition. If one wants to find out something 
likely to yield large profits, one will have to 
remain idle ; while others less ambitious, or less 
greedy, succeed in earning a livina from suspected 
and prescribed industries, and even in securing a 
competence. 
Anyway we find the growth of exports of 
cinnamon from the island, reflected in the London 
market, which, although it no longer m 'DO- 
polises the trade, still continues to attract about) 
one third of our outturn, and is yet our largest 
customer. According to the last Chamber of 
Connieice Circular, the exports of quills to 13th 
December, reached 2,400,796 lb., of which the 
United Kingdom took 891,4:691b., Germany coming 
a good second with 731,740 lb. The total exports 
are so far as follows : — 
1898 
1897 
1896 
1895 
Quills, 
2,400,796 
2,414,084 
2,104,579 
2,024,271 
Chips. 
1.321,806 
1,007,446 
765,776 
842,446 
It will be noticed that last year shows a slightly 
larger quantity of quilled cinnamon exported 
than this year — about l.'i,000 lb. ; but, ou the 
other hand, chips have risen this year hy ovcf 
.300,0001b. It IS only in recent years that quills 
have reached two million lbs., and now chips, 
which used to be thrown away in thoorirly 
iQrenlies, au4 before, wbes ih^ t>{>i^4 cQaiwau4«U 
