"
As Chadwick concludes his statement, Hiram Goodel, a delegate from New
Hampshire, obtains the floor.
"Coercion is the word that epitomizes my grievance against the Trusts,"
he begins. "It was by the exercise of coercion that I was driven out of
business. I conducted a retail tobacco store in Concord, in my native
state. My business sufficed to insure me a decent living, and a
comfortable margin to be husbanded as a safeguard for my declining
years. I had a wife and three sons. My sons were all under age, and I
kept them at school to provide them with good educations.
"There was competition in my business; such natural competition as is
met with in all pursuits. It did not, however, prevent my making a
success of my business.
"Then came the Tobacco Trust. It set out to control the retail trade.
This was to be effected by the inauguration of a system of "consigning"
goods to the retail stores with strict provisos that the retailer would
not handle the product of any concern out of the Tobacco Combine. In
order to ingratiate themselves with the store-keepers, the Trust
managers at first offered terms that were so far below the current
prices that a majority of the stores bound themselves to handle the
Trust goods exclusively.
"Three years passed, in which the independent tobacco manufacturers
strove to hold out against the ring.
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