Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1888-05-05
THE MEAT TRUST.
|sENAz0Rs PLUME IND YEST JOIN IN
i C0NDEMNING A FRAUD.

lSENA1JHS PLUME Ind VEST JOIN IN
CONDEMNING A FRAUD.
They UnnnimousIY Agree that the Chicago
Meat Ring has Combined to Put Up the
Price OF the Produce Of the Ranges
i and That They should be Called
Down.
/ WAsH1NeToN, May 3.-Among the bills
reported and placed on the calendar
(unless otherwise noted) were the follow.
ing: The Senate bill to retire certain dis.
abled ofEicers Of the army. The House bill,
/ iauthorizing the President to retire Alfred
lPleasanton with the rank OF Colenel, the
House bill for the promotion OF army
officers after twenty years continued ser.
vice in one grade (the minority dissenting.
The Senate bill granting to the Oregon
Railway & Navigation company the right
i of way through the Nez Perce Indian
reservation. The House bill to restore to
the public domain part OF the Unintab
Indian Valley reservation in Utah.
| Ste ewart introduced q bill to execute the
stipulations of the new Chinese treaty
/ ireferred). 1t absolutely prohibits after
ninety days. from its passage, the entry OF
Chinese laborers or laborers OF the Chinese
descent wherever they may have been born,
excepting only such as were at the date of
i she treaty or shall ninety days from the
passage of the act in the United States
who may
LEAVE THE COUNTRY,
having the right to return in pursuance of
the terms of the treaty and such other
Chinese laborers as may enter the country
for transit across are permitted to enter
only at the ports OF San Diego, San Fran
CISCO Portland, Oregon, Boston, New York
and New Orleans. It is made q misde-
meanor, punishable by fine and imprison-
| ment for the master OF vessel to bring in
any Chinese Iaborers not fully entitled to
entry The Secretary OF the Treasury is
empowered to make such regulations as he
| may see fit to secure the rights of the
Chinese persons named in articles two and
three OF treaty and to protect the United
States against coming and transit of
persons not entitled to the benefit
of said articles. He is authorized
| TO prescribe the form OF certificates to be
issued and to require the deposit OF a pho
tograph Of the person to whom the certifi-
cate is issued. False personation of the
individual named in the certificate is made
punishable by not more than 81, 900 fine
or fiue years Imprisonment. Chinese per-
SONS found unlawfully in the United States
may be arrested, and upon conviction may
be returned where they came from, ex-
penseand and proceedings being chargeable
against the parties who brought them in.
Diplomatic and other officers of the Chi
nese government are exempted from the
operation of the act. State courts are
prohibited from admitting Chimes to citi-
zenship.
THE RAILROAD LAND GRANT FORFEITURE
bill was taken up and after considerable
discussion the Portage Lake canafmatter
went over until tomorrow and the bill
was taken up for the establishment Of a
bureau Of animal industry and to facilitate
the export OF live stock and their products.
Palmer addressed the Senate in support OF
the bill and read various communications
to show the animus of the opposition to
the hill, (which was he said, machine
work right through" The idea conveyed
was that opposition came from the exist
ing bureau Of animal industry. Vest said
if half of that was stated in the CORES
pondence was true the commissioner of
sagfieulture should be
HURLED OUT Of OFFICIAL LIFE,
dsgraced and dishonored, but he (Vest)
did not believe these statements. Hecould
not support the bill. He proceeded to
speak Of what be called "The cattle syndi-
cate" aud said the people were helpless and
in it's power. There we're five men or firms
in the city of Chicago which regulated the
price OF cattle every day by their manipula-
ton OF the market prices. These men
owned the cattle raisers property and con-
confiscated as il they possessed the right to
take it from his farm without paying him
one cent. "Talk" said Vest, ''about trusts;
talk about the pool in cattle. The pool OF
Chicago is the most infamous tyranny that
ever existed in the United States"
PLUMB HAD ALSO SOMETHING TO SAY
on the same subject. In his opinion the
worst combination in the country was that
of the beef and pork packers having it's
headquarters in Chicago. There was no
trust or combination that had had SO pow
erful or so baneful an influence as that
combination. For years the prices OF cat
tie to the producers had been going down.
They had gone down, he thought, fifty per
cent. In the same time the prices OF meat
single dollar of the difference had gone into
the pockets OF that combination. Under
the operation OF this trust, prices had de-
clined unnecessarily and destructively. 1t
was safe to say that on every steer OF three
years old and upwards raised west OF the
Mississippi river during the past Eve years
the market value has been by this COM
bination reduced not less than $40 per
head.
THE DAMAGE TO THE STATE OF KANSAS
alone during that period had been more
than forty million dollars and the wealth
of the syndicate had grown proportion
ately. They had committee here, now
having in their pockets the money of this
'sstock ring" to get Congress to give them
control of the question ofcattle quarantine.
This combine had allies in the railroad
managers. They had allies in the rail
roads, step by step they had come to the
final condition where they had actually
fixed the prices of cattle just as If they were
the men who raised them. They believed
in giving to the Commissioner of Agricul-
ture all powers proposed to be given to the
commissioner and would not vote for any
measure that would detract from the
power and dignity of that department..
Blair spoke briefly in favor OF the bill
| which then went over and the House
amendment to the Senate bill, establish
| ing more land districts in Oregon was con-
Cured in, After an executive session the
Senate adjourned until Monday.
The House.
| WAsHNeToN, May 3.-The House went
into committee of the whole on the tariff
bill. Wilson, of West Virginia, took the
floor in favor OF the Mills bill. When it
came to dealing with our own history, he
said, protection acted on the rule of the
politician to claim everything whatever he
had gained. In common with all other en-
lightened people by our efforts and those
by mans control over the powers OF nature
/ from the advance OF science and of inven-
ton, whatever added wealth had come to
us from rapid settlement or great
continent, the enterprise and industry
OF its people and it's mineral and other re-
i sources all these it calmly points out as
| it's fruits although it had nothing more to
do with them than with the motion OF the
planets and the waves of the sea. But
those things for which it is chiefly or partly
responsible it studiously ignores. In argu.
/ ing that tariff did not regulate the price oi
labor. he contrasted the prices paid in the