Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-05-17
IT'S THE CATTLE NOW
THAT THE IRON HAND OF MONOPOLY
is MANIPULATING.

| N-N-H-'"N'--
Literally Coming Money, According l.
Manderson-The House StiH Has tn
Tariff stop Out on the Legislative DIR
gan.
WASHINGTON CITY, May Fin the senat
yesterday, after some uninteresting routin
business, Vests resolution providing for al
investigation of the alleged combinations o
manufacturers Ct meat products TO contro
: prices was taken up and was debated II
length Vest accepted an amendment in
) Guiding an inquiry into the trunk line ant
central traffic associations, and proceeded Il
charge the beef men with selfish combina
ton that was reducing the price Of cattle {,
producers and increasing the price of beef L
the consumers, and gave figures TO prove hi
assertions Henderson agreed with Vest
and Cullom thought the railways were I'll,
offenders. The resolution was finally amend
ed to include "other agencies of transporta
ton" and then adopted without division
Bills were passed: Extending the operation
of the act for the immediate transportation
of dutiable goods to Duluth, MINI. authorz,
| ing bridges across the Mississippi at Clinton
and Forest City, Ia. fixing pension for los
of one eye at SIG per month, and proper
tionately for the loss of both eyes; allowing
| aid to state soldiers homes at the rate of 500
| per year for each disabled soldier, and ap
propriating S25O,OOO for the purpose. A
| secret session was then held, after which the
senate adjourned.
The house passed bill for branch sol
diers' home in Grant county, Indiana, and
| then resumed the debate on the tariff. Baker
Of New York opposed the bill and presented
three stockings-one red, one white and one
! blue-which he proposed TO present, the first
. to Mr.. Cleveland, the second to Carlisle and
| the third TO Mills, to typify his feelings when
the bill was defeated. Speeches were also
| made i'm opposition by Farquhar and Bayne,
and in advocacy 10y Weaver aud Russell
| The debate in the senate on Vests resolu.
| ton was the feature of the session Vest
made the principal speech and said thot the
| history of the world showed that the beef-eat-
| ing peoples were foremost in peace and war,
| in art and science He showed that while the
| consumption of beef was increasing the price
| of beef to the producer was steadily declining,
| and the price to the consumer as steadily ad-
vancing The purpose of his resolution was
| to find out why this was so. He said the
| present condition of things was the result of
| artificial operations which had hutchered all
| the cattle interests of the United States since
| 1873 He mentioned the falling-otf of the
| cattle business of St Louis and Kansas City
ana It's concentration aJ Lineage, WHICH WAS
the result of n selfish combination, and now
that this combination was reducing the price
of cattle to the producers and increasing it to
the consumers it became matter of great
Importance to the national legislature. Five
firms i'll the city of Chicago controlled the
price of meat in every city of the United
States He read a statement, for which he
held himself responsible giving details of an
arrangement made in 1873 between the rail
roads centnring at Chicago mentioning par
ticularly the New York Central, the Erie,
and the Pennsylvania aud the Chicago
"Eveners" Under that arrangement st.
Louis had ceased to lie n rival of Chicago in
the sale and shipment of cattle.
Manderson read statistics showing that the
profits of the cattle killed and sold by the five
Chicago firms controlling the business were
in the year 1887 over S54, 100000 There was,
he said, something wrong, and something
artificial which continued to keep Chicago as
the great cattle center of the country, which
should he at Omaha, Kansas City, Sioux
City, Atchison and other places
CullOm said that the reason why Chicago
had "got away with the cattle trade was in
u great measure owing TO the superior enter
prise of her citizens While Chicago had
been going forward st. Louis had been APP
parently asleep, and losing her trade In his
judgment one of the causes of low prices to
producers and high prices to consumers was
the railroad freight charges, which were
higher than they should be on live stock and
on dressed meat, and that was one of the rea-
sons why he desired the scope of the resolu-
ton enlarged. If that should turn out to be
true the inter state commerce commission
would regulate it, and compel the railroads
to reduce freight charges
Plumb advocated the resolution, and said
that no commission man, either in st. Louis or
Chicago, dared to do any thing detrimental to
the combination controlling the cattle bust
ness.
Vest said that these "monstrous corpora
tions' had their armed hand on the throat of
st. Louis until 1873, when the combination
was exposed and came to an end, but the
mischief was done, and St. Louis was pros
trnted in its cattle trade,
The debate in the house was enlvened by
humorous speech by Baker of New York,
noticed above, and continued by Farquhar of
New York, who commented ON the compost
ton of tho ways and means committee, say
ing that of the members eleven were lawyers,
one "A cotton planter, and one a railroad man
ager. Farquhar stated that he and his labor
colleagues had received scores of petitions
from manufacturers and wage-earners-Dem-
ocrats aud Republicans alike protesting
against its passage, and he asked if it had
ever occurred to the Democratic party that
nearly onehalf of the manufacturers of this
country We're Democrats.
Weaver considered the Mills bill was fair |
and reasonable measure, and an honest effort |
OH the part of the ways and means committee |
to relieve the people, He twitted the Repub |
licans with contenting themselves with find |
ing fault with the Mills bill without bringing |
in "A betteT one, and said that the Republican |
party was in flight and busy burning bridges |
and Telling trees along the road over which |
the Democratic party must advance for the |
relief of the people.
Russell of Massachusetts,, in advocating the
passage of the bill, asserted that the agricul-
tural interests were not flourishing in New
England especially in Vermont-under
high protective tariff. Turning his attention
to the wool schedule he said wool was the
only agricultural product of this country
that had no export value because the for
eign manufacturer did not want it. Wool
growing and wool manufacturing in this
country fourshed tog' ther or langushed to
gether, and at present they languished to-
gether The cloths alluded to by the Repub-
licans as making up the cheap WOODEN suits
worn by the Woodworking laboring men
Of the country were made, not from
wool but out of rags that dropped
from the beggar's back "They were old
shoddy rags come back" The United States,
Russell said, was the only highly civilized
country that put duty on wool. 1t was
only backward, old fashioned Spain and the
United States that kept tax on the first
of human existence. If wool was
put on the free list, in less than a year wool
would advance, because American manu-
lecturers would be better able to buy the
stapla RuSSall said he WAS a large sheen