St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-10-25
And Then Turn About and Pay Double and Triple
Prices for All They Have
to Buy.

The time was in this country when 80 per
| cent of all freight and 80 per cent of all
passenger traffic, between this and foreign
countries. was in the hands of American
| snip owners, whose interest-if now the
Same-wonld be t. encourage in every Way
the American producer, and if any favors in
! rates were bestowed. to show them to the
cl1zens of the United States. as the English
German and French ship owners now do to
the English. French and German colonial
producer. But as no American ships now
compe with the foreign countries,
our producers are at the mercy of the
rei-;.e.- 1 remember that in 1878
the Secretary of the Navy, in his
Official report stated that O rise in freight
rates on wheat took place IN one year to the
the farmer: and the discrimination of the
foreign shipper against us and in favor of
lndla has, IN ten years, decreased our eX-
ports 10 England one-half, and brought those
| the wheat sent from the United States. When
| the farmer goes to buy his Supplies. does he
go INTO market where the keen competition
OF the world, the sharp. shrewd
sanes down, so that he sells and buys low.
therefore is not harrassed? Not at all. He
| takes his wheat to town and for the 70 cents
J II sells Tor gets seven pounds of sugar, while
| the English farmer, with the same money.
gets fifteen pounds; he pays 49, 20 for salt
that costs the English farmer so cents:
! double for his wall paper, and so on in like
proportion Tor lnnumerable articles of vital
necessity-and this is the result of monoply.
The meauest feature of the case is that il is
growing worse every DAY, and vet no action
| Is taken to break its force, to unloosen the
coils of the monster which is fast impover-
| ishlng the great body of the people and max
| ing few mlllionaires. To accomplish this
| robbery the nonopolists must do two things
they mnst organize to control the supply of
manufactured articles by getting all the
| manufacturers of that article or nearly ALI
| into the organization, and then. by the
squeezing process, drive those who refuse to
| JON out of the business and prevent others
from entering They give the organization
people would believe from the name that it
had an honest end in view. The next move
| Is, after destroying competition at home to
endeavor, If any foreign competition inter-
rid of that, and to do this thew engage a
lobby of able men. who make a great noise
about the beauties of a home market and.
having
Gullcd the People
into belief that foreign competition upon n
fair basis is a bad thing, and the law being so
changcd as to prevent. they then commence
TO cut down the wages, limit productions and
TO cry out, I'VE want no foreign market; we
| only want TO manufacture what we wish to
sell at home, therefore so many work hands
are not necessary less demand for labor
causes less wages, less labor engaged the sun.
ply of the article is decreased, less supply
causes rise in prices, -up-higher-higher.
and the farmer with his low priced products.
the Worklngman with his lower wages, have
found out the beauties of a home
without foreign market have found
| the millennium days SO grandy talked
Of. which, When found, consist in Selling al
nail price all you must sell, including your
labor, and paving double prices for all you
| n tho 0l1
OF killing two birds with one stone is re-
allied in these public blessings, 1.-THE
trusts, When, while raising the prices of all
they manufacture and sell, thereby destroy
ing our foreign market get their supplies of
raw material and unemployed labor at home,
and by limiting the manufacture of the arti-
ces, as explained before they are decreas-
ing the cost of its production, thus increas-
ing profits in both directions. The footprints
of these trusts are seen when you buy your
paint oil, white lead, and in nearly every
thing you buy. not only in the high
prices, but in the quality of the articles. In
old days man would buy q big tin pan for
his wife to wash dishes in. and other tinware
once in ten years, and it would be used in
the house, and tho boys took them TO use in
belling newly married people, and when the
bees swarmed; but now one wedding would
wear out all the tinware in the Kitchen. so
poor is the quality. In 1910 white lead was
worth $3.50 per hundred, and why now with
the advance of the arts and the use of ma
ehinery we should pay higher prices is a
mystery, yet the trust increased the price OF
white lead $50 per ton last winter, over and
above fair profits, yet cut down the wages of
their employees. There must be a remedy
for
This Wholesale Robbery
Of the people and we look to our public men.
who represent us in the legislative bodies OF
our country, to act, and act promptly before
the whole wealth of the people becomes alb
sorbed in the hands of the few. which is fas,
I hQInT T1Sf onin In -
robbery like this is S60U, 600, 900 year. but
who doubts that it is twice $40? The ac.
tons OF the trust are seen when you buy q
manufactured article, or an article like cot
fees, oil and other things that are limited as
to production; and again it is seen in the cut.
ting down of wages-25 per cent in the great
steel works of Carnegie. In the mills and
shops OF other manufactures it is going on
i'll order as l said, to raise the
prices in the coal mines of the
trusts, where by the action of perhaps 3
dozen men the rise in the price of coal takes
eight or ten millions out of the consumers in
| q year, and by limiting the production, and
the consequent exhibition that SO much
labor is not needed, they save twice as much
| in wages, while from every mining country
comes the cry Of poverty, of starving men
country filed with food, filled with ali the
natural advantages of agriculture, but tho
| coils OF the serpent, the great trust monster
smothering out the energy OF The people, de
stroy1ng their ambition and sapping the gen
eral prosperity. The masses are going back
ward, and yet men gay we have nc
remedy, even it is said by some
that legislative bodies have nc
right to interfere. In some countries in
ancient times, heavy penalties have beer
assessed against those who combined tC
raise the price of the necessaries of life, and
SO great has been the feeling against the
monopolist that at times it has been punish
able with death. If that was the punishment
in rrfrxr mo,
go into & bushes place in this town to buy
that would not cause the head OF some mo
nopolist to fall from his shoulders. Wha
makes it doubly aggravating is the fact thai
il robs equally you and the retail dealer who
is required to put more capital into his bust
ness with less profits. Then, no competition
existing, these monopolists impose counter
felt and adullerated articles among the PEG