The advocate and Topeka tribune., 1893-11-22
GOVERNMENT RAILWAYS.
Pointed Argument Regarding Freight and
Passenger transportation.

bu0 phSb A0W yOnLS9 low A~4ASW0~ S~N~'S
engaged in feeding and shipping western
cattle are clearly attributable to the pri-
Vate control Of the avenues through
which live stock must pass on it's way to
the eastern consumer.
The phenomenal condition Of the mar
ket whereby there has been q decline in
the market value Of cattle lOSth no eOrre-
spending reduction to consumers 6n the
price of Deef, indicates the power to deter
mine prices that is possessed by q few
men through the control 10y kindred in
tereete) Of railroads and their suxilisries
the stock yards and mammoth packing
houses adjacent thereto. The same large
buyers operate and own packing houses
in all the principal western cities-Kan-
Bas City, Omaha, st. Louis, Chicago and
others. Governing these essential facili-
ties and possessing sm~le capital, q prac-
ticsl control Of the market by these men
is assured through an arrangement
whereby their natural competitors-the
butchers and wholesale dealers Of large
Cities-sre regularly supplied with
dressed meat from the packing houses
ct prices which render it more RdvRn-
tageous for them to withdraw from than
to compete for the purchase Of their
stock OF the open market.
In speaking Of the four Chicago firms
engaged in slsughtering and marketing
beef who thus monopolize the market,
and Of the advantages enjoyed by them
through a secret arrangement s0ith the rail-
road companies, MIR. A. B. Stickney, in
most snlightening book entitled, "The
RRilwsy Problem" says:
Their present business was built up by re-
bates paid by the trunk lines, and each be-
gan as a sort Of protege Of one OF the
railroads. Now, with their immense busi'
mess, by combining and throwing the bulk
Of 10 TO one line, they have become diCtR-
tors Of rates &c all the great railroad Corpo-
rations. These firms care but little what
rates they pay, provided they are less than
are granted to other shippers, so that they
may continue to MAINTAIN their present
practical monopoly.
The shipper en- route to market with
his car or train load of live stock is thus
completely within the tolls Of those who
possess the power to prey upon his ne
Csssities. Arriving at msrket-under
the pressure Of exOrbitant freight and
stock yard charges, OF shrinking cargo
and Of fluctustiDg prices-he is forced in
selling his stock to yield to the exRctions
Of q combination existing between repre-
sentatives of the large buyerB-from
whom not unfrequently but single bid
10 received. Other bids, IL offered, are
generally lower than the FIRST, and thus,
with the terrors Uf falling market
threatening him, he accepts the best Of
fer obtainsble, or reloads his stock in
the hope Of obtaining better prices fur
ther east. II he determine upon the lat
ter alternative, his action (f Q large
nhipper) is at once known, and his ar
rival in the eastern markets is preceded
by dispatches notifying co-cOnSpirators
Of the figures offered and refused for his
cargo. It is not uncommon under these
circumstances for stock to sell for less
sum in Chicago than that refused for it
In Kansas City.
"REBATEs."
The evils that exist by authority Of