The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-17

serious Charge.
The New York World says that three
or four miiiionaires have secured a mo-
nopoly Of the meat supply and have con-
spired 10 put UP the price Of meat. COM
pellins the people to pay two prices for
al the meat they consume. It also SAYS
that three or four other miIlionaires have
secured monopoly of the product Of all
the coal oil wells Of the country. and are
compelling the people 10 pay three times
as much for light as they should. Are
these statements true?
The World further charges that al
though congress has enacted laws against
trusts. combinations and monopolics the
administration refuses to enforce these
laws. Is this charge true?
Statements and charges like the fore
going. If they are not true. will do great
deal Of harm. They make the people dis
satisfied and lead them to pursue course
Of action in politics calculated to pro-
duce disturbances. The World should be
required to produce proof OF its state
ments and charges. II it could not do
that it ought to be very generally con-
demned There Is about as much need
for a Law Furnishing newspapers for pur-
posely misleading the public as there is
for laws shing those who conspire TO
put up the prices Of articles of food.
We do not pretend to say whether the
statements OF the World are true or
not 1t would be an easy matter to find
out whether or not they are true. II is
a fact that the manufacturers Of kero-
sene are now paying about three times
as much for crude petroleum as they paid
a couple of weeks ago. The coal oil pro-
ducers therefore are the ones who are
getting the chief benefit Of the increased
price of light. The great packing houses
Of Chicago and elsewhere say that the
rise in the price of beef is due wholly to
the scarcity Of cattle. that the cattle mon
are getting the benefit Of the rise, and not
the beef packers. If this is true then the
statement OF the World that the rise in
the price Of beef is the result of a con-
spiracy is false. Has the World inquired
as to whether or not there is a scarcity of
cattle? If it has the fact has not been
made public. If the supply Of cattle is
short then the rise in the price of beef
is only natural. Supply and demand con
troll prices.
Within the last month there has been a
very considerable rise in the price of cot
ton. and If it continues there will be an
advance in all kinds of cotton goods. If
there should be such a rise would the
World say that the rise was brought
about by a conspiracy of cotton manu-
facturers? And If there should be a very
marked increase in the price of wheat.
and the bakers should put up the price
of bread would the World insist that
bakers had formed a conspiracy and put
up the price of bread?
The World and such papers are contin-
ually calling for higher prices, but when
prices advance for any legitimate rea-
son, they Immediately cry out that there
is a conspiracy to put up prices.
1t looks very much as II the World
sought sensations rather than the truth.
The kind Of sensations it publishes, how
ever, are calculated to do a vast amount
of harm. If it could show that those of
the cotton planters who have held on to
their cotton are not getting the benefit
of the rise in the price of cotton, or that
the oil producers are not getting any
benefit from the increase in the price of
kerosene or the cattle men are getting
no better prices for their cattle. 1t
would be justified In scoring trusts
and monopolies, but If it cannot show
anything of that kind it ought not to be
person.