The San Francisco call., 1898-07-02
BEEF BARONS
 BOLDLY ACCUSED
A ST. LOUIS DEALER ASSAILS THE DRESSED BEEF COMBINE.
Government Inspection of Meats a Farce = Rendered Imperative
 Through Bribery and Fraud.

nave DScH III COulGTSuC6 Uldlly tllllCSJ the wheat growers have met, the silver advocates awakened and the industrial class. composing the labor unions, have been many times in secret session. The butchers of all leading cities are meet ing yearly. Why these conventions and caucuses They are the protests of out ragged society against the arbitrary control of our markets and against the unfair methods of associated capital. To be more specific, the hardships which have been imposed upon the masses, the tyranny of trade monopoly which they endure, and the immensity of an indebtedness which no human eff fort can tighten, have all unawares, been forced upon them. By years of CO., ercion, partly through their own folly and principally through manipulation, they have been led, step by step, into the meshes of monopoly, until now. like caged animals, they chafe like the
 ISRAELITES OF OLD AGAINST
 THEIR BONDAGE
 The cause of this is to be found in class legislation or in discriminating laws and franchises, which have en- riched a few at the expense of the many, until the few control and dictate values in every branch of American in- dustry. The combined trusts and mo- nopolies have seized upon power, and through the abuse of our governmental ideal of liberty, they lave usurped rights which threaten the enslavement of the people. The butchers battle, through their national organization, is only a part of the great struggle inau- gurated in the civilized world, and now fairly begun In the United States be- tween the principle of industrial CO., operation, or standardization, on one hand, and of competition upon the other. There is no question at all but what the large dressed beef companies control the cattle industry of the Unit ed States, and there is no question at all but what thev nearly control also the fresh meat supply of the United States also If retail butchers buy their fresh meats from those meat com pines, 1t means the elimination of the principle of competition, 1t means one bid for cattle and one bid for the fresh beef, and this bid, regulated by the selfishness of conspirators; 1t means one price to consumers, and this price REGULATED BY THE SAME YARD
 STICK OF COMMERCE.
 It means that the beef combination will continue to pocket the profits. The retail butcher stands between the pro- ducer and consumer. He represents a great industry, and is responsible to society. If he deserts his trade, his freedom and independence, what will be the consideration? He will simply become the hireling, distributor of meats that have been shipped thou sands of miles, and which has, per haps, been refrigerated for weeks to make 1t tender, and he cannot tell whether it came from an infected herd or not. Right here I will say, without fear of contradiction, that the Govern ment Inspection l; W for home trade Is nothing but a farce for the benefit of the beef barons. I am ready to prove before a proper committee that thou sands of cattle have been killed in Kan sas City, Omaha and other cities that were never seen by a Government vet 1 erinary surgeon or a meat inspector, but, notwithstanding, Uncle Sans | stamp of inspection was tackled on the 1 carcasses to make our citizens believe that said beef was inspected and
 THUS DECEIVE THE GENERAL
 PUBLIC.
 The power of the dressed beef mo- nopolists is such that they can depress 1 prices at will, as it has been proven l that they have the value of ain animal almost cut in two. This domination re- suits from the fact that they have kill ed opposition whenever and wherever l. 1t has developed. The whole cattle in 1 dustry is cowed. The humiliating fact | is apparent that the ranchmen, oom- mission men and butchers will all soon wear a collar upon which should now i be branded, Slave to the Dressed Beef l Monopoly" If all the retail butchers | go into the league, the stock formerly killed and marketed at home will be sent across different States to the large abattofrs. This will result in a double %<rNi <yx Nr,Nf, sion and other expenses, and the dress ed carcass will be shipped back again 1 for consumption. Do consumers for a minute believe that they will not pay for this? The dressed beef company will first make their profit, the railroad company makes two profits, the com mission men and shippers a profit, the stockyards a profit and the retail butchers a profit When the competi- tion of butchers Is totally removed 1t means a permanently increased cost of living, and in return for his home mar ket or stock killed at home and inspect ed by the proper meat inspector, non descript and unclassifed quality of meat that he can't tell whether 1t came from healthy animal or not, and the consumer must therefore trust to Prov idence.
 l."OR SOME AGENT OF THE l DRESSED BEEF MONOPOLY"
 The meat, of course, Is tender, but 1 the oldest and oorest ranch COW would be tender if refrigerated thirty days or more. Consumers might as well fill their stomachs with woody fiber as with this refrigerator stuff, as there Is nothing strengthening in it, and it is without nourishment. AS stated pre- viously, we have cheaper beef here in St. Louis and other cities in the West than In Eastern cities, but l venture the prediction that in three years after opposition Is killed, so that 1t will place prices of meat in the absolute control of those dressed beef barons, the re- suit will be manipulated markets. As to the power of the beef barons, the butchers have felt 1t as well as seen it. and I protest that the public will soon have a manifestation of it. It is a humiliating confession, an avowal of the weakness of our governmental sys- tenn, a reflection upon the political honesty of the age. I refer to our owr Legislature in the year 1889, when our live stock inspection bill for the State of Missouri was defeated in the Senate by influences and poodle from the beel monopolists, and which was given pub licity by the Post-Dispatch. I refer tC poodle report of State of Minnesota Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania, where