The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1899-09-08
BURDEN OF TRUSTS.
ADDITIONAL LOAD ON THE BACKS OF
THE CONSUMERS.

80
In Prices of the Nece.snries Con-
trolled by MonopoIies.
The cost of the necessaries of life are
today On m average Is per cent higher
than they were a year ago. The wage
Garner who supported his family on
ST., 600 during last year must now pay
81, so for precisely the same ecessaries
and comforts.
Crops are plentiful. The supply Of
raw material of all kinds was never
larger. The amount c manufactured
products is in excess Of that in any
previous years. Without unnatural
manipulation these conditions would
cause a decrease in prices instead Of an
increase.
Trusts have forced the increase upon
the people.
The prices are going up, and the IS
per cent increase which the heads of
families must pay for necessaries goes
directly to make dividends for largely
overcapitalized combinations. 1t is
lAlIC lAbt IN Vic tlSl CIt lllV
has been a general increase in the pay
of the wage Garner of 10 per cent. Thus
the worker earns 10 per cent more. but
pays Is more to live.
Retail butchers have advanced the
price of meat 3 or 3 cents a pound.
forced to this by the greed of two trusts.
OF course the formation of an ice
tr,,c k,, ,,,,at1i,r 70 do ~itI fhn ,p-
ton Of the butchers. for they expect to
have to pay more for ice. but the main
squeeze comes from the beef combine in
Chicago.
Louis Wagner. president of the Re-
tail Butchers association, said "Chi-
cage beef sells today for 2 cents Il pound
less in England than in this city. The
beef trust controls the New York mar
ket. Its agents say cattle cost more and
that beef must be higher
An attempt is also being made to
form Il cattle trust, and if this is ac-
complishcd mea: will go higher yet.
On March 20 last the National Salt
company vas incorporated under the
beneticent trust laws of New Jersey.
This company controls 80 per cent of
the salt plants of this state and Michi-
gan.
Before the formation of the trust the
price of fine salt per barrel Of 800
pounds was 50 cents. A few days after
the organization of the trust an increase
in price WAS made of 33 per cent. Since
then there have been several additional
increases. and today the price of a bar
rel Of table salt is 81. so.
Those to whom the increase means
something are the farmers, who pur-
chase quantities of the coarscr grades
of salt for their cattle: also the meat
packers. The latter are not much wor-
ried. as they have a trust. The farmers
and housewives haven't.
Since the formation of the national
carpet trust there has been a gradual
increase in prices until now the pur-
chaser pays 90 per cen more than he
did formerly
Eighty per cent of the carpet mills in
the eastern and middle states are con
trolled by the combination. Outside OF
these states the carpet making industry
is very small, and the trust has the
business of the whole country fairly
within its grasp. particularly as it oper-
ates in harmony with the wool trust
and kindred combinations.
There has been an increase in price
Of raw materials used by carpet max
ers. due to combinations Of the concerns
controlling the materials, but this in
or,,.o =, o,1, 4, c,,,+;,, 90 %1,+ 1L,,~,l
by the carpet trust.
Furthermore, recent improvements in
the machinery used in carpet making
more than offset the increase in the
price of raw materials. but the pur-
chaser nevertheless pays 20 per cent
more thar he did for the same class OF
goods.
The average head Of a family has paid
perhaps little attention to the forma-
ton of such industrial combinations
as the wire and wire nail trust, the
chemical trust. the lumber trust and
the iron and steel trusts. thinking that
they do not affect him.
Yet he pays indirectly a share Of the
increased price which each of these
combinations has made upon the com.
modify it controls.
For instance. the large dry goods OF
department store at which his wife
buys a few yards of cloth is forced tc
charge her d trihe more because Of the
operations of the trusts above named
1t seems a wide and disconnected stretch
between the yards of cloth purchased
and the iron. steel. nail. wire. lumber
and chemical trusts. but nevertheless:
they all operate to send up the price.
In the first place. the chemical trust
has increased the prices Of the dyestuff!
used in coloring the cloth.
The lumber trust has added it's mite
to the price Of the pine boards u Of
which the packing case in which the
cloth is shipped is constructed,
The wire nail trust has added some
thing to the cost Of the nails with
which the boards are fastened together
The nail trust makes this increase part
ly for its own profit and partly to covel
the increase charged by the steel trus'
for the raw material.
The iron bands which are nailed
around the packing case to strengthen
it cost a trihe more than they formerly
did because Of the increased price fol
the raw material charged by the iror
trust.
In addition to these fine operations O.
the wool or cotton mill trust have con
tributed their share toward raising
prices.
There are 800 trusts in existence il
the country. and almost in every in
stance it could be shown that in SOM
way the average consumer helps t,
swell the nrofts Of all