The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1899-09-16

n
II World, the cost of the necessaries
per cent higher than they We're year
ago. The Is per cent increase goes di-
rectly to make dividends for largely over
capitalized combinations.
1T is claimed" says the World, since
the trust era there has been general
increase in the pay Of the wage-earuer Of
10 per cent Thus the worker earns 10
per cent more, but pays Is more to live"
Now, there has been no such increase
"iron law Of wages" theory falls flat,
not only one-third but two-thirds, or alto
gether. We believe that if the reductions
were balanced by the advance OF wages.
and the Introduction of machinery or in
creased speed thereof Is considered. the
wage fund has not grown, but actually
diminished when compared to the in
creased output and piling up of wealth
for the capitalists.
However. there is no question that the
trust kings, while holding down wages
on: the one side, are forcing increased
production and at the same time boost
prices on the other side. Thus, the cost
of meat is being felt in every part of the
country the retailers demanding from 2
to s cents more per pound. The Armour
Swift combine is waxing fat as result,
while the ice trust is also raking in a
few additional pennies. :i
The coal combines are busily revising
their lists, and the shoe manufacturers
&C. NJ: :1o 5o1,,
ago decided to ask the consum-
ers to pay Is and Is per cent
more for footwear, a part Of which in
crease will probably go to the hide and
leather trust and kindred combines.
The price of table salt has been nearly
doubled, and the glass combines are
reaching Cor a little more profit, as are
the tin and other trusts that furnish
uecessaries that are used in the kitchen.
cost 70 to 80 per cent more than six
months ago.
: About 20 per cent more IS paid for car
pets than formerly, the combine hav ing
secured control Of 50 per cent Of the mills.
The furniture manufacturers are like
wise reported as raising prices.
Nearly evesy article handled by d hard
ware store is the product Of a trust and
the stock Of large establishment repre-
sents perhaps twenty different Industrial
establishments. X Some Of these trusts
control everything from raw material to
finished product, while others depend up
on the iron, steel, copper and brass
trusts for materials, and, as each Of the
latter has Increased its prices heavily
within the past eight or ten months, the
manufacturing trusts, following in the
wake of others. have also made an in
crease. The result is that for various ar
ticles Of hardware the purchaser is paying
anywhere from Is to 100 per cent more
than year ago. .,
The average person has paid little at
tention to the formation Of such indus
trial combinations as rne wire, iron and
steel. lumber and chemical trusts, think
ing that they do not affect him. But let
him go to the dry goods house and pay
three-quarters of a cent more for print
cloth-because the chemical trust has in
creased the prices of dyestuffs used in
coloringthe cloth and the lumber, wire and
- oA - Adt e duuCu lIS1I A41lC " IiAC
price Of the packing case in which the
goods were shipped-he will readily un-
derstand that capitalism is squeezing him
both as producer ana consumer.
Realizing that his purchasing power Is
decreasing and his wants increasing one
is liable to become easy prey to dema-
gogical and ignorant political bushwhack-
o-f, &0r,,e
But these same poltroons, who are ever
anxious to ride into office on a wave of,
popular indignation, are always careful
not to mention how they propose to car
ry out their anarchistic disruption
scheme.
In this connection it should be mention
The United States Supreme Court has
trenched behind every branch of our gov
ernment and rooted in the federal const1-
tuition itself, and all state constitutions
for that matter. The freedom of contract
is the cap-stone of the capitalistic sys-
TEN, and that is the principle upon which
combination is based.
A curious legal anomaly has arisen late
ly, which only strengthens the position
of the trust
refused to allow state courts to inter-
refused to allow state courts to in ter
fere with the distribution Of the products
of trust on the ground that sale across
state lines is Interstate commerce, while
the same court will not allow congress to
interfere because monopoly in manufac-
turing, and the subsequent and necessary
sale of the product throughout the Union
is not Interstate commerce.
1t has been proposed to give congress
the necessary power by an
amendment to the Federal
Constitution, but such an amendment
must be approved by three-fourths of the
states, and the money and political influ-
ence of the combines can easily defeat
approval in Twelve o. more states. Ac-
tion: along this line is a waste of time,
and even if it were possible to accomplish
it would require generation
a few companies or individuals
viii control the entire productive and dis
industries of this country.
We might as well make up our minds
to the fact that centralized capital is the
undisputed monarch. We can organize
unions and strike and boycott, but the
little temporary concessions that may be
gained by hard fighting will disappear
again when we purchase the ordinary
necessaries of life, although we may be