The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1900-10-18

One Of the main reasons why men
struggle SO hard to obtain monop-
oily is that it enables them to charge
more than the worth of the goods or
services they supply.
In the Bramkamp wire nail case the
attorney for the trust admitted that
the combine had raised the price
from 80 cents to $3.50 a key, whole
sale, securing thereby a monopoly
profit of several million dollars. That
trust went to pieces, but recently an
other has been formed, and wire nails
have advanced over 140 per cent be-
yond the ordinary competitive price.
Coal Trust Extortions.
1 The coal combine was Investigated
by congress in 1893, and the report
declares a. that in 1888 the extortions
of the coal monopoly averaged more
than 81 ton, or $39,000.000 for the
year; and (2) that from 1873 to 1886
$500, 100000 more than fair market
price was taken from the public by
this combination. 1t also appeared
that in 1892 the combine raised the
price $1.25 to $1.35 ton on the kinds
used by housekeepers, though the
price of coal was already high and the
,cost of mining diminishing every year.
/ The Linseed Oil Trust in 1887 pu,
the price up from SO to So cents a gall
Ion, or nearly s5,O00,000 additional tax
ON the yearly output.
In the same year the copper Syndi-
cate put up the price from 10 to II
and Is cents pound, or $50, 100000 ad-
d..aon on the yearly Output.
A congressional investigation in 1893
{ brought out the fact that on the
strength of a rumor that the internal
revenue tax was to be increased by
congress the Whisky Trust raised its
prices Is cents gallon, which would
amount to an additional profit of $12,-
100000 on its yearly output.
Jump In Sugar.
In 1888, just after the Sugar Trust
was formed, the average price Of raw
sugar was The same as in 1885, but
the average price of refined sugar adj
.vanced so that the difference between
the prics OF raw sugar and the price
OF refined sugar was 78 per cent more
. than in 1885 and about 70 per cent
more than in 1887, the year the trust
q was formed. Recently sugar has made
advances amounting to total of
cents on the pound. For dozen years
we have paid each year good deai
more per pound for refining sugar than
we did in 1885 (although the cost OF
refining has been constantly diminish
1ngJ, and our sugar bill has averaged
rat least $1000O,000 and perhaps $780,
100000 a year more because of the
trust.
Standard OIL Again.
Abe Standard Oil is another monop-
oily that has kept prices form falling
az much as the diminished cost OF
transportation and refining would have
caused them to fall in an open market,
y and at times it has lifted prices abso-
lutely as we'll as relatively, in spite
Of the vast improvements in processes
Of manufacture. great cheapening OF
transportation by the pipeline service
/ and the falling price Of crude oil
From 1894 to 1897, for example, the
price of refined oil went up Il per cent
while the price of crude oil declined
8 per cent. Oil rose at wholesale in
New York from 2 cents in November
le97, to 6 cents In December, 1899
and 1t has gone still higher In 1900.
One may charge the fair value Of
the services he renders without mon.
opoly. But monopoly gives power
TO charge more than that value, in
other words. monopoly confers the in.
estimable privilege Of demanding
something for nothing.
The Tsissraph Monopoly.
We pay twice as much for our tele.
grams as government ~ystems charge;
the telephone monopoly charged thu
federal government $75 per phone fol
service the government is now sup
plying for itself at cost Of SO pei
phone. and even in our largest CITY
exchanges. n where. the monopoly
charges $50 to $3.50, tie service coult
be rendered at a profit for a uniform
cnarge Of $50 year.
The Bell monopoly, In Grand Rap.
Ids. Wis. charged t36 for house and
t4S for business place. while a co.
operative telephone exchange is oper.