Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1900-09-28

ing toward the offices of the big corpora
ton attorneys, while less fortunate prac
utioners are becoming law clerks.
The actors suffer from the theatrlcai
trust.
The small manufacturer is constantly
menaced by the trusts.
He does not know at what moment soWe
large corporation will attempt to mon
opolize the business in which he is en-
gagged, and give him his choice between
bankruptcy and particulation IN an III
dustrial conspiracy against the rest u
the country. Many have been driven INTO
the trust organization by the larger cor
porations engaged in the same business,
or by trusts formed to control iron, steer.
tin plate, or some other product USED as
basis for further manufacture. In what
business can your son safely ihVes'
small amount of capital today! II ne
starts into any independent business ne
will find it difficult, If not impossible, to
compete with large organization II IL |
attempts to undersell HIM In his ter
ritory, because 1t can sustain itself, by
collecting high prices in other parts of
the country. If he s4ppresses his moral
| objections and takes stock in mon
T, opoly. he does not know how soon those
in charge may attempt to freeze out
| the smaller stockholders.
The merchant Is losing his independ-
| ence. The trust fixes the terms upon
which he shall sell. and often binds him
by contract not to sell competing artl-
| Gle. When the monopoly Is complete
| credit will be shortened. and the mer-
chant will be compelled to bear all the
| risks Of trade. When the trust raises
| prices, the merchant usually has to divide
| the advance with, his customers, so far
as stock on hand is concerned. but when
the trust overstocks the market and then
lets the price fall. the merchant must
bear the loss on accumulated stock.
When, for instance. the American Steel
& Wire Company closed several OF Its
factories a few months ago and threw
some six thousand employees out of work.
it dropped the price of nails and barbed
wire in ORDER to work off a surplus stock
which had accumulated because the
high prices had lessened the demand.
Every merchant lost money on the nalis
and wire hand.
There is already overproduction in many
lines. The supply of common chairs Is
now considerably In excess of the de-
mand. but lest the Republicans may try
to explain this upon the theory that the
people are too busy to sit down, l may
add that there is also dizziness in the
shoe trade. The Iron Age in recent
! issue pointed out that the production OF
iron was falling off. the decrease then
amounting to more than $4,000 tons per
month. Dun's report of July 2lst stated
that the wooden mills were running at
: less than half their capacity: and even
recently the cotton manufacturers nave
been threatening to either reduce wages
/, or shut down temporarily According to
Dun'S report, the business failures have
$ been greater during each month of 1900
r than they were during the same months
of last year. and this occurs in the midst
of good crops. and when two wars are
in progress.
= Trusts and Arbitrary Fluctuations.
It The contractor can figure with some &C
). curacy SO long as natural laws control
l. but he cannot protect himself against INT
arbitrary fluctuations which not OnlN
20 possible but probable when a monopol!
g. controls the market.
1t The farmer Is one Of the most import
ID ant factors in our national life. Som
one has said to him. The hand tina
IS guides the, plowshare feeds the world.
,r He is not stockholder in any of tn
n trusts. but he feels the extortion prac
= ticed by them all. 1 am not farming OF
% large scale, but the misleading report
v which have been circulated concerning
,e my oat crop justify me in making ref
erence to my own experience. The Nev
York Tribune recently printed dispatc
- from Nebraska to the effect that l ha
~, y. just sold forty-eight hundred bushels O
~ oats at 80 cents per bushel supposed t
10 be the yield of 120 acres). and that tn
20 amount received for the oats was NOR
40 than double the price paid for the lane
~ The Tribune article then proceeded to c!
" late upon the prosperity OF the farmer
", W using my experience as an illustration
:. and asserted that the farmers of Nebras
~ ka were becoming so opuient that the
40 were joining the Republican party. TIL
facts are. first: That l had five acre
of oats instead of one hundred an
= twenty acres: second. That the oat
~ ~, have not yet been threshed so that til
- yield is not known: third That oa al
e. selling for less than % cents in Chicag
~ instead of 80 cents In Nebraska, an
~ fourth, That the land upon which tt
he oats were raised cost me over 500 a
ne ne acre instead of Sc. If. wnen threshe
l au my oats yield 40 bushels to the acr
~, and I sell them in Nebraska for 20 cen
NJ. per bushel the total income from the fly
u acres will be $40, or less than eight p
a., 90 cent on the investment. After taking OF
~ the cost of blowing. sowing, harvestir
IN and threshing. the net income from TIL
~ five acre tract, will not exceed four p
M cent on the money invested. l do n
~ mean to judge others by my own exper
pa, ence. but mention the facts in this ca
- to show how the Republican papers e
ira aggerate the farmers prosperity, al
~, credit a Republican administration wi
,be good crops. making no allowance for t
he crop failures which occur from time
nd time.
10Y Decline of Farm Products.
md But while on the oat question let I
sht call attention to the statistics given
nto the Investment guide already referred
ny, According to Henry Clews & Co., t
hat average prices received by farmers
ith oats, during the seven years OeSlnul
Thy with 1898. and ending with 1899, were
ich follows: 1893, 29.4 1894, 1874; 1895, 10
re. 1896. 1871; 1897 PIP; 1898. 25.5; 1899, 249.
fps cording to these figures oats averag
are Is cents a bushel during the four years
rec Mr. Clevelands administration, and OF
md "a cents per bushel during the three yes
gu of Mr. McKinley's administrations
nd present year is not yet complete.
the oats are at the present time below I
average.
According to the same authority I
Of average prices received by the farm'
sod for corn. were as follows: 1885, 1865: Is
hill ASH; 1896 1854: 1896. 21.5; 1897. 1853; Is
arr 2s7; 1899, 3O.3, making an average of abe
nal 3O5 during the four years of Mr.. Gle
nal lands administration. and PSI during
;inp three years of Mr.. McKinley's admin
was tration-the fourth year is not yet CO
tro plete, but corn Is at this time above
and average.
was Wheat. according to the same auth
de- ty brought to the farmers the follow
hev prices: 1923. 1913: 1884. 49.1: 1895. 500: l
non 1875; 1897, sos: 1898. 5S.2; 1899. 5S.4, show
ous a higher average during the last tn
,use years than during the four preceding
cad fourth year is not complete, but VIII
nm is now above the average.
rust According the same authority cot
mo- planters received the following pric
=