Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1900-10-25


spirit
s One OF the main reasons why men
struggle so hard to obtain a monop-
oily is that it enables them to charge
EnoEe 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 so cents to $3.50 a key, whole
sale, securing thereby a monopoly
profit of several million dollars. That
crust went to pieces, but recently an
other has been formed, and wire nails
have advanced over lao per cent be-
yond the ordinary competitive price.
Coal Trust ExtOrtiOns.
The coal combine was investigated
by congress in 1898, and the report
declares (D that in 1888 the extortions
of the coal monopoly averaged more
than 81 a ton, or $39,000,0 600 for the
year; and CD that from 1873 to 1886
soc, O0O, 900 more than a fair market
Dr1ce was taken from the public by
Ehis combination. 1t also appeared
that in 1892 the combine raised the
price S1-25 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 put
the price up from SO to 50 cents a gal
Ion, or nearly S5,OO0,0OO additional tax
ON the yearly output. frs
In thersanps .ssaasfies pr 10 sttoeKs !
49, a, louItu, or $50, 100000 aa-
Nxz-44On 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 it's
prices 25 cents a gallon, which would
amount to an additional profit Of S12,-
COS, 600 on its yearly output
Jump In Sugar.
In 1888, just after the Sugar Trust
WIS formed, the average price of raw
sugar was me same as in 1885, but
the average price OF refined sugar adj
v2Rced so that the difference between
che price OF raw sugar and the price
OF refined sugar was 76 per cent more
than in 1885 and about 20 per cent
more than in 1887, the year the trust
WAS formed. Recently sugar has made
advances amounting to a total of 2
cents on the pound. For dozen years
NC have paid each year a good deal
more per pound for refining sugar than
We did in 1885 (although the cost of
EefIning has been constantly diminish
xns]. and our sugar bill has averaged
at least $10000,000 and perhaps $780,
Of
trust
Standard Oil Again.
abe Standard Oil is another monop-
oily that has kept prices form falling
as much as the diminished cost of
transportation and refining would have
caused them to fall in an open market,
and at times it has nfted prices abso-
1utely as we'll as relatively, in spite
az the vast improvements in processes
az 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 Ia per cent,
while the price of crude oil declined
q per cent. Oil rose at wholesale in
New York from cents in November,
and it has gone still higher in 1900.
One may charge the fair value Of
the services he renders without a mon
orOIy- But monopoly gives power
tn charge more than that value, in
other words, monopoly confers the in
estzmable privilege of demanding
something for nothing.
The Telegraph Monopoly.
We pay twice as much for our tele-
grams as government ~ystems charge;
the telephone monopoly charged the
federal government SIS per phone for
service the government is now sup
plying for itself at cost of $40 per
phone, and even in our largest Guy
exchanges, where the monopoly
charges $50 to $3.50, the service could
he rendered at a profit for a uniform
c4Large of $50 year.
The Bell monopoly, in Grand Rap
EGs. Wis. charged $50 for a house and
SIS for business place, while CO.
01aEative telephone exchange is oper-