Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-09-24
THE 10 STUDY.
The Trust Question MS It Applies to
Every Mans Home.
New York Journal.

ms IS good time to study the trust
question and understand it. While the or
binary citizen is plying the brave mine
workers of Pennsylvania he must not for
get himself. The cruel system that is
blighting their lives is silently at work in
! his own home.
| IL is In the power of every man who has
q home TO turn his back on the political
economists and find out for himself in q
single day just what the trust question
amounts TO. He does not need to be a
college-bred man. 1t matters little wheth-
er he can read or write The man who
really wants to know what the trust ques-
ton amounts to can make a complete
| investigation of the facts without going
outside of his own household.
| Let him ask his wife. or mother, or sis
ter. or housekeeper the price OF meat.
-four. sugar, oil. lard, canned goods, coal.
shoes, clothing, household utensils and
other things that make up the bulk OF
mans living expenses. compared with
prices year and half ago.
Then let him ask himself whether his
wages have increased in that time.
| He will find that the trusts have raised
the cost of living more than Is per cent.
while his wages have remained at a fixed
point or have, advanced something like
] ) per cent.
1 challenge any man in the United States
| to make an investigation into this ques-
ton Tor himself. II IS a big question. 1t
involves millions of his fellow men. It
| involves his own family. He may read
and read until his eyes fail him and may
yet remain in doubt and be unable to vote
! intelligently on the matter. But his Nome
! is an open book inswhich he can find the
trust question written clearly ana unmis-
| takably.
Last week went to the anthracite coal
! fields to search for the causes OF the
pending strike. l did not rely on the or
ganized labor leaders; l did not rely on
the mine owners or superintendents.
went to the shanties Of the miners therl-
selves. There l found the naked, horrible
/ truth. 1t was the simplest task imagin-
! able to discover that the cost of living had
! been increased by the trusts from so to 50
per cent. while wages were held down by
! the Coal Trust
Let the citizen who would know the
! truth examine his own case. Then ii win
be time for him to study his neighbor,
Why have wages stood stin while the
cost of living has advanced? Is the con-
| ultl0n or accident oneF
The explanation Is this: In the State of
New Jersey, for instance, in the year 1899.
there were Incorporated trusts with an ag-
I gregate capitalization OF about two and
half billion dollars.
This was in one State In one year.
About half OF this enormous sum of trust
stock represents what Wan street men
/ call water A trust buys out ten fac
tories worth 100000 in actual value. 1t
then issues 100000 of stock. Before this
happened the ten factories simply had TO
earn reasonable profit on the actual capt.
tai invested in the business. But the trust
has 100000 OF stock representing abso-
lutely nothing but the paper it is printed
on.
! In order to sell this water stock TO the
public the trust must earn dividends on It.
[ 1t must double the profits OF the factories
| Having practically secured a monopoly OF
the market, the trust at once raises the
prices OF its products II discharges clerks
and travelling statesmen and closes some OF
the mills in order to make the product
scarce. 1t tramples down all attempts at
competition which might reduce prices.
| Neither the workingmen in the mills nor
the public which buys the product of the
mills gets the benefits of the trust. Prof
its sufficient to declare dividends on the
watered stock are earned and the stock IL
worked Off" on innocent and gullibIe out
siders. The makers of the trust have
gathered in millions OF dollars
That is the explanation of the extraor-
binary facts which an investigation Of
your household expenses will disclose
| That is also the explanation of the semi
starvation in the anthracite coal fields
which has driven 10000 men into open
revolt.
Senator Hanna said not long ago: so
| long as trusts have not proved menace
to business nor to the laboring interests OF
the country, so long az all that is said
about them is merely talk and nothing
but talk. so long as they have not proved
a curse to the country, / believe they
should be let alone,
Mr.. Hanna is the absolute master OF the
Republican party. The President and the
Attorney General have followed his adj
vice, and. Notwithstanding the Federal
Antitrust law, which the Supreme Court
Of the United States has declared 10 be
| both constitutional and necessary. the
! trusts have been "iet alone, and Attorney
! General Monnett of Ohio, who attempted
to prosecute the Standard Oil Company,
was driven out Of his party in disgrace =.
| Mr.. Hanna.
| But what do you think about e? Should
| the trusts be let alone?" II not, what is
the best way Of restraining them? Which
is more likely to try TO find remedy
/ William Mckinley CT William Jennings
Bryan?
/ This Is a question personal 70 yourself.
It is mixed up with every mouthful OK
I. food you eat. with every yard Of cloth you
wear and with every ton OF coal you burn.
You cannot put the burden OF investiga-
| ton upon your neighbor The facts are
| present in your own house.
And when the trust system Is perfected
and the small manufacturers and business
men are all converted into clerks r agents.
what chance will there be for your son
to go into business FOR hitnself2
Dare you vote to take away hope from
the youth OF America
| naads Gfrnnarer Than Varha