The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1900-09-27

growth of trusts the business Is gravitat-
Ing toward the offices of the big corpora
tion attorneys, while less fortunate prac-
titloners are becoming law clerks.
The actors suffer from the theatricai
trust.
The small manufacturer Is constantly
menaced by the trusts
He does not know at what moment some
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 IN
uustriai conspiracy against the rest Oh
the country. Many have been driven into
the trust organization by the larger cor
porauons engaged in the same business,
or by trusts formed to control iron, steel,
tin plate, or some other product used as
basis FOR further manufacture. In what
business can your son safely invest
small amount of capital today? II he
starts into any Independent business he
VIII hnd 1t difficult, If not impossible. to
compete with a large organization II 1t
attempts to undersell him in his ter
rltory, because 1t can sustain itself, by
collecting high prices in other parts OF
tne country. II he suppresses his moral
objections and takes stock in mon
opoly, he does not know how soon those
IN charge may attempt to freeze OUT
the smaller stockholders.
The merchant is losing his fndepend-
ence. The trust fixes the terms upon
which he shall sell, and often binds him
by contract not to sell competing arti-
cle 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.
a
Wire Company closed several of its
| factories few months ago and threw
some six thousand employees out of work,
| IL dropped the price of nails and barbed
wire In order to work off surplus stock
| winch had accumulated because the
nigh prices had lessened the demand.
| Every merchant lost money on the nails
| and wire on hand
There is already overproduction in many
lines. The supply of couszson chairs is
now considerably IN excess of the de-
mand. but lest ths Republicans may try
to explain this upon the theory that the
| people are too busy to sit down, I may
| add that there 10 also dullness in the
shoe trade. The Iron Age in q 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 21st stated
that the woolen mills were running at
less than half their capacity; and even
|
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
| 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.
| The contractor can figure with some ac-
| 81 q
but he cannot protect himself against the
| arbitrary fluctuations, which are not only
possible but probable when monopoly
| controls the market.
| The farmer is one of the most import
| ant factors in our national life. Some
| one has said to him, "The hand that
| guides the plowshare feeds the world"
| He Is not stockholder in any of the
| trusts, but he feels the extortion prac-
ticed by them all. I am not farming on
| large scale, but the misleading reports
which have been circulated concerning
my oat crop justify me in making ref
| erence to my own experience. The New
York Tribune recently printed a dispatch
| from Nebraska to the effect that / had
| just sold forty-eight hundred bushels of
| oats at 30 cents per bushel (supposed to
be the yield of 12o acres), and that the
| amount received for the oats was more
than double the price paid for the land
| The Tribune article then proceeded to d.
| late upon tHe prosperity Oh Ine farmer,
| using my experience as an illustration,
| and asserted that the farmers of Nebras-
| ka were becoming SO opulent that they
| were joining the Republican party. The
| facts are, first: That l had five acres
of oats instead of one hundred and
| twenty acres; second, That the oats
have not yet been threshed, so that the
! yield is not known third, That oats are
selling for less than % cents in Chicago.
instead of 80 cents in Nebraska, and
fourth, That the land upon which the
| oats were raised cost me over 500 an
acre instead of Sc. If, when threshed,
my oats yield 40 bushels to the acre,
| and sell them in Nebraska for 20 cents
per bushel the total income from the five
| acres will be $40, or less than eight per
| cent on the investment. After taking out
| the cost OF pfowing sowing, harvesting
| and threshing, the net income from that
| five acre tract, will not exceed four per
| cent on the money invested. do not
| mean to judge others by my own expert
| ence, but / mention the facts in this case
to show how the Republican papers ex-
aggerate the farmers prosperity, and
| credit Republican administration with
| good crops, making no allowance for the
| crop failures which occur from time to
time.
Decline of Farm Products.
But while on the oat question let me
| call attention to the statistics given in
|
According to Henry Clews & Co., the
average prices received by farmers for
oats, during the seven years beginning
with 1898, and ending with 1S99 were as
follows: 1893, 29.4; 1894, 1874; 1895, 1876;
1896, 1877; 1897, 212; 1898, 25.5; 1899, 249. 40
cording to these figures oats averaged
20 cents a bushel during the four years of
Mr. Cleveland's administration, and only
"a cents per bushel during th&tbree years
of Mr.. McKinley's adminik1 ik1Iation-the
present year is not yet complete, but
oats are at the present time below the
| average
According to the same authority the
average prices received by the farmers
for corn, were as follows: 1893, $685. 1894,
457; 1895, 26.4; 1896, 21,5; 1897 1868; 1898,
2S.7 1890, 30.S. making an average of about
3O5 during the four years of Mr.. Cleve-
lands administration, and 2S.1 during the
three years of Mr.. McKinley's ad1ninis-
tration--the fourth year Is not yet COM
plete, but corn is at this time above the
| average.
Wheat, according to the same author
ity brought to the farmers the following
prices: 1898. 53.S; 1884, 491: 1895, 500 1896,
1875; 1897 sos; 1898. 5S.2; 1S99 5S4, showing
higher average during the last three
years than during the four preceding--the
fourth year is not complete, but wheat
is now above the average.
L.