Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1900-09-27

the larger corporations engaged in the
same business, or by trusts formed to
control iron, steel, tin plate, or some
other product used as a basis for fur
Their manufacture. In what business
can your son safely invest small
amount Of capital today7 If he starts
into any independent business he will
find it difficult, If not impossible, to
compete with a large organization if
It attempts to underseil him in his ter
ritory, because 1t can sustain itself, by
collecting high prices in other parts
of the country If he suppresses his
moral objections and takes stock In a
monopoly, 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 a Compel
ing article. When the monopoly is
complete credit will be shortened, and
the merchant 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 OH hand
is concerned, but when the trust over
I
price fall, the merchant must bear the
loss on accumulated stock When,
for instance, the American Steel and
Wire company closed several of its
factories a few months ago and threw
some 5000 employees out of work, 1t
dropped the price OF nails and barbed
wire In order to work off surplus
stock which had accumulated because
the high prices had lessened the de-
mand. Every merchant lost money on
the nails and wire on hand.
There is already overproduction in
many lines The supply Of common
chairs is now considerably in excess
Of the demand, but lest the Republic
ans may try TO explain this upon the
| theory that the people are too busy
to sit down, | may add that there is
also dullness in the shoe trade. The
Iron Age In a recent issue pointed out
| that the production of Iron was fall
| ing off, the decrease then amounting
| to more than 10000 tons per month.
| Dun's report of July 81 stated that the
wooden mills were running at less than
half their capacity; and even recently
| the cotton manufacturers have been
| threatening to either reduce wages or
L
| 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 oc-
ours In the midst of good crops, and
when two wars are In progress.
Trusts and Arbitrary Fluctuations.
The contractor can figure with some
accuracy so long as natural laws con-
| troll, but he cannot protect himself
against the arbitrary fluctuations,
which are not only possible but prob
able when a monopoly controls the
| market
The farmer is one Of the most i'm.
| portant factors in our national life.
Some one has said to him, 1.-THE hand
that guides the plowshare feeds the
| world" He Is not q stakeholder In
any Of the trusts, but he feels the ex-
tortion practiced by them all l am
not farming on a large scale, but the
misleading reports which have been
| circulated concerning my oat crop JUS
tify me in making reference to my
| own experience. The New York Trib-
| une recently printed a dispatch from
| Nebraska to the effect that had Just
sold forty-eight hundred bushels of
| oats at 80 cents per bushel Composed
to be the yield of 120 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 dilate upon the prosper
| ity of the farmer, using my experience
| as an illustration, and asserted that
| the farmers of Nebraska were becom-
| ing so opulent that they were joining
the Republican party. The facts are,
| first: That / had five acres of oats in
| stead 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 sell
| ing 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 800 an
| acre instead of Sc. If, when threshed,
| my oats yield forty 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. Aft
| err taking out the cost of blowing, SOW
| ing, 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 experience,
| but / mention the facts In the case to
| show how the Republican papers exag-
| gerate the farmers prosperity, and
| credit the 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
the Investment Guide already referred
| to. According to Henry Clews e. Co.
| the average prices received by farm
ers for oats, during the seven years
| beginning with 1898 and ending with
1 1899 were as as follows: 1898, 29.4;
| 1894, 324 1895, 1915; 1896, 1871; 1897,
PIP; 1898, 25.5; 1899, 24.9. Accord
| ing to these figures oats averaged %
| cents a bushel during the four years
| OF Mr. Cleveland's administration, and
| only "a cents per bushel during the
| three years of Mr.. McKinley'S admin
| istration-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 farm
| ers for corn, were as follows: 1893,
36.5; 1894, 45.7; 1895, 28.4; 1896, 21.5;
1897, 1858; 1898. 2S.7; 1899, 30.3, MAX
ing an average of about 30.5 during
| the four years of Mr.. Cleveland'S adj
| ministration, and PSI during the three
| years of Mr.. McKinley's administra-
tion-the fourth year is not yet COM
| plete, but corn is at this time above
| the average.
| Wheat, according to the same au-
| thority brought to the farmers the fol
| lowing prices: 1893, 53.S; 1894. 49,,
1895, 500; 1896, 1913; 1897, S0.8: 1898,
| $50; 1899, 5S.4, showing a higher ay
erage during the last three years than
| during the four precedlng-the fourth
| year is not complete, but wheat is
now above the average.
According to the same authority cot
| ton planters received the following
| prices: 1893, 600; 1894, 4.6; 1895, 1859;
1896, Go; 1897, 80; 1898, 4.75; 1899,
rs, showing a higher average during
| the four years of Mr.. Cleyeland's adj
| ministration than during the three
1 years of Mr. McKinley's administra-
| tion-the fourth year is not yet COM
| plete, but cotton is now above the ay
erage price.
Taking these four staples of agrlcul-
| ture 1t will be seen that three out of