Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1900-10-19

, One of the main reasons why men
struggle so hard to obtain a monop-
oily is that it enables them to charge
more than tie 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 50 cents to $500 a key, whole
sale, securing thereby monopoly
profit of several million dollars. That
trust went to pieces, but recently an
other has been formed. and wire nails
have advanced over 14O per cent be-
yond the ordinary competitive price.
Coal Trust E1tortions.
The coal combine was investigated
by congress in 1893, and the report
declares % that in 1888 the extortions
lof the coal monopoly averaged more
than 81 a ton, or S59,OOO,OOO for the
year; and ca that from 1873 to 1886
5000, 100000 more than a fair market
price was taken from the public by
this combination. 1t also appeared
that in 1892 the combine raised the
price S1.25 to $1.35 a 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 So cents a gal
Ion, or nearly 100000 additional tax
on the yearly output.
In the same year the copper Syndi-
cate put up the price from 10 to II
and IS cents pound, or $50 100000 al
ID. Ion 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
Icongress the Whisky Trust raised its
prices rs cents a gallon, which would
amount to an additional profit OF s12,-
800, 900 on its yearly output.
Jump In Sugar.
In 1888, Just after the Sugar Trust
was formed, the average price OF raw
igugar was he same as in 1885, but
the average price of refined sugar adj
vanced SO that the difference between
the pric. OF raw sugar and the price
Iof refined sugar was rs per cent more
than in 1885 and about 70 per cent
more than in 1887 the year the trust
twas formed. Recently sugar has made
advances amounting to a total OF
cents on the pound. For dozen years
we have paid each year a good dea
more per pound for refining sugar than
we did in 1885 (although the cost OF
refining has been constantly diminish
Iing), and our sugar bill mas averaged
Vat least S10,O00,000 and perhaps $40,
100000 year more because OF thu
trust.
Standard OIL Again.
Ahe Standard Oil is another monop
,oly that has kept prices form falling
as much as the diminished cost o.
TRANSPORTATION and refining would have
caused them to fall in an open market
land at times it has nfted prices abso
|lutely as we'll as relatively, in spite
|of the vast improvements In processe!
of manufacture, great cheapening O.
transportation by the pipeline service
and the falling price of crude oil
From 1894 to 1897, for example, thu
price of refined oil went up IA per cent
while the price of crude oil declined
Is per cent. Oil rose at wholesale IL
New York from cents in November
Ilo97, to cents in December, 1899
and it has gone still higher in 1900.
One may charge the fair value o
the services he renders without mon
,opoly. But monopoly gives powe
Ito charge more than that value, II
other words, monopoly confers the in
estimable 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 tn
federal government SIS per phone TO
service the government Is now sup
plying for itself at cost of $40 pc
phone, and even in our largest cit.
exchanges, where the monopol.
charges 800 to $3.50, tie service coul'
he rendered at a profit for a uniform
Charge of $50 a year.
The Bell monopoly, in Grand Rap
dds, Wis, charged s36 for house ant
$48 for a business place, while co
operative telephone exchange is oper