Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1900-09-28

the liVeryman ana the newspaper.
The Eject of Trusts.
The lawyers are finding that with the
growth of trusts the business Is gravitat-
ing toward the Offices of the big corpora
ton attorneys, while less fortunate prac-
titioners are becoming law clerks.
The actors suffer from the theatrical
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
dustrial conspiracy against the rest OF
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
a basis for further manufacture. In what
business can your son safely invest
small amount of capital today? If he
starts into any independent business he
will find 1t difficult, II not impossible, to
compete with a large organization II 1t
attempts to undersell 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 mon
opoly, 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 competing arti-
Gle. 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
hn nbot, l1y haG n IiVi1a
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.
When. for instance, the American Steel
Il Wire Company closed several OF Its
factories q few months ago and threw
some six thousand employees out of work,
1t dropped the price of nails and barbed
wire in order to work off a surplus stock
which had accumulated because the
high 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 common chairs Is
now considerably in excess of the de-
mand, but lest the Republicans may try
to explain this upon the theory that the
people are too busy to sit down, l may
add that there is also dizziness in the
shoe trade. The Iron Age in a 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 wooden mills were running at
less than half their capacity; and even
recently the cotton manufacturers have
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-
curacy so long as natural laws control,
but ho cannot protect himself against the
arbitrary fluctuations. which are not only
possible but probable when a 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 a stakeholder in any of the
trusts, but he feels the eXtortion prac-
ticed by them all. l am not farming on
a 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 dispatch
from Nebraska to the effect that / had
just sold forty-eight hundred bushels of
oats at so cents per bushel supposed 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 d.
late upon the prosperity of the farmer
using my experience as an illustration,
and asserted that the farmers of Nebras-
ka were becoming SO Qpulent that they
were joining the Republican party. The
facts are, first: That l had five acres
of oats instead OF one hundred ana
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 so 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 l 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 blowing, sowing, harvesting
and threshihg, the net income from that
five acre tract, will not exceed four per
cent on the money invested. l do not
mean to Judge others Dy my own eNptTi-
ence. but mention the facts in this ease
to show how the Republican papers ex-
aggerate the farmers prosperity. and
credit a 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 & Co., the
average prices received by farmers for
oats. during the seven years beginning
with 1898, and ending with 1899, were as
follows: 1893, 29.4; 1894 1924: 1895, 1876;
1896. 1877; 1897, PIP; 1898, 25.5; 1899, 249 Ac-
cording 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 administration-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 365; 1894,
45.7: 1895. 264; 1885, 21.5; 1897, 26.3; 1898,
% Z: 1899. 1913, making an average of about
305 during the four years of Mr. Cleve-
lands administration, and PSI during the
three years of Mr.. McKinley's admins
tration-the fourth year is not yet COM
hut iS this time n he