The representative., 1900-03-29
IS THIS jim?
He ROareth' Like = B1ll Before the
Multitudes and Bleateth Like the
Gentle Lamb In the Presence Of
the Trusts.

The state dairy and food commission
Is In trouble again. The head of that
commission is fusion Populist, who,
during the campaign Of 1898, went
round the country believing like an
infuriated bull about how the trusts
were running the business of the coun-
try, and straining the dictionary out of
all resemblance to itself in wild
tude to express the indignation Of his
noble nature at such an awful state OF
affairs. From the manner in which he
agitated the atmosphere and gesticu-
lated with arms and legs by way of
emphasis, many people were led to be-
lieve him to be really in earnest and
to predict all sorts of tribulations and
troubles for the big corporations II he
ever succeeded in getting his clutches
upon their cuticle. He wasn't elected,
however, and would have been obliged
to return to his native obscurity II a
compassionate governor had not come
to his rescue and invited him to look
after the dairy and food interests of the
state and, incidentally, collect tat sal
ary for so doing This was very nat
tering offer and, therefore, as soon as
our hero had fully satisfied himself that
he. could really distinguish the differ
ence between hot tamales and stewed
prunes he promptly accepted the invita-
ton and the salary. He soon learned,
however, much to his astonishment and
alarm, that there were other articles ol
diet to be considered such - butter,
baking powder. oleomargaEins, ETC.
and that these were largely controlled
by the very trusts he had been 50 vigor-
ously denouncing. Now it is one thing
to call m~A hard names and shake
your fist at him when YOU are at a safe
distance and his back is turned, but
it is quite another affair when he is
right before you and looking you
straight in the face. Many men who
are fiercely courageous when there is
no trouble in sight will become mild as
rabbit in the presence of danger of any
kind, and our friend seems to resemble
this sort of man in many respects. The
moment he found himself face to face
with the big corporations he ceased
roaring and began to bleat like q
motherless lamb. So long as the trusts
were not involved he could get along
all right, but he was very careful not
to get mixed up with their interests
to any great extent. He, therefore, de-
voted his energies to making life a
burden to the small dealers or retailers
OF unlabeled baking powder, renovated
butter, etc., but was very careful to
let the big manufacturers and whole
sale jobbers pursue their way in peace.
This plan worked nicely for while, but
now the Retail Grocers' association has
taken the matter up and propose to find
out why things are thusly. They are
not able to understand why they should
be made to suffer while the big con-
Germs are not molested at all. They
reason that if it is lawful for these big
institutions to manufacture and place
these things upon the market, it is
equally lawful for them to sell the
same to anyone who is inclined to buy.
OF course the grocers are right from
a legal standpoint, but what can they
do? Absolutely nothing. The courts
can deal only with such cases az are
brought before them, and If the dairy
and food commission sees fit to favor
the big concerns at the expense Of the
retailers, the latter have no redress.
They will simply have to take their
medicine and look pleasant, while the
great and only dairy and food commits
sioner Of Minnesota waxeth fat upon b is
goodly graft, and takes abundant care
not to get into trouble with the uue.a,
Thus by one wave Of their majestic
wand the trusts have succeeded In
Transforming a roaring lion into q
harmless rodent, without either the
power or the will to do them HARM
The Searchlight.