Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1900-10-26

spirit.
One of the main reasons why men
struggle so hard to obtain monop-
oily is that it enables them to charge
more than the worth of the goods or
services they supply.
In the Bramkamp wire nail case the
attorney for the trust admitted that
1.-THE combine had raised the price
Erom so cents to $3.50 key, whole
sale, securing thereby a monopoly
profit of several million dollars. That
crust went to pieces, but recently an
other has been formed, and wire nails
have advanced over lao per cent be-
Iyond the ordinary competitive price.
Coal Trust Extortions.
The coal combine was investigated
by congress in 1898, and the report
declares ~ that in 1888 the extortions
of the coal monopoly averaged more
than 81 ton, or $59,O00,00O for the
year; and (2) that from 1873 to 1886
1890, 100000 more than fair market
price was taken from the public by
this combination. 1t also appeared
that in 1892 the combine raised the
price SIPS to S1.S5 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 3S to So cents gall
hon, or nearly $5,000,000 additional tax
lon the yearly output.
In the same year the copper Syndi-
cate put up the price from 10 to II
and 10 cents pound, or $50 100000 al.
d...on on the yearly OUTPUT.
A congressional investigation in 1879;
brought out the fact that on thu
strength of rumor that the interna
revenue tax was to be increased b!
congress the Whisky Trust raised it
lprices rs cents gallon, which woult
amount to an additional profit of $12,
100000 on Its yearly output.
Jump In Sugar.
In 1883, just after the Sugar Trus
was formed, the average price Of ray
sugar was The same as in 1885, bu
che average price of refined sugar ad
vanced so that the difference betwee
tthe prics OF raw sugar and the pric
jof refined sugar was 76 per cent MOI
than in 1885 and about 70 per Gel
more than in 1887, the year the tru'
was formed Recently sugar has mao
advances amounting to a total of
cents on the pound. For a dozen veal
I'VE have paid each year a good de-
I'VE did in 1885 (although the cost
refining has been constantly diminish
dng) and our sugar bill has average
at least $1O,O0O,000 and perhaps $40
100000 year more because of tt
trust.
Standard OIL Again.
lhe Standard Oil is another mono
oily that has kept prices form fallil
as much as the diminished cost
transportation and refining would ha
caused them to fall in an open mark'
and at times it has lifted prices abs
Lutely as well as relatively, in spi
OF the vast Improvements in process
of manufacture, great cheapening
transportation by the pipeline servie
and the falling price Of crude o
From 1894 to 1897, for example, t
price of refined oil went up Ia per Gel
while the price of crude oil declin
per cent Oil rose at wholesale
New York from 3 cents in Novemb
lo97, to cents in December. 18
and it has gone still higher in 1900
One may charge the fair value
che services he renders without me
opoly. But monopoly gives pow
to charge more than that value,
other words, monopoly confers the
estimable privilege Of demandi
something for nothing.
The Telegraph Monopoly.
We pay twice as much for our tie
grams as government -ystems chart
the telephone monopoly charged
federal government SIS per phone
service the government is now s,
plying for itself at cost Of $40
phone, and even in our largest C
exchanges, where the monop
charges $50 to $3.50, tue service co
be rendered at profit for unifo
caarge of $50 a year.
The Bell monopoly, in Grand R
ids, Wis, charged $50 for house {
S48 for business place, while
operative telephone exchange Is OF