Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1900-05-02
ANOTHER OBJECT LESSON.
Coal is Sold to England for One Fourth
the Price Americans Must
Pay for It

EDglishmen have concluded a bar
gain which gives them 100000 tons
| of American coal at IS cents ton.
You know what the ordinary Amer
lean has to pay for coal. You know
also that there is a tariff on coal
| to prevent any American from get
ting an outside supply at a reason-
| able price. These are very old facts
and not worth talking about any
more. The coal trust is one of the
lot that have got to run their course,
like the measles or mumps. They are
not to be stopped by talk or theory.
What is interesting in this sale
| of coal at Is cents a ton is this-so
1T seems to us. The American coal
| miner used to be a man devotinp his
attention to extracting coal from the
| earth. The actual trust coal miner
is an institution devoted to digging
money out of the public. The coal
trust has secured the right to sell
us all our coal. 1t no longer bothers
about the amount of available coal
in the coal pockets. 1t figures out
how much money there is in the
pockets OF the coal consumers and ar
ranges to get that. Putting up the
price of coal brings out all the coal
money-and at the same time de-
crease the consumption of coal That
is an excellent economical arrange
| ment for those who own the Ameri-
| can coal supply. Every American
idiot who lives under trust govern
ment is compelled to economize in
the use of coal, and at the same time
he pays out to the trust as much
money as though he had used coal
freely.
Such nice arrangement makes it
possible to sell 100000 tons of Eng
ishmen for rs cents ton, mere frac-
tion of what Americans pay. The ex-
ira English money is simply velevt.
All the American coal money being
raked in, $1,5OO,O0O from England
now and again is acceptable.
Various other trusts are engaged
In this same business of charging
Americans what they like-mining
the people scientifically, as it were,
| and selling to foreigners at ridic-
| ulously low rates. American oil can
be bought anywhere cheaper than in
America. American steel is sold on
the other side of the Atlantic for less
that you, an idiot American, could
buy 1t at the works in Pittsburg. We
have built up industries through pro-
tection-and foreigners get the bene-
| mt while we still pay the trust prices,
which means thieves prices.
The change from this system is GO
ing to be very interesting. 1t will
not come soon-money can buy what
ever it wants in this country. 1t
can get laws at bargain prices, and
| officials at reasonable rates, from the
| president down. Therefore be sure
that you idiots who pay the freight
will have to show energy before you
get change. You will not get it
without seeing soldiers called out to
| quiet you. as they were called out in
| Idaho. You may not believe this. but
you will see it sooner or later. Then
you will believe it. The present sys-
tenn means hundreds of millions
yearly for those in power Do you
imagine that they are going to give
up the power or the millions without
| fight? If you have that idea, YOU
do grave injustice to the character
of the American trust owner. He
may be corrupt rascal. He is a COR
rupt rascal, beyond any question.
But he will fight like any other rascal
for what he has got.-N. Y. Journal.