Meade County news. [volume] (Meade, Kan.) 1900-1918, 1900-10-18

ating in the same place at Sc for a
house and SIS for business place per
year and is making money. The ex-
orbitant rates of express monopolies
are notorious, and even railroads have
been known to make excessive charges.
Municipal Franchises.
1t is ,ne same vita all our city mon
! opolies. Gas sells at 81 which can
be made for 20 cents and distributed
for Is, as we know from various gas
reports and Investigations.
The above are but a few samples
from an enormous mass of facts DEM
onstrating that private monopoly
| tends to extortion.
Extortionate charges lead, of course,
to enormous profits and the building
of vast fortunes which become, in thei>
turn, the instruments of further ex-
tortion. The monopolists roll in
wealth, while the working masses and
competitive classes are cheated out of
their fair share of the worlds wealth.
Those who build palaces do not live
in them.
Builders Enter Not In.
Those who dig coal have little fuel,
Those who make clothes are ill-clad,
Those who grow wheat and corn are
poorly fed.
Those who build railroads do not
travel.
Those who do most of the work do
not enjoy the fruits of their labor, s,
while those who do little or nothing,
enjoy much; all because privat mon
opoly gives some men the power of
appropriating what others produce.
Here are some of the profits private
monopoly has made:
Oil trust-S23, 900 900 in three months
about 100 per cent year on the cap
ital, wafer and all. (The oil monop-
oily has been known to make $40 per
cent on its whole capital, and on one
investment 5000 per cent per year was
obtained through railroad favoritism.
wealth Against Commonwealth, PIP.
81, 80, 1907
Profits of Monopoly.
Steel trust-S42, 100000 a year
about 80 per cent on water and all.
Sugar trust, 200 to 400 per cent.
Wire trust, 60 per cent.
Tin plate trust, 40 per cent.
Pennsylvania coal, 80 per cent.
Fifth Ave. bank New York;, $50
per cent.
Chemical bank (New York;, 200 per
cent.
metropolitan Telephone Co., $50 per
cent.
Bell monopoly, $4,000 Oo. year, As
of its total income.
Telegraph monopoly Con original in
vestment), 800 per cent year.
Bay State Gas Co., 60 per cent
year.
Cleveland Gas Co., 144 per cent a
year.
New York Gas, SOOooO,OoO in ten
years, or enough to pay 10 per cent on
the investment and duplicate all the
plants besides.-(New York Senate In
vestigation)
Metropolitan Street Ry. System, New
York, % per cent.
Philadelphia Traction-$5,5 500, 600
Is per cent on investment.
18th and 18th Street Co., IS per
cent.
Philadelphia City 81 per cent.
Ridge Avenue AZ per cent.
Citizens Co., CT per cent.
I'd and Sd Streets, 25 per cent.
Union, 81 per cent.
The excessive charges and exorbi-
tan. profits of private monopoly are
nothing more nor less than taxation
without representation. You are no.
represented in the oil trust, the steer
trust, the coal combine, the Chemical
bank, the gas, electric, street railway,
telegraph, telephone, railroad, beef, SUI
gar, copper and Tin monopolies. Yet
they levy taxes on you.
Watered Stock.
The monopolists know that their
outrageous profits may rouse the peo-
pie if they become known and SO many
of those most open to the public gaze
try to hide their gains by watering
their capital. Ninety per cent on the
real investment is only 9 per cent on
a capital watered to tenfold bulk.
Fraud ana extortion are among the
most prolific, and are quite the most
deplorabie of all the results of private
monopoly.