Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1900-09-28
SPEE6H,,

, the uveryman and the newspaper.
The Eject Of Trusts.
The lawyers are finding that with the
growth of trusts the business Is gravttat-
ing toward the Offices of the big corpora
uon attorneys, while less fortunate prac-
tfdoners are becoming law clerks.
The actors suffer from the theatrical
trust.
menaced by the trusts
l., ne does not know at what moment some
large corporation will attempt to mon
opolfze the business In which he is en-
gagged, and give him his choice between
pankruptcy and particulation in an an
oustraai conspiracy against the rest OF
me country Many have been driven into
the trust organization by the larger cor
poIaSlonS4 engaged in the same business.
or oy trusts formed to control iron, steel.
TN plate. or some other product used as
basis Tor further manufacture. In what
business can your son safely invest
sinall amount of capital today? If he
starts into any Independent business he
VIII md 1t difficult. If not impossible. to
| compete with large organization II II
attempts to underseu him in his ter
ritory, because it can sustain itself. by
coHecting nigh 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 art1-
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
prices, the merchant usually has to divide
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 accumulated stock.
Steel
d Wire Company closed several of its
factories a 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 considera bly, in excess of the. de-
to explain this upon the theory that the
people are too busy to sit down, I may
add that there is also dizziness in the
shoe trade. The Iron Age in 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
|
/ 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. .
1 The contractor can figure with some ac-
| curacy so long as natural laws control.
but he cannot protect himself against the
arbitrary fluctuations which are not only
possible but probable when a monopoly
controls the market. 's@-s=.-s
& The farmer Is one of the most import
{ ant factors In our national life. Some
/ one has said to him. The hand that
L 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 am not farming on
/ a large scale. but the misleading reports
which have been circulated concerning
( my cat crop justify me in making ref
/ erence to my own experience. The New.
York Tribune recently printed a dispatch
from Nebraska to the effect that 1 had
just sold forty-eight hundred bushels OF
oats at 30 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 6i-
late upon the prosperity of the farmer,
using my experience as an ILLUSTRATION,
and asserted that the farmers of Nebras-
ka were becoming so opuient that they
were joining the Republican party. The
facts are, first: That had five acres
of oats instead of one hundred and
| twenty acres; second, That the oats
have not yet been threshed. so that the
yield is rot known: third That ; are
selling for less than % cents in Chicago.
instead of 80 cents in Nebraska, and
fourth, That the land upon which the
oats were raised cost me over slUO an
acre instead of S.. If. when threshed,
my oats yield 40 bushels to the acre,
| and I sell them in Nebraska for 20 cents
h1lS al he fof tEaf five
acres will be $40, less than eight per
cent on the investment. After taking out
| the cost of blowing, sowing. harvesting
and threshing, the net income from that
| five acre tract, will not exceed four per
| cent on the money invested. I do not
mean to judge others by my own expert
| ence. but I mention the facts in this case
| 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 1893, and ending with 1899, were as
follows; 1888 81 isos 1884, sd 600 1882 1ss
| cording to these figures oats averaged
| Is cents a bushel during the four years of
| Mr.. Cleveland's administration, and only
| "a cents per bushel during the three years
| OF Mr. McKtnley's administra tion-the
! present year Is not yet complete, but
! oats are at the present time below the
1 average.
/ According to the same authority the
4 ayerag e prices received by the farmers
| for corn. were as follows: 1893, 365; 1894,
| 45.7: 1895. 1854: 1896. H.5: 1897 2e-3: 1898.
| 2s7; 1899 30.S making an average of about
4 aO5 during the four years OF Mr.. Cleve-
/ lands administration, and 2s-1 during the
i three years of Mr.. McKinley's admins
l 10 NOT