Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1900-07-05
ALWAYS THE TRUSTS.


When the country store raised the price
Of nails hitched up my team and drove
to Spokane, % miles distance. There,
too, l was told they would cost me twice
what had been in the habit OF paying.
When asked the reason was told the
trust had raised the price. 1t was the
same answer received from the country
merchant.
l wanted to repair the pasture where |
kept my cattle. Barbed wire has doubled
in price because Of the trusts am told.
The price OF the cattle in the pasture in.
closed by this wire has not doubled. II
l repair the fence-and must to properly
take care Of my stock-the cost Of raising
and marketing will be more. Has not
the trust taken from my pocket then,
that which justly and rightly belongs to
me? am exerting no less labor or en-.
ergy or skill than before in raising the
cattle. The man who has his money in.
vested in the barb wire factory IL exert
ing no more labor, energy or skill or
employing any moro money than before.
Why then should lie profit a. against
me? What right has he, in free coun.
try, to pocket this difference?
A PLAIN ILLUSTRATION.
short tin0 ] wanted IN RIM a
water pipe from the tank ON my windmill
tower to pig pen some 800 feet away.
Whom went to Spokane to buy the pipe
was told it would cost me 10 cents per
foot. Three years before when bought
pipe it cost me but eight cents per foot.
"Why the increase ?" asked I. Then
came the same old answer, "The trusts. I"
found tina: to improve the pig pen as l
wanted would cost me $2l more than it
would have cost before the trusts raised
the price Of the pipe. Now the cost to
the manufacturer has been no more. The
men who are working in the foundrys
and factories are not getting any Of this
$2l. find upon looking the matter up
that my pork will not bring me this ad-
dtional amount. Have l not then been
deliberately robbed to that extent by the
trusts? What right-legal or moral-has
combination Of men and capital to cut
of the profits from my toll that much ?
Grasshoppers and squirrels; rust and hot
winds; dry springs and scorching winds
in August, are bad enough but they sink
into insignifcance as compared with the
harm being done, all over the country,
to the farmers by the trusts. Nor is the
harm confined to the mere fact that We
have the less at the end OF the season.
That, we feel, and feel deeply, but it is
small compared TO what the ultimate
result will be.
lIIsToRY's LESSON.
History has taught, and taught dearly,
and yet it's teachings we fail to heed. In
that mad rush for gain we forget the re-
suit. Already we are nearing the end
and unless the restraint comes, and comes
Quickly, unless the farmers OF this land
the very bone and sinew OF our civiliza'
tion-are protected from the sordid and
unrestrained greed Of trusts and gigantic
corporations, the young men raised on
the farm will forsake the cultivation o.
grain in the field for the cultivation o.
vice in the city. The tendency in thu
past ten years has been noticeably in thai
direction, and with no inducement fo
the rising generation born in the country
to remain there, all the evils resultant
from crowded cities and sparsely settled
country districts will soon confront US.
There was time when the young mar
raised on the farm, and went to schoo
in the little country school house, sough
to follow in the steps of his father ane
cultivate the fields. Then lie saw thereiI
an opportunity to gain an honest and al
honorable living. He was paid for hi
labors. The more energy and skill h
exerted the more was added to his banl
account-and lie had bank account
He was not harrassed bv the graspin,