The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1900-10-27

struggle SO hard to obtain a mOnOp-
oily is that it enables them to charge
more than the worth of the goods or
services they supply
In the Bralnkamp wire nail ease the
attorney for the trust admitted that
the combine had raised the price
from 50 cents to 500 u key, whole
sale, securing thereby monopoly
profit Of several million dollars. That
trust went to pieces, but recently an
other has been formed. and wire nails
have advanced over $40 per cent bc-
You'd the ordinary competitive price.
Coal Trust EAtortions.
The coal combine was investigated
by. congress in 1898, and the report
declares ~ that in 1883 the cxtortions
OF the coal monopoly averaged more
than 81 Il ton, or SIS ,OU00OJ for the
year; and (2) that from 1873 to 1856
S200,000,00U more than Il fair market
prlce was taken from the public by
this combination. 1t also appeared
that in 1872 the combine raised the
price SIPS to Sl.%%5 IL ton OH the kinds
used by ho"sakeepers, though the
price Of coal was already high and the
cost of mining diminishing every year.
The Linsced Gil Trust in 1887 pu,
the price up from 80 to 81 cents a gal
Ion, or nearly s5,0J0,Go0 additional tax
on the yearly cutr@t.
In the same year the copper Syndi-
cate put up The price from 10 to II
and is cents q ;ound, or $40 ,0GO, 0GO au-
d->.on Oh the yearly OUTPUT.
A congressional investigation in 1898
brought out the fact that on the
strength CT a rulnor that the internal
revenue tax was to be Increased by
congress the Whisky Trust raised it's
prices 25 cents a gallon. which would
amount to an additional profit OF $l2,-
100000 on its yearly output.
.!uu? In Sugar.
In 1888, just after the Sugar Trust
was formed, the average price Of raw
sugar was tie same as in 1855, but
the average price CT refined sugar ad-
vaEceG 50 that the difference between
the pric, or raw sugar AMI the price
of refined su>2r Was rs per cclt more
tEan in 1855 AID about 70 per cent
more than in 1887, tie year the trust
wGs formed. Recently sugar has mat.,
advances amounting to Il total of 9
cents Oh the pound. For Il dozen years
We have paid each year a good deal
more per pound 10: refining sugar than
We did in 1850 (altllDugh the cost CT
refining mas been constantly diminish
at least Sl0,0u0.UCJ ard perhaps $40
O00.G00 a year E!ore because Of the
trust.
Standard OH Again.
Ahe Standard Oil is another monop-
oily that has kept prices form falling
as much as the diminished cost of
transportation and refining would have
caused them to fall in an open market,
and at times it has nfted prices abso-
lutely as we'll as relatively, in spite
OF the vast improvements in processes
Of manufacture, great cheapening of
transportation by the pipeline service,
and the falling price of crude oil.
From 1894 to 1897, for example, the
price Of refined oil went Up Ii per cent,
while the price OF crude oil declined
per cent. Oil rose at wholesale in
New York from cents in November,
1887, to G cents in December, 1899,
and it has gone still higher in 1900.
One may charge the fair value of
the services he renders without mon
opoly. But monopoly gives power
to charge more than that value, in
other words, monopoly confcrs the in
estimable privilege of demanding
something for nothing
Tho Telegraph Monopoly.
We pay twice as much for our tele-
grams as government -ystcms charge;
the telephone monopoly charged the
federal government SIS per phone for
service the government is now sup
plying for itself at a cost of $40 per
phone, and even in our largest CITY
exchanges, where the monopoly
charges $50 to $3.50, tAe service could
be rendered at profit for uniform
Charge of $50 year.
The Bell monopoly, in Grand Rap
ids, Wis, charged s36 for house and
S4S for business place. while a CO.
operative telephone exchange is opcr-