The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1900-10-18

| imposed by monopolies upon all who
are outside Of the charmed circle.
Three sessions of congress have con-
vened and adjourned since the presi-
dents inauguration, and yet he has
never recommended specific measure
looking toward the overthrow of mo-
nopolies.
The Effect of Trusts.
Let Us note briefly the effect of the
| trusts upon various classes. The
lawyers are finding that with the
growth Of trusts the business is
gravitating toward the offices of the
big corporation attorneys, while less
fortunate practitioners are becoming
law clerks.
The actors suffer from the theatrical
trust
The small manufacturer is constant
ly menaced by the trusts.
He does not know at what moment
some large corporation will attempt to
monopolize the business in which he
is engaged. and give him his choice
between bankruptcy and participation
in an industrial conspiracy against the
rest Of the country. Many have been
driven into the trust organization by
the larger corporations engaged in the
same business, or by trusts formed to
control iron, steel, tin plate, or some
other product used as a basis for fur
ther manufacture In what business
can your son safely invest a small
amount OF capital today? If he starts
into any independent business he will
find it difficult. if not impossible, to
compete with a large organization if
it attempts to underSeli him in his ter
ritory, because it can sustain itself, by
li 1,,.ian i,, ~ ~,
of the country. If he suppresses his
moral objections and takes stock in Il
monopoly, he does not know how soon
those i'll 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 4 Compel
ing article. When the monopoly is
complete credit will be shortened, and
the merchant 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 over
| stocks the market and then lets the
| price fail, the merchant must bear the
| loss on accumulated stock. When,
y
Wire company closed several of its
| factories 4 few months ago and threw
| some 5000 employees out of work, it
| dropped the price of nails and barbed
| wire in order to work off surplus
| stock which had accumulated because
| the high prices had lesSened the de
mand. 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 considerably in excess
| Of the demand, but lest the Republic
| ans may try to explain this upon the
! theory that the people are too busy
to sit down. | may add that there is
| also dizziness in the shoe trade The
! Iron Age in Il recent issue pointed out
| that the production of iron was fall
| ing off. the ccrease then amounting
| to more than 10000 tons per month.
| Dun's report of July p stated that the
WOODEN mills Wcr" running at less than
| half their capacity; and even recently
| the cotton manufacturers have been
| threatening to either reduce wages or
| shut down temporarily. According
| to 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 Oc
| ours i'll the midst of good crops. and
| when two wars are in progress.
Trusts and Arbitrary Fluctuations.
The contractor can figure with some
| accuracy 50 long as natural laws con-
| troll. but he cannot protect himself
| against the arbitrary fluctuations,
which are not only possible but prob
able when monopoly controls the
| market.
The farmer is one Of the most i'm
portant factors in our national life.
Some one has said to him, '"The hand
that guides the plOwshare feeds the
| world He is not a stakeholder in
any of the trusts, but he feels the eX-
| tortion practiced by them all. 1 am
| not farming on a large scale, but the
| misleading reports which have been
| circulated concerning my oat crop JUS
| tify me in making reference to my
own experience. The New York Trib-
une recently printed a dispatch from
| Nebraska to the effect that l had just
| sold forty eight hundred bushels of
| oats at 80 cents per buShel supposed
to be the yield Of 100 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 dilate upon the prosper
! ity of the farmer, using my experience
as an illustration. and asserted that
the farmers of Nebraska were becOm-
ing so opulent that they were joining
| the Republican party. The facts are,
| first: That l had five acres of oats in
stead of one hundred and twenty
| acres; second, That the oats have not
| yet been threshed, so that the yield is
| not known: third, That oats are sell
| Ing 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 500 an
| acre instead of Sc. If. when threshed,
| my oats yield forty bushels to the acre
| ard | sell them in Nebraska for 20
cents per buShel. the total income from
the five acres will be $40, or less than
eight per cent. on the investment. Aft
err taking out the cost Of blowing, SOW
| ing harvesting and threshng, the net
income from that five acre tract will
not exceed four per cent on the
| money invested. | do not mean to
| Judge others by my own experience,
but | mention the facts in the case to
show how the Republican papers eXag-
gerate the farmers prosperity. and
credit the 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 n co.
the average prices received by farm
ers for oats. during the seven years
| beginning with 1898 and ending With
1899 were as as follows: 1888, IA;
1894, a: 1890. 1876: 1896 1S.i; 1897,
o12: 1898. %: 1890. 24.9. Accord
ing to these figures oats averaged 20
| cents buShel during the four years
of Mr. Cleveland'S administration, and
only ~ cents per bu>hel during the
! three years of Mr.. Mckinley's admin
istration-the present year is not yet
complete. but oats are at the present
time below the average.
! = l,