Sunday Washington globe., 1902-04-27
About the Beef Trust.

Much has been said lately about the beef
trust and the high price that is being asked
/ by those in the combine to sell. Our daily
contemporaries especially the evening daily
/ which plays the role of independent journ.
J alism-have been discussing the question
and suggesting remedies Some pathetic
stories have been told by the EVeNing Star
about the poorer classes visiting the market
and being obliged to turn away with empty
baskets because they could not pay the ad-
vance demanded Remedies Of all sorts
have been suggested-the principal one be-
/ ing advice to those who cannot afford it to
| quit buying. Very easy to follow such
| kindly advice when not able to pay. The
/ people who have but little and who cannot
pay doubtless are very thankful to the
organs for telling them to beat the trust by
| doing without meat. To the on-looker does
not this counsel seem somewhat gratuitous2
There is one phase of the question, how
/ ever, which our friends have not alluded to,
and that is that the actual results are little
! different from those predicted 1t has been
/ dinned into our ears ever since the trust
| problem began to be agitated, that trusts,
combines, or whatever they might be called,
always cheapeued the price Of the COM
modify, no matter what that commodity
might be, to the consumer. Then the
Standard Oil trust began to absorb small
dealers, the organs, i. e., the protection
organs, caioled.the people into the belief
that the trust cheapened the article to those
who had to buy, utterly ignoring the fact
that new fields were being developed every
day and the supply greater. hence cheaper.
When other combines were made, such as
the steel trust, which sells at high prices at
/ home and low prices abroad, the same old
/ cry went up, the steel is cheaper to le con
sumer. When the cotton seed oil trust was
| formed which gave the trust the power to
fix the price it paid the cotton grower and
the price it sold to the consumsr, the same
cry went up. When small mills--such as
castor oil mills-were absorbed and tenant
less factories stood all over the land, the
same story was told. Silent machinery,
empty dwellings where busy industry
and prosperous homes once had been, elo
quently and with sad pathos told it ALL yet
the same cry, the article costs the people
less.
When a complaint was made by the con-
sumer that tariff rates were high. the plea
was made the higher the tax the cheaper
the thing manufactured. So it went, and
so it goes on now. If any complaint. how
ever great or small, of exorbitant taxation
the astounding prosperity Of the Dingley
bill" was trotted out Supply and demand
the general laws Of trade were Of no
moment, but the DingleY bill was trotted
out and pranced before the people who had
to pa the bills The fact that there was a
usel IS tariff on hides; that there was a
tariff on cattle. etc, it was claimed made
everything cheaper.
Now when the supreme test has come
why don't the organs come out and say
frankly that the trust don't cheaper the
commodity If steel trust cheapens steel,
an oil trust cheapens oil, why don't beef
trust cheaper beef It is true that old
fashioned economists were wont ts say that
the combine once perfected it had the
power to fix prices at will, but such old
fashioned men we're hooted at, whistled
away, and another screechiug editorial on
the wonderful prosperity under the Dingley
bill.
We may be old fashioned ourselves, but
we with others now call upon the defenders
Of the trusts to explain why the meat trust
is depressing the poor People will demand
an explanation that will explain; one that
will be satisfactory and not glittering
generality on the beauties of high tariff or
protection.
To come down to bed rock. Will people
forever put up with such sophistry2 Will
they always believe the stories told7 The
whole truth is, the beef combine is only
doing what il has long planned to do. II
has been known for years that the dealers
everywhere have been compelled to buy Of
the combine or go out Of business When
ever an independent dealer attempted to
buy and kill his own cattle he was told he
must not do it. If he was obstinate and
continued to buy, the combine would put
a shop down beside him and reduce the
prices 50 he could not compete and he
would be driven out Of business. The
people-unwittingly perhaps--in such in
stances always helped the combine destroy
the local dealer. For the sake of few
cents in a deal for present necessities they
would buy Of the combine unmindful Of the
fact that as soon as the local dealer was