Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1902-12-17
The Penitentiary Cure.

taking advantage of heavy receipts,
the packers have worked In harmony
and depressed the market. For the
past three weeks they have msneuvered
to secure low-priced hogs to fill their
sales of January products. Two weeks
ago, for several days, there was no buy
ing of stock by the packers. All the
pens In the yards were full and the re.
port spread that the market was de.
moralized. When the shippers were
becoming desperate, the packers finally
stepped in and purchased their regular
supplies at much reduced prices. The
houses ran at their utmost capacity for
couple of days, and then there was
another simultaneous unwillingness to
purchase. Prices went still lower, and
the packers again purchased
The above excerpt was taken from
the market reports of Chicago news
paper. 1t might easily be duplicated
from the market columns of almost any
Chicago newspaper of the past several
weeks.
1t is as plain as the Roman nose on q
mans face that the big packers of Chi
cago are acting, and have been acting,
in conjunction. In other words, these
packers are daily violating the injunc-
tion filed against them in the federal
courts.
And in the meantime there Is no de-
cline in the retail prices of meats. And
no explanation is vouchsabed. When
Attorney General Knox filed his plead
ings in the case of the United States
against the big combine elaborate ex-
PLANTATION was made respecting the high
price of beef and pork. The reason al
legged was the scarcity of feed and of
cattle and hogs.
The condition at that time made the
plea plausible.
But conditions have changed. There
is abundance of feed Barring few
sections where the corn is soft, the
country has the greatest csSp in the his
tory. And there is no scafcity OF cattle
or hogs. 1t is easy to prove this latter
assertion from recent Chicago market
reports. Several times recently word
has been sent out that the supply of live
stock exceeded the demand.
The crux of the matter is this:
There is beef trust and it is
robbing the people with both its greedy
hands.
With one hand 1t maneuvers the mar.
kets to depress normal prices, and with
the other it monopolizes the meat SELL
ing of the country and manipulate
prices to the consumer, mulcting the
people.
The beef trust is the .meanest trust
extant. Dealing in necessity of life, it
adopts the methods of the highwaymsn,
save only that it robs by proxy, and
where the ordinary deliver
selects single victim, these robbers
hold up an entire people. The trusts
takes meat from the mouth of labor
and filches the puny purses of million
poor.
The beef trust is meaner than the
Standard OIL monopoly. While the
latter monopolizes supply and controls
production, 1t does not raise the price Of
its product to the consumer.
Robin Hood robbed the rich and gave
to the poor. The beat trusts robs both
rich and poor and gives to none.
1 1trObs by stealth and strategy and
denies Its theft on oath!
The fact is, the Sherman antitrust
law as 1t is "enforced" is q fraud,
There Is q provision In that law call
ing for criminal prosecution.
Why Is 1t never invoked?
These millionaire packers with thei
able lawyers care nothing for ipiunc
tions or for civil procedure.
Let the government institute crimina
proceedings and show this gentry tn,
open door of the penitentiary.
And If the antitrust law need
strengthening along this point it should
be done by congress- this winter.
Constitutional alnss155r.ents are tn,
slow. -, ,''s' wy
Put one Of these offenders aoa,-,
the law In the penitentiary and thar
will be no more illegal combines Of thi
kind. -Des Moines News.