The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-10-28

 one great English monopoly taken over'' by them) have combined Into a trust with q common capital Of many hundreds of millions. not definitely known but thought to approximate one billion of dollars. This great combine will control absolutely 75 per cent Of the hogs ana cattle slaughtered in the United States. as well as numerous by-products eaen and all representing some one of the necessaries of life. Every one within the sound of my voice has very lately had brought home to him the inlquitous ad- vance registered in the prices Of meats, rendering their use by men Tn good err cumstances a rarity, while to the worK- ing man, certainly to the poorer classes the use of meat has become absolutely prohihitory because of the unconseionabie prices arbitrarily fixed by this greedy trust Next comes the original and only standard oil Trust" the first of its class and so incorporated as a trust when chartered It Is nominally capitalized at S1O000 ,0O0, but this does not begin to represent the almost limitless horde or wealth owned by Its handful of owners, one single one of whom Is rated ''bii- lionaire"-largely the fruits of this mon opoly and amassed within the brief period of thirty years. So absolute has it's mon opoly become that ever since 1900 it's divi dends have been at the rate of IS per cent annua1ly-eduivalent to clear gain or profit of S4S.000.0 600 per annum on an in- vestment claimed to be only s10o O0O, 000. Next may be mentioned the American Telephone and Telegraph company, con solidating over fifty telephone companies in one, capitalized at s130.0c0, ,O00 and pay ing per cent dividends; the s60 100000 American Car and Foundry company, controlling a monopoly of car manufac- ture and paying per cent dividends; tho
 
 ing per cent; the s15O0O0,000 anthracite coal trust, grinding it's miners into sub mission by the present strike; the sS5,- GOO, sugar trust; the $1S7. GOO topacco trust. controlling nearly every tobacco company in the country; the S5600O,oOG biscuit trust" the lSS,0oo,0o0 leather trust; and so on.
 Not to fatigue you with further enum- eration it suffices you to Know that well nigh every conceivable article of common necessity or every day use. from the baby carriage in which the infant Is rolled to the coffin in which the man Is buried, all are controlled by trust.
 AS TO PRICES.
 Now. am aware that some time back the slogan" of the republican party, in it's effort to fool the laboring man into voting their way, was to harp on the full dinner pail" They argued that the  prices through certain economies to be instituted more throuogh organization, etc. For their arguments to prevail in the present campaign l assert here that two things must now be demonstrated; first. that the laboring man either has enjoyed corresponding rise in wages to set off the unprecedented rise in the prices of his food and clothing, or that If his wages, as matter of fact, have not appreciably been enhanced that his cost or expenses of living have remained upon the old basis. Let us see what are the facts: First of all comes the matter or prices on our meats. Has the meat trust advanced it's prices on your beefsteak, your hams, etc? We all know that the prices of meats have been advanced over 10 cents per pound within the past ninety days and we all agree that prices of meats are higher than ever before In our experience-except possibly, just after the civil war, when there occurred an arti- flcial scarcity So, in the case of corn, now the subject or football Of a corner worked by a handful of gamblers who have boosted prices to $1 per bushel. So with flour. Take another one of these prime necessaries of life-coal, which Is now 25 per cent higher than year ago. In short, everything has gone up during the last few years, excepting few ar ticles subject to unusual conditions. For example, sugar IS CldllHtO lo pS ioNNi than formerly, the friends of the sugar trust citing this as proof that the people profit by the trust. But I assert that sugar is not as cheap as 1t ought to be because over l cent per pound, represent ed by the protective tariff rate. goes di- rectly into the pocket of the sugar trust. In fact, all our everyday wants must now be supplied at greatly enhanced prices while wages have remained sta tionary Clothing has marked an ad- vance of 10 or 15 per cent; wooden and cotton goods are higher; vegetables and fruits are higher; lumber, window glass, hardware, leather paper, tin plate. metal, borax--all are higher. Perhaps no more eloquent proof of my contention could be adduced than certain statistics made up some months ago by that recog- nfzed authority Duns Review, which, after quoting the market prices of some $50 different kinds of articles, showed that taking the average of these prices Into account throughout. the actual cost of living in this present year Q9O2) is 40 per cent greater than that in 1S97-the latter being the year when the Dingley tariff went Into effect, and in and by which ill-fated measure the trusts be- came fully entrenched in their complete control and domination over the business of our country. Tn other words, this non-partisan and reliable authority goes on to demonstrate that the cost of living, as guaged by these prices. Is per cent higher than in 1900 and over Il per cent higher than in 1890.
 COMPARATIVE PRlCES-DOMEST