Waterbury Democrat., 1902-08-02
"A. E. B's" REJoINDER.
Agrees With Retired Butcher, But
 Suggests Different Remedies.

Suggests Different Remedies.
 Editor of Waterbury Democrat:
 l Dear Sir:-Please allow me few
 more words in your valuable paper to l inform Retired Butcher that \ agree with him in regard to the beef l trust having the local dealers. but it I is immaterial to us how 1t was done
 or whether our farms are stone walls
 and sand banks very fertile or barren,
 the fact is plain that the meat trust is
 here and that we are buying and eat ing western beef. Therefore we must
 come to the concllxion that in the
 economic struggle the fittest survived,
 the west has conquered and eastern beef is out of our markets never to
 return permanently. Tt is not a mat l ter of my like or dislike. 1t does not alter the case whether I am a trust
 agent or q common laborer; the fact l is plain to everybody and ought to be | more so to retired butcher. l have
 made the economic question study, us
 much as my time permitted, and | have come to the conclusion that sO-
 ciety does not retrogate, no matter
 who is the sufferer,s whether 1t is a retail butcher or coach driver. say most emphatically that there is
 no more eastern beef in the eastern states, no more land booms, no more hand printing presses--they are things
 of the past, pleasant to remember no doubt to many people as youthful
 days are to all men that are becom- ing old.
 am glad that Retired Butcher was
 amused at my little knowledge of the Connecticut farms am no farmer. n frslx @sAIx f1.x.xsxx aI. s,1I A1n~. towns mentioned, talked with many farmers and the majority of them told me that farming does not pay as
 1t used to, the reason given was that
 western competition had lowered the | prices. I would advise Retired
 Butcher not to lose his patience with
 us men that are constantly referring to material evils. Look at the bank
 fupts, strikes and boycotts, these are signs of dissatisfaction and be,lr in
 mind that dissatisfaction means pro- gress. I also was greatly amused at
 the idea of individual enterprise fin these days of great combinations that
 men with garden patches wc.e com
 petitors of the trusts. In ancient times when most men had a house
 and could keep COW and raise few
 potatoes with a hoe, it was possible
 for the individual to produce for his
 needs and of his family, but in our
 modern time methods have changed.
 We have the steam blow and har- vesters to produce commodities they
 have taken the place of the hoe and
 backache. You are wrong my friends when you think that the trnat is
 more afraid of individual enterprise than the ballot, for instance, you re-
 member when the horse railroad first
 started in this city, how the instiga-
 tors of the scheme were the mems ot nominating and electing men that would represent their interest in the Connecticut legislature,
 how they got control of our streets
 when you and I were probably occu- pied in our individual interests, They
 knew that the ballot was first and the
 hoe next. If we had taken more in- terest in the ballot box we would new 1 CT have allowed men outside of the 1 city grant charter to the horse rail-
 road company, now the Connecticut
 Railway and Lighting Go. They have prospered through our political negli- gence, they legislated for their inter- l est while the retail dealers and other l individuals were grumbling at high taxes or kicking at the trusts.
 l I will conclude, hoping that l have made "Retired Butcher see that it is l impossible for us to go back to our grand-dad's days with their silver
 dollars and hand weaving; economic evolution through competition has pro- duced two classes, the exploiter and the exploited; the property owner and the propertyless, creating class struggle, the man that owns and the man that does not. Which class do
 you belong to? II. of the non-produc- l ing, vote for the cap-talist party that
 represents your class interest, be it re- publican or democrat; they both rep resent the profit system. belong l to the producing class and will vote l for the party that represents my class I interest, that is the socialist party. 1 A. E. B.