The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1902-05-09
The Beef Trust.

Notwithstanding the assertions of the
Beef Trust that the present high price
and continued further upward trend Of
beef is not due to its manipulations, but
to scarcity of cattle, sufficient evidence
has been accumulated to warrant the gov
eminent to begin legal proceedings in
several meat packing centres, aud 1t is
expected that bill in equity against the
trust, prepared under the direction OF
Attorney General Knox, will be filed in
Chicago this week. The public is watch
ing these tardy legal proceedings with
no little interest in view of the fact that
our present Attorney-G General is an eX-
attorney of the Steel Trust, and that
notwithstanding there have been anti
trust laws on the statute books of the
United States for dozen years, the Beef
and other trusts have thrived and waxed
fat under them. How much of a fight
the Administration will put up remains
to be seen. Certain is it that the people
look for the prosecution, in the hands of
parties who are advocates of a policy
under which the trust system has grown
to such proportions, to end in little more
than bluff 1t is a significant fact that
several of the big corporation dailies
which started out to handle the Beef
Trust without gloves, have drawn in their
horns since it has been shown how closely
interviewer are the trusts with one anoth-
er, and that the agitation of the subject
necessarily draws public attention to the
whole monopolistic principle.
The Woykey, all antitrust publication,
explains the workings of the Beef Trust
and shows how it has managed to get con-
troll of the meat market and make itself
felt in debating prices
"What is,the Beef Trust? 1t is com-
bination of half-a-dozen great capitalists
owning the stockyards and packing
houses, in close alliance with the railroad
and steamship companies, with capital
aggregating certainly one hundred mil
lions and probably much more, which
has been slowly growing i'll power for the
last fifteen years, and now holds by the
throat both the cattle-raisers and the meat
sellers and, through them, the whole
people.
"The meat trust, like all other trusts,
is closely connected with the great trans
portation companies. In fact, at the
present day, you cannot consider any
trust separately. If you fight one you
must fight them all-nay you must fight
the whole system. The same men own
stock in dozens or scores of different CON-
panies, the same men sit in the Boards of
Directors and manage all in harmony
for the sake of profit.
"How does the Beef Trust hold up
the cattle raisers? The Trust is the prin-
cipal purchaser. 1t says to the cattle
dealer, You must not sell to anyone else,
or we will not buy of you at all If he
still persists, it brings its railroad connec-
tions into play and says to him, If you
will not bind yourself to sell exclusively
TO US, you shall not have a chance to ship
your cattle to market. By such means it
drives every refractory cattle raiser into
bankruptcy and becomes virtually the
sole purchaser of cattle.
con the other hand, it says to the
meat dealer, You must not buy of anyone
else, or we will not sell to you at all. If
he persists, it sets up retail agency in
his neighborhood and undersells him
even sells at loss for little while, if
need be-and drives him into bank
ruptcy. Thus it becomes practically the
sole seller of meat. The dealers who re-
main are no better than agents for the
Trust"