Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1903-03-05
PROSPERITY FOR TRUSTS.
Purchasing Power of the People Al
most acknowledgements
Waxing Fat.

Prosperity, prosperity, prosperity"
we hear and read OF it all the time,
whether we listen to after dinner
speeches or read the metropolitan
newspapers. Where there is so much
smoke there must be some fire-and
there's. The earnings and profits of the
railroads, trusts and monopolies are
simply marvellous. The net profits of
the steel trust in 1902 were $132,0OO,-
300; of the Standard Oil trust, $45,O0O,-
0G0 900; of the beef trust, probably
$500, 0O0, 900; of the anthracite coal
trust, perhaps 500, 600 900, in spite of
the six months strike. The profits of
the thousands of other trusts, includ-
ing the natural monopoly trusts, were
enormous.
But trusts and ~monopolies cannot
thrive except by obtaining high prices
for their products. Unfortunately
somebody must pay these high prices.
They are, in fact, paid by the whole of
o,r 100000 people. Upon all of
them, except a comparatively few,
rests the heavy burden of trust pros
perity. The farmers of the west have
been able to carry their share of this
heavy burden because they have been
blessed with excellent crops for five
or six years, and, because of poor crops
in the rest of the world, have sold their
products for high prices. But forthese
facts the trusts would have been COM
PEELED to be more moderate in their
charges, and the cost of living would
not have increased so greatly-over 40
per cent. in five years.
Wage earners have been trying to
get advances in wages which would en-
able them to live through these trying
prosperity times, but as usual, wages
do not rise as quickly or as much as
prices, and at least half of our popula-
ton are struggling along and waiting
and hoping for hard times and low
er prices. Do you doubt this state
ment? Consider a few facts.
Organized charity never had great
er difficulty than during the past win
ter in meeting the demands upon it.
Rev. Father Tewes, of New York, is
quoted as saying that There never
was such general suffering and ex-
IRENE poverty as this winter"
The Wool and Cotton Reporter has
for weeks been complaining of the
poor demand for wooden goods and of
the comparatively low price of wool
when other prices are very high and
when the scarcity of wool the world
over is greater than the present gen.
Grafton ever saw, and the statistical
position" of wool would warrant much
higher prices. This great trade jour
nal accounts for this lack of demand for
woolens by saying (January 2S), that
the diminished purchasing power of
the masses will not admit of their pay
ing more" 1t says the people cannot
afford to pay for good woolens, and
adds, significantly:
I'm this connection, it is worth noting
that the shoddy dealers are talking
very bullishly, and are looking forward
to an unusually profitable season.
Rags are also very firm, and a large
business in them is looked forward to,
Facts of this nature cannot be over
looked in estimating the future of the
wool market. The wool manu-.
facturer must necessarily be tempted
under such conditions as exist at pres.
ent to make a liberal use OF
substitutes"
Again, in its issue of February 10
this journal explains the lower prices
for wool by saying:
st should be borne in mind, despite
the alleged general prosperity of the
country, the average person is feeling
rather poor, by reason of his having
to pay a great deal more for everything
he buys than he has paid for a great
many years. The average person to-
day is under the sternest necessity tc
economic. The purchasing power OF
, the average income is low rather thar
high"
These are the explanations, not OF
. theorists, but of experts familiar will
the facts. In plain language, we have
, to pony up so much to the trusts thai
We Suhhou ahold w "NdI "OOlSl
clothes and are, instead, wearing more
and more clothes made from cottor
. and old rags ground up. From this
D we see that trust prosperity mean:
; shoddy prosperity, and that trus'
prosperity is, in fact, shoddy prosper
ity for the masses. 1t means UNTOLD
wealth and luxury for the few mo
nopolists and hard work for the nasse!
, at wages that leave them under tn,
sternest necessity to economic" tina
, they may continue to exist and to pay
! trust prices. Great splendor ant
great squaloh But those in the squalol
class car at least enjoy the privileg,
, of reading about the great prosperity
! of those in the splendor class. TO en-
: Joy this privilege, a majority of tn
: people are willing to vote to tax them
, selves and to pay trust prices to in
, GREASE the profits and luxury of tn,
! monopolists. Great country this.
BYRON w. HOLT.
President Roosevelt's opposition
to removal of tariff protection from
the trusts, as stated by him during tn,
G recent campaign, was on the grount