The San Angelo press. (San Angelo, Tex.) 1897-1907, 1904-11-24

BODY with a report of the investi-
CATION which has been pending
for some months. Some of the
Northern newspapers express the
belief that this report would have
already been made public had 1t
not been for the election. While
we are waiting for the report 1t
NAV be well TO consider the work
ings Of the trust. A Kansas CITY
dealer who has been working on
the inside Of the combination
makes public the method by
which the trust manipuIates
prices according to the temper OF
the public.
at is all astonishing colnci-
dence that mere, whore enormous
quantities of live stock are killed
every day, n place from which
some 500. 100000 worth of packed
beef are shipped every year, ard
where n number Of ostenslbIy IN.
dependent concerns are carrying
on operations, the retail price OF
meats at the local butcher shops
should be precisely the same day
by dav. it il virtually an open
secret here that these prices are
fixed IN Chicago 10y one man, and
wired TO confidential agents here.
The daily figure used TO be settled
upon here and in Kansas City,
Mo-. lust across the river, but the
Missouri supreme court got wind
of the fact, hailed the managers
of the trust into court and fined
each of the packing houses $4,000
for violating the antitrust law,
THAT action showed the trust
what it had to do to evade the
law, consequently, no one here
knows anything, or has any par
ticipation in the agreements when
are reached by the packing houses
in Chicago. There the companies
are safe from molestation by the
l Kansas and Missouri courts.
e Here the workmen must pay the
! trust prices, accept the trust
=, fixed wages-Or starve.
That the district is absolutely
= under the domination of the beet
. trust is further evidence from the
e methods employed by the pack
v ing houses TO placate public senti-
ment. The prices of meats are
raised very slowly, almost lmper
ceptibly. Now and then the peo-
pie wake up to the fact that the
e total increase has been very mate
k rial. The newspapers Of this Sec
Y ton have raised II great agitation
. over the matter several times
within the past few years.
Immediately after such agIta'
J. ton starts up the newspapers
IT have supplied to them authorized
interviews from the packing house
f representatives averring that the
=. price is controlled entirely BY
N supply and demand, and instanc
ing the fact that only within tine
e last few days there has heel
y such an extraordinary increase II
f. the shipment of cattle and hog!
# to market that the price Of porl
ID tenderloin has fallen off one-haI
10 a cent. Each of the packing
houses then simultane ously shave
,f the price slowly and allows 1t t.
10 remain down until the eXcltemen
to is abated, whereupon the sam
old relentless process begin
of again"
+. In New York the situation
ne acute as evinced by the folIowin
u from Hearst's New York Amer
of can:
EN- "Out in South Dakota the farm
1t. ers are selling their best beef cat
of tie to the beef trusts at cent
as per pOund-a record low price
to In New York the trusts have
fixed prices that you must pa
ot from 90 to - cents for your bee
er- Beef was never lower when tt
farmer has it to sell, and nev,
he higher to the man who pays tt
49, retail butcher bill. The be
=" trust has been declared to be u
are lawful, but in spite of COVER
cir meut injunction, it is still trir
,u- ming the kids, and there are Sc
ii. 10000 kids. And every 9th
~ criminal trust, seeing how t.
III beef trust can defy n federal i
ing junction, is helping to trim the
yhe same SO,OOO,0OO kids. And t
is voters among these 100000
kids, who are the American pt
!. pie, can take the trimming shei
'ul- from these criminal trusts whe
liar ever they are aroused and come
leir know that they can be the mast'
Z ..,..., ii Ir,st -, n lyara Of 1