The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1905-08-11
1t Is Now Impossible for an
American to Live Without
Contributing to a Trust.
WILL BE WAR TO THE END
In the Indictment Of the Chicago Pack
ers, tho Government Has Taken Its
First Step Against Those Who
Lay a Tax Upon Food.

40 SAAS "
en- its first decisive step In defense OF
the American dinner table.
Heretofore government prosecutions
of great interests in the United States
has been confined largely to railroads
and allied interests. In the successful
procedure against the Northern Securi-
ties company the business man found
some guaranty Of freedom from mon
opoly in the administration Of railroad
affairs. In the enactment of a law
against rebates and prosecutions of
railroads violating the law, the shipper
was ~reassured in the matter of receiv-
ing equal rights in transportation.
But In the meantime the ambitious
have seen great opportunities in the
necessities of life. The Havemeyers
were early in the field with an organi-
cation dominating the sugar industry.
Knowing that practically every family
must buy sugar they realized that oil
ity to insure a large profit in the sell
ing of sugar would mean a great for
would not operate quickly against them.
Sugar being considered a necessity,
people could only partly curta1l
their purchases when they found they
were paying an unreasonable margin
to the sugar trust.
In meat the packers found a commo-
dity even more Of a necessity to the
olllleI tdOle. beginning Will oil "P7
probation of the opportunities for econ
omy in the packing of meat in large
plants. they prospered. From this 1t Is
now declared by the government that
they stepped into a forbidden field of
activity. In the three months investi-
cation In Chicago the government
claims to have found conclusive evil
dence that the packers took advantage
Of their excellent organization to man
ipulate the prices at which they pur-
chased live stock and those at which
they sold meat In such a way as to
constitute a trust. This procedure
marks an epoch in American history.
It Is the first time the government has
struck a blow in defense Of the food
supply Of the American citizen.
If any n decides to boycott the
trusts by living without purchas-
ing any CT the products they
control. he must make up his mind to
subsist on baked potatoes Of his own
growing and wear the primeval cos
tune of Adam when he walked in the
forests. over the sun-kissed hills and
through the grassy glades of Eden.
The commercial jungle is flu. Of the
always in evidence trusts. and they
manage to reap a profit from almost
every food product on the market. and
upon many articles Of clothing. Little
by little these organizations have gain
eQ COIllTOl OIL loOu SlullS, ullll pCoPiN
living in cities cannot prepare a meal
without having many dishes which
bear a profit in one way or another for
the ever present trusts. The cream.
butter and eggs of the farmers table,
formerly famous for their bounty, have
been secured by the trusts, until the
farmer is often compelled to buy butter
for his own table at high prices and
many farmers wives who formerly
dealt out dairy products generously,
have now made them luXurieS In the
family menu.
A few of the food products necessary
to a meal, which are controlled by or
which pay a profit to some trust are
as follows:
Apples.
Peaches,
ApriCots,
Plums.
Dried fruits Of all kinds.
Grapes,
Sugar,
Lemons,
Oranges,
Beef,
Beef products,
Watermelons in most seasons,
Pork. fresh,
oysters.
Pork, salt and smoked,
Shell fish.
Sausages,
Cheese,
Bologna,
Butter,
Picked meats,
Eggs.
Mutton,
Poultry,
Lard,
Dat meal and cereals,
Canned meats and canned fish,
Syrups and j~elltes,
Confectionery.
Hams,
Chocolate,
Bacon,
Baking powder.
Malts,
Wine.
Whistles,
Canned and prepared soups,
Some canned fruits.
Add TO his the numerous luxuries o
which men and women partake. IN
Guiding cigars and tobaccos, and with
out the trusts man would become
careworn wanderer in the fields. haVinl
only his black coffee and potatoes. ~
memory would be carried back to tn
days when the sons of Erin lived OF
the untitled fields. when existence car
ried with it no obligations. when tim
was scarce worth reckoning; back t.
the forests and the streams, Wher
lived uncivilized man.
Such would be the ultimate 0
Eaan IL a universal boycott was declar
ed on the food stuffs handled by tn
trusts.
More than that his legs would b
bare, as were those Of the Scots. VIII
roamed C~aledonia's soil. Many article
Of clothing would be stripped from tn
human race, and humanity would b
left without much more than the ozon
about US, which as yet is neither ship
ped in refrigerator cars nor carried b
a monopoly.
Because Of the !mpossibility OF Twin
without paying a profit to the trust!
It has been an easy matter for them t
raise the prices of food stuffs. OF "a
commodities used daily by the popula
ton of a city. nearly 200 show an in
crease in price in the past ten year
and only fifty show a decrease. G
the 200 commodities which have ad
vanced in price. about so Increased les
than ten per cent, seventy-three ad
yanced from ten to twenty-five pc
cent. Sand forty-seven advanced frol
90 tof 100 per cent. or the fifty com
modfties which show a decrease, fort
decreased less than ten per- cent, an
ten decreased from twenty-five to fft
per cent. These figures are given by
bulletin of he Bureau of Labor.