Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1906-04-11
The Hen as a Trust Buster.

The VeXed question, lSlt possible
to bust trust" has been answered
in the affirmative. Heretofore, it has
been answered like the old one
whether ii is right to cheat lawyer:
Right, butimpossible.' The strong
est agencies in this country have
been graphing with this knotty
problem, but up to date not a single
success has been scored. The trusts,
shot at from all directions like wild
beasts, bounded like deer in the
Adirondacks, sail on like phantom
ship through all Instructions and
untouched by any of the ammuni-
ton fired at them. The socialists
have howled, the party platforms
have viewed with alarm y the polit-
ical orator has grown red in the face
as he denounced, the state legisla-
lures have enacted, many governors
have demanded, and finally for years
past the great federal governmental
self has been engaged in a gigantic
effort to head off the omnipresent
octopi. The beef trust has been
hauled over the Goals, the railroads
have been made miserable over their
mergers, the tobacco trust has been
smoked out and the mighty Standard
Oil lion himself has been bearded in
his den. All to no purpose; it was
a waterhaul in every case. But
mightier power than all these has
stepped to the front to show the
leaders of the land how the thing
can be done.
The great American hen entered
the lists, threw down her gauntlet
and invited one of the most poten-
tial of the minor trusts to fight to
tae finish. The eold-storage com
bine, backed by millions of dollars
and ramifying throughout every cor
ner Of the country, is the victim of
misplaced confidence. AS early as
last April this powerful agent enter
ed the field as a buyer of eggs and
piled them up in the cellars of their
warehousesby the millions of dozens.
So certain were they of big profits
to come, that they paid stiff prices
for that season of the year, with the
result that enormous sums of money
were tied up in every important city
Of the country. The scheme, Of
course, was to await cold weather as
a sure booster of the market, when
it would be easy for the trust to take
down it's profits. But, ''the best
laid plans Of mice and men gang aft
agley" The great American hen
had made other arrangements and
concluded, for just this once, to keep
up full supply Of fresh eggs all
winter. This was more than the
trust had bargained for, and it was
not long before they began to show
signs of distress. They stood it
pretty we'll through December and
January, but about the first Of Feb
ruary there was a cracking sound as
if something was giving away from
ocean to ocean. A big Chicago
house, a regular ten storied sky
scraper, toppled over with loud
crash and scattered eggshells for
miles around. Another concern in
an Indiana town, turned its face to
the wall to the tune Of one hundred
thousand dollars, clear loss from in
ability to guess what the hen would
do. Many others in various parts
of the country followed suit, and
there was not a cold-storage egg es-
tablishment which did not feel the
cold shivers running down its back
bone long before the Ides Of March
proclaimed the close of winter. The
losses were enormous, SO enormous
indeed that it is probable it will be
a long time before the cold storage
fraternity catch their second wind
and it is hardly probable that last
years performance will soon be re-
peated.
The moral Of all this is obvious
President Roosevelt and Congress,
as well as the Folks, Lafollettes
Hanlys, and other professional trust
busters may take.a lesson from the
lowly mistress Of the barnyard. Hei
methods are simple, but effective
She doesn't go out hunting with g
brass band, she needs no big appo
priation and she never calls on the
judiciary department for help. When
she wants to kill trust she simnl,