The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1907-05-11
TRUST HIGH PRICES
COST OF COMMODITIES ARrIFl-
cIAl.LY INCREASED.
At Least 25 Per Cent. Of the Advance
Is Tax Paid to Monopolies
Protected by the
Tariff.

The average price OF commodities
is now so high hat it is most likely
the highest, point has been reached
for this year and probably for a year
or two to come. 1t is therefore of the
utmost Importance for to
understand why prices have advanced
so rapidly since 1897, and especially
those whose incomes have not in
creased in proportion to the cost of
living. That a great percentage of the
increase in prices has been artificially
created by allowing the trusts a mo-
nOpoly through tariff protection is
plainly shown by the fact that as
soon as the Dingley bill was enacted
in 1897 organization of trusts, COM
bines and pools was accomplished on
an enormous scale and began to boost
the prices of their products and have
constantly increased prices to the
present day. If you have saved your
old bills for groceries, dry goods, etc.
for 1896 or 1897. and compare them
with your bills of to-day, you will see
that the average increase in prices is
over so per cent. Has your income
increased in the same proportion, or
are the trust high prices compelling
you to ecOnOmiZe? AS the question
Of a high tariff or a low tariff is a
political issue that must be decided ct
the coming national election you, Of
course, want to be sure of the facts,
so that you car vote for the system
that is best for your pocket. AS but
few people keep old bills, but destroy
them after a year or two, it is we'll to
have the actual statistics of tie in
rease Of prices to arrive at a correct
solution of the question. What is
known as "Dun's Index Number is
recognized officially as the most per-
feet statistics on the rise and fall OF
wholesale prices Of all the most i'm
portant articles Of general cOnsump-
ton, and gives the value of the aver
age amount used per capita.
On July l, 1897, Dun's Index Num-
Der was S72.455. On March /, 1907,
it was $1O9.913. and on March /, 1906,
it was s104.204. The price level has
therefore increased SIS per cent. dur
ing the past year and SIT per cent.
during the past ten years.
All this increase in prices
Is not, however, chargeable to the
tariff protecting the trusts, for in Eng
land, which has q tariff for revenue,
with comparatively no protection to
her manufacturers, the prices of COM
maditieS have increased over % per
cent. during the same period. This
increase in England is charged TO
gold imitation and the rapidly depreci-
ating value of hat metal measured in
commodities AS the effect of the
increased production of gold is world
wide. gold initiation here has had the
same effect as elsewhere, and there
fore % per cent. Of our advance in
prices is due to it. This leaves over
% per cent. of the increase in prices
here chargeable to some other cause,
and as the increase commenced in
1897, soon after our trust-protecting
.ariff bill became the law, it is con
coded by the hhost eminent political
economists, and not denied by the
honest Republican s~tandpatters, that
the protection the trusts enjoy has
allowed them to artificially advance
the price of their products beyond the
natural increase in prices through the
depreciation in gold.
This Increase of prices is the most
important part of the tariff issue, for
it directly affects the spending capac-
ity of every family, especially those
whose incomes and wages have not
kept pace with the advance in prices.
AS the railroad interests have deter
mined to reduce their expenditures as
far as possible, there will be a good
many men thrown out of work, and as
these seek other occupations their
competition is bound to reduce the
wages of that class of labor. The less
ening of the demand for railroad and
building material will naturally lead
TO a reduction in the price of those
articles, which, added to the loss OF
wages of the men thrown out of work
rlust lead to reduced consumption OF
products, and this will prevent for a
time prices advancing and. indeed
some reduction in the price of those
articles for which there is less de
mand.
P~rosperitv Under Low Tariff,