The Washington herald., 1907-03-07
The lien as j Trust buster.

In these days of aDOrtiVe attempts OF
statesmen. courts. and governments TO
bust the trusts. the American hen. mod
est and demure as becomes femininity, Is
achieving results along this line which
entitIe her to the distinguished c0nsideTa-
tiun of every householder I'm the land.
Her industry and her diligence have
never been properly celebrated Her dom
iueeriug companion, the rooster, is the
theme OF song and story and lis picture
Is used 90 mark the shimmering glory of
political triumph That is what vain
glory does in this world of ours. The
hens gentle 'ciuck-cluck" initiates. while
the ROSTERS ear-splitting crow stirs hero
worshiping mankind to ecstasies of ad-
miration. And yet the hen has done more
in the past fortnight to humble the trust
barons and bring joy to the American
home than has been done in years Of
effort by Cabinets. Congresses, and courts
she has driven the price Of eggs from
30 cents a dozen down to = and Is cents.
Until she settled down to wOrk-and that,
too, without the fanfare of trumpets-the
trust maguates Of Chicago had all the
visible egg supply of the country stored
i'm their cold storage warehouses from
ocean to ocean. and from the Great Lakes
TO the Gulf. It mattered not that these
eggs were rancid. The American people
must have eggs, and they were utterly
at the mercy OF the trust. Housewives
complained that prices were going up
every day. When the Accent mark had
been reached the humble corner grocery
man broke the news gently that the price
would soon go up another notch, because
eggs is a-gettin' scarcer." He was aware
that millions of dozens were packed away
I'm the cold-st0rage plants-enough, and
to spare. to bring good cheer TO every
breakfast table in the realm if only the
trusts iusatiate greed had not stood in
the way.
Il was at this critical juncturc that the
hen performed her service Of inestimable
value. We read in the public prints that
100000 fresh eggs arrived in New York
I'm one day. Down went the price in the
letrop0lis The trust offered its frozen
eggs at > cents. then is cents, and finally
Il cents But there were no buyers. There
were fresh eggs-real eggs-upOn the mar
ket; and why should the housewife buy
the trusts eggs? The experience Of New
York is common the country over. Every
where eggs are plentiful at moderate
prices, and there IS again JOY in the land.
MAY it not be short-liyed, The hen can
not do it all The people must be wary.
She has done her part Now. let the pco-
pie do theirs. She has busted the egg
trust for them but theirs is the duty to
keep it busted. This cannot be accom-
plished by Executive proclamation. how
ever profoundly convinced the people may
/ be Of the unfailing efficacy Of their gov
eminent at Washington. What the poo
/ pie ought to do. now that the hen has
plainly pointed the way, is to stock their
back yards, their Easements, OF their
garrets with hens-good, honest, frugal
/ faithful. and diligent hens. a rooster or
/ two viii help some, but not much. The
rooster is an arrogant, self-suficient, and
voraclous wretch, that viii make much
noise and murder sleep at sIumber's
sweetest hour; but he is an evil that must
/ be borne with if our scheme is to be
tried even though he is a drone, a non
/ producer.
1 But whatever Details, let us hope that
/ the severe lesson taught by the experience
through which the American people have
! just passed will rot be soon forgotten. The
iAen has shown US that at least one trust