Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1907-05-09
TRUST HIGH PRICES
COST OF COMMODITIES ARTIFI.
cIALLY INCREASED.
At Least rs Per Cent. of the Advance
Is Tax Paid to M~onopolies
Protected by the
Tariff.

The average price Of commodities
is now so high that 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
o o 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 at
the coming national election you, of
course, want to be sure of the facts,
so that you can 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 well to
have the actual statistics Of the in
crease 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 Mum.
Der was $72.455. On March 1, 1907,
it vas $109.913. and on March l, 1906,
it was S104,204. The price level has
therefore increased 5.5 per cent. dur
ing the past year and SIT per cent.
during the past ten years.
All this enormous increase in prices
is not, however, chargeable to the
tariff protecting the trusts, for in Eng.
land, which has a tariff for revenue,
with comparatively no protection to
her manufacturers, the prices of com
modities have increased over 25 pei
cent. during the same period. This
increase in England is charged tc
gold imitation and the rapidly depreci
ating value Of that metal measured in
commodities. AS the effect of the
increased production of gold is world
wide, gold imitation here has had the
same effect as elsewhere, and there
fore 25 per cent. of our advance ir
prices is due to it. This leaves ovel
25 per cent. of the increase in prices
here chargeable to some other cause
and as the increase commenced ii
1897, soon after our tru~st-protecting
tariff bill became the law, it is con
coded by the most eminent political
economists, and not denied by the
honest Republican standpatters, thai
the protection the trusts enjoy has
allowed them to artifcially advance
the price of their products beyond the
natural increase in prices through the
depreciation in gold.
This increase of prices is the mos
important part of the tariff issue, fol
1t directly affects the spending capac
ity of every family, especially those
whose incomes and wages have no
kept pace with the advance in prices