The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-08-09


 an annual meat bill which long ago passed the sl0o. .ooo. 900 mark and has of late been going up by leaps and bounds, New Workers who have seriously, con- sidered becoming vegetarians for pure ly financial reasons are naturally keen fy intarested in the proposed attempt by the Attorney General of the state to clip the talons of the so-ealled beef trust.
 Tn it they see about their last chance to continue their present consumption of sueculent chops and beefsteaks ir- stead of what they bitterly denominate grass
 It is reported that an investigation. has been under way for the past two months and that the legal representa- lives of the state believe that they have evidence of the regulation of prices which will justify them in. taking &C., fion against the National Packing Com- pany as the holding company of the alleged combine of big packers.
 Such q procedure would be following the lines adopted by the federal gov ernment in the Northern Securities and American Tobacco cases.
 While it would not be possible for state authorities in New York to force the disbandment of foreign corpora ton it is held that conviction here of violation of the antitrust statutes for bidding conspiracies to fix prices would result ultimately in the dissolution of the trust. as was the cause with the Northern Securities Company.
 According to those familiar with con- ditions in the meat industry the beef trust controls upward of seventy-five percent of the meat trade of New York or sufficient to enable 1t to regulate prices.
 Not contented with it's supremacy in the fields in which it might naturally be expected to shine. New York now puts forward the claim to the title of champion horse stealing city of the country.
 Statistics just collected in this con necSion show that the claim has good foundation and that if the western pun fshnnent of horse thieves were neted out here there would not be enough telegraph poles to go round. Without doubt more horses are stolen in this city, than in any area of equal size in the country. These equine thefts aver age more than one day and as horse back travel is not over popular gener- ally include the pilfering of convey ance as well
 Indeed the profession of horse steal ing seems to have reached its highest development here, and 1t Is known that a regular gang which in spite of all efforts has so far escaped detection makes a rich living by following this avocation.
 Butchers and Grocers' horses and wagons left unguarded during a mom- ent while delivery Is being made are not the only ones which are purloined. The clever gang of thieves has even succeeded in stealing recently fin a crowded city street team of horses hitched to a numbering ice wagon. Fifth Avenue miliionaires too suffer from similar depredations and within the last few days no less than three pair of blooded horses have been spirit ed away.
 Tn two cases the coachman was a member of the horse stealing gang. who had taken his job for the purpose of stealing the animals in question. Not one recovery Is made in twenty cases for these ingenious thieves im- rnediately so change the markings of the stolen animals as to make them unrecognizable. They are then sold to unsuspecting local dealers.
 It Is stated that. the value. of the horses stolen. during the first half of this year exceeds the surprising sum of St5o.o0o.
 
 has just appeared in New York. To use a Hibernianism 1t might be ex- plained by the title of making a liv ing by getting killed" Actually 1t is not quite so bad as that, however, since it only involves being voluntarily hit by street cars to enable the Public Ser vice Commission to determine by a series of actual tests on human beings which kind of fender is best adapted to .S lines.
 To persons who are willing to stand. sit or lie in the middle of street car track and be scooped up by fender on a swiftly moving car-that is. provided the fender scoops as planned-the nun ificent remuneration of two dollars day is to be paid. However. as the work demands neither brains nor train ing, and as 1t is nuneccessary that accident models present even a neat appearance, there is no lack of appli- cants for jobs.
 Of course if the automobile fender doesn't work there will be immediate need of the coroner. but the manufac- turer of this device has had no trouble as yet in securing men to be scooped at two dollars per. As a result of this surprising means of earning a liveli- hood various others have arisen until the city has now quite a respectable list of what might be called fool oc- equations" st
 These include an offer from the i'm ventor of an alleged non -capsizAble boat for men to give demonstration rockings, and it really would seem that the fool who rocks the boat may even yet make money from his propen- sities. The public. however. should benefit. since anything calculated to decrease this class would be a real step in advance. -
 peculiarly melodramatic illustra- ton of the manner in which fortunes change in New York has just come to light in the West Side court.
 Also it raised a memory of the old Tweed ring and the days when the most notorious boss New York ever had was enriching himself and his friends in a way which has been the envy and despair of local imitators ever since. Back in the late sixties when Tweed was in absolute power one of the contracting firms working on the great so-called public Improvements started by the ring was that of Hughes and Cooney. It's head was Thomas Hughes whose son known as Young Tom" Hughes was a boy of ten when iu 1871 the Tweed rule ended. At his fathers death ten years later Young Tom" who was just finishing his col lege course inherited about $500. 900. He immediately became a well known Tenderloin figure, squandering money