Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1908-02-28

fair illustration of most all Of
the others. A good trust, as de-
tued by the President. is one that
is willing to divide the benefit Of
consolidation with the people. AT
the present time. such trust are
too lew to catalogue.
The industries of Beloit ordina-
rlly melt Is tons of dig iron dailv
Since this steel trust got fairly
under way, they have paid from
SlIOO to S25.OO for pig iron which
had previously cost them from
Sl2 90 to $500 Averaging this
advance at So a ton it has cost the
Beloi5 industries total of ST. 200
a day. or S36O.OOO a year.
This is hideous annual, bonus for
one little factory town in Wiscon-
sln to have to pay on account of
tariff which has netted the GOV
ernment practically nothing; ,s
the tariff is so prohibitory no
iron comes in from aboard of any
account, and this is its only the
pig iron item. Who gets the bene-
ii; of this graftl The apologists
for this crime maintain thai it is
necessary to pay the advanced cost
of labor. As a matter of fact, the
cost of labor per ton of ouput has
been greatly reduced; ani Iabor's
share reminds one of a crumb
thrown to a dog under the table.
Machinery has been substituted for
labor from start to fash; ste1m
shovels dig the ore out of the
mountain self dumping trains ran
down hill to the docks almost by
gravity; there enormous ore
barges are loaded in two or three
hours, and made the round trip
from Duluth to South Chicago and
return, including unloading, in
five days. AZ the mills mechanical
contrivances of every kind meet
the eve. and the old time. highly
paid la0or is reduced to a mini
mum. A chemical laboratory
and comparatively few machine
te, der and repairs, at ordinarily
fair wages, and a small army of
Jolaks at 81 Is a day make up the
ensemble cor whose benefit this
gigantic tariff is supposed to be
necessary Prosperity was due this
country in 1898. and we have all
been so busy since, not al. account
of the tariff. but in spite of it
that the people have had no time
to investigate it; when we do we
will find that the great middle
class have had a about 5 per cent
benefit, and a few people. princi-
pallyih New Y ork. have had about
95 per Cent These have found
out ways OF interesting the money
stream that flowed to that center,
and have spent their time dillgent.
". with wash tubs and buckets.
dipping it up. In this monopoly
they have been chiefly assisted by
the tariff. Now ::prosperiy has
burned itself out. The common
people all over this land are
wandering the streets out Of bust
ness. Money available for busi-
ness enterprises seems to have
vanished. Most manufacturing
concerns find they have done an
enormous volume of business in
the year OF alleged prosperity. but
with a surprisingly small amount
of net gain. Again we turn to
our politicians for advice and re-
lief. Be patient; the quadriennial
contests of the two great political
parties is at hand involved in max
ing their respective platforms.
Blindlv we have stretched out
our necks like young robins, with
and wide open yellow mouths call
for food. which our political
mother bird has promptly filled
with hay, straw. stubble. marbles.
wind pudding. and some other
Indigestibes. We find the diet
uncomfortable, and. solemnly
Ll.-l..- IL. oooL IL. -