Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1909-12-30
THE HIGH PRICES AND
wHYTHEY ARE HERE
By senator 9. /. Crawford in he
Independent.

increased cost OF living. IL ID ihOS
which none can deny that the prices
of the necessarles Of life have, as a
rule, steadily increased during the
past ten years, and that from 80
to so per cent more money is re-
quired in the support and mainte-
nance of a family today than was
necessary ten or twelve years ago.
"A laborer getting salary of from
sixty to seventy-five dollars per
month in 1895 could support his
family in simple comfort and save
something besides; but in 1908 he
found It impossible, with the same
wages, to pay his rent and keep even
with his grocer, try he never 30 hard.
This Increase in the cost OF living
where no corresponding increase In
wages and fixed salaries has occurred
has caused bitter protest. People
are inquirIng into the cause. 1t is Q
bad thing for the country to have an
era Of high and generally advancing
prices? {.
That depends entirely upon the
angle from which you view 1t. II you
are poor man or woman, dependent
entirely upon a daily wage or Q
monthly or yearly salary which has
not increased in the same ratio, the
period Of high prices is not a good
thing for you, and you have a right
to insist upon better pay or lower
cost Of living.
If, on the other hand, you are en-
gagged In the production OF articles
Of food and raiment. or other mater
! ials Of general use and necessity--a
farmer, for instance, or banker, car
rier Of commodities, or member Of
a labor union In flourishin9 plant
where, through the union, you have
compelled corresponding increase in
wages-the advance In prices and
the resulting activity in business has
been and Is a good thing for you.
1t has been a fine thing for the farm
err in the great Middle West, because,
in addition to the enormous increase
in the value Of his farm, the prices
Of farm products have increased along
with the general prices Of things he
has to buy and the steady increase
in prices during the past ten years
has made him rich. But notwith-
standing the fact that the country
has prospered marvelously during the
past twelve years, and notwithstand-
ing the fact that the shop, the store,
the factory. the mine and the farm
have brought rich returns, we must
not overlook the burden which these
high prices have put upon the family
Of the poor man whose wages have
not increased in the same ratio. These
more unfortunate ones are making a
vigorous protest, and one Of the live
questions just now is: Why nave
prices gone up? Why is the cost
of living SO much more than 1t was
ten years ago?
Some answer at once that the
trusts and combinations in restraint
of trade, crushing out all competit-
ion, have arbitrarily increased prices
to the point of extortion; others
charge that the protective tariff is to
blame; other again tell us that these
prices are fixed by the law OF supply
and demand, and result from the In
crease in the volume of our currency,
and from other natural causes.
What is the correct answer to this
serious inquiry? Can we attribute
the general advance Of prices to COM
binations In restraint of trade? II
the price Of crude and refined Pc
troleum or the price of steel rails had
advanced very materially during the
past ten years, and the price Of
other staple articles had remained
stationery, or fallen, it would be a
fair inference to say that the in
crease in the price of crude and ~
fined petroleum and in the price Of
steel rails was because the Standard
Oil Company and the United States
Steel Corporation have a monopoly
in the production Of these articles.
But when we discover that the
prices of ten thousand articles which
neither the Standard Oil Company,
the United States Steel Corporation
nor any other trust controls have
steadily advanced more rapidly than
petroleum. and that the price Of steel
rails has not advanced at all, this
explanation does not explain.
am decidedly In favor Of the
most rigid Federal supervision Of
great monopolles like the Standard
and the United States Steel. Such
IcornhtnatIone ahould mt he narniffad