Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1909-02-26

HIGH PRICES IN CALIFORNIA.

HIGH PRICES IN CALIFORNIA.
The Writer, Col. w. v. Lucas, Well
known Here.
The following letter is one written
to the Waverly uows) Republican,
and taken from the Sioux City
Journal Of a recent issue.
Col. w. " Lucas Santa Cruz, CAL,
letter to the Wsverly Republican,: II
l should be asked, 1s California good
country for poor man to make mon.
ey in?. My answer is "No." The op.
portunities for the people with no
capital but their labor are not as good
as In the middle west The reasons
are, first, all laboring people come in
competition with the cheap folks from
the oriental lands. This makes It hard
for the man with only his hands to de-
pend upon. Second, the cost Of living
Is much higher than 1t is in the east
Even tho fruit It the stands sells for
- high (if not htehsr) . price as tho
came quality does in Waverly after
being shipped from this state to your
town. The reader will ask, Why is
this SO? Tho answer is, scarcely an
article produced in this state is sold
direct from the producer to the con-
slmer. Every line Of business is un-
der the control Of a trust or combi-
nation, and by them prices are fixed.
In San Francisco combination Of
all wholesale fruit dealers controls
every sale to retail dealers, and the
house that attempts to do retail bust.
ness by purchasing his supplies from
the orchardists direct is blacklisted.
AS is the mau or firm who dares to sell
direct to the retailer In order to make
it effective, the wholesalers manage to
control the wharfage so that fruit not
consigned to one of the combine is not
permitted to land at the wharf. The
same is true of butter, eggs and all
such produce. Being of perishable
nature, the producer does not dare to
take the chances, and therefore con-
signs to some commission house and
takes what the trust sees fit to give
him.
At this time butter is so cents a
pound in Santa Cruz, the market price
being fixed in San Francisco Eggs
are 40 cents dozen for the same rea-
son. The cold storage houses are full
OF all such goods, put in last summer
when prices we're low, and now they
keep the price of fresh butter, eggs,
etc, at the top notch and shade that
in cold storage goods and are unload
ing tnem on the market.
Hay today sells in SAINT Cruz at 800
per ton, while all sorts OF feed are COR
respondingly high. 1t is not because
of shortage of hay and grain, but be-
cause syndicate of capitalists in San
Francisco bought up all that class of
goods last fall and absolutely controls
the markets for hundreds of miles in
all directions from that city
The Santa Cruz valley is famous for
the immense quantities of hay and
grain produced. Almost every bale of
hay and bushel of grain was bought
from the farmers last fall, paid for
with the contract attached that the
stuff was to be delivered ON call, which
was we'll understood to mean that as
the syndicate sold to the retail dealers
in the various towns the farmer would
deliver to the nearest depot to him, as
"nominated in the bond'.
1t can easily be seen how difficult it
is for man with team to feed to
make more than a bare living, and he
must hustle every day to do that.
Meats and breadstuffs are handled the
same way, therefore the reader will see
how hard it is for laboring man to
keep family. Another result follows.
For days work of eight hours, with
team, the employer must pay "a or
$3.50 for the service, which hits the
man with garden to plow.
Wood comes in the same lines; we
pay Tor redwood S6, pine $3.50, oak or
any kind of hard wood SO to sll per
cord of four foot cuts, because the
"timber wolves" have a grip on the
market, and this where there are mil
lions of cords within few miles. The
ranchman who has " ood to sell, is gov.
erned, OF course, in his price by the
wood haulers, and little is made by
buying from his wagon. Lumber,
shingles, etc, all are in tho same cate
CORY. These are some of the reasons
why say this is not good country
for poor man to immigrate to.
On the other hand, person with
sufficient means to buy few acres and
to be content to do business in small
way, can make good and comfortable
living with less hard work than he can
in Iowa. Chickens are gold mine to