The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-05
COST OF LIVING.
Senator BristOw's Interview
Which Caused a Stir.
Blames Trusts for High Price
Of FOOdStuffS.
HOW NEAT is SOLD.
He Explains Plans Followed by
the Packers.
Farmer in Position Where He
Can Not Combine.

given the Washington Evening Ilnes'
Senator ]. L. Bristow. of Kansas. an
alyzes causes of high cost Of living by
blaming combines on foods. The IN
terview follows:
In the lire of the purpose Of the Re
publican progressives in congress to
force national attention to the increas-
ed cost of living. Senator Bristow OF
Kansas, another of the men VINO Voted
against the Payne Aldrlch tarlIi pun,
today made declaration of mis- opinions
on this subject.
"The increased cost of living cannot
be attributed to any cause; or, rather,
It is due to a combination of hundred
causes" he said. The chief is the teno-
ency to combinations of men who con-
troll commodities and lix arpitrarS
prices on them"
do you mean combinations at the
top, among the original producers, or
at the bottom, among the dealers!
was asked.
THAT depends on the commodity"
replied Senator Bristow. The exces-
siVe cost of meat is due to the pack
ers' combine. and it's close reIaton 70
TIE transport aticn companies. Tne price
of meat is largely determined by the
combination of the packers and the
railroads. Let me illustrate.
Recently at Goodland. Kan 400 miles
northwest of Kansas City, asked a
retail meat dealer where he got his
meats. He said it came dressed, from
Kansas City packers.
History of Meat.
Now, let me explain the history OF
that meat he was selling. 1t was
raised out in western Kansas. Later.
il was shipped from the grass country
to central or eastern Kansas, to be fed
and finished on corn. Then the f1nlsnec
animals were shipped to Kansas CITY
bought butchered, dresSed-and the
O1x To INV a
Goodland to be retailed. Or, it may
be that the animal was raised out In
the range country; shipped to Kansas
City as feeder; bought there by
farmer who had the corn and wanted
to finish a bunch of cattle on 1t; ship
ped back to that mans place In the
corn belt: fed and shipped again to
Kansas City; slaughtered, and the meat
once more shipped westward to the
place of sale.
''That makes four trips by rail. two
eastward and two westward; two
commissions to be paid on transac-
tions at the Kansas City stock yards;
a profit to go in for each transaction.
ro the original cost must be added
all that freight. 1t all must be added
in making up the price the retail
butcher charges.
"In the old days when the local
butcher killed his own beef, 1 lived
for a time at Lawrence, Kan. The
Armours sent agents up there to es
tablish sale for their dressed meats.
With their great financial power, they
were able to undersell and crush out
the independent local butchers.
Division of Profits.
That has gone on until the meat is
generally handled in this way; the
packers monopolize the business, the
railroads get their share out of the
huge amount of transportation that is
involved, and the result is the extrav-
agant prices we are now paying. 1t is
not true that the raiser of the meat,
by reason of the fact that he is get
ting a higher price for live stock, is
responsible for the extreme prices to
the consumer. I am in no sympathy
with the notion that the retailer is a
robber. He must stand the wastes
and the losses, must deliver his
goods, and meet the requirements of
the trade.
That is an outline of conditions af-
fecting meat prices. Now if you will
turn to butter, eggs, poultry, and the
like, you will find similar methods
and like influences at work. These
necessaries are gathered up and kept
in storage so that they can be sold
on the best possible market. 1t is
to be taken in this business. But in a
hard winter like the present, the
speculator raises the price and makes
q fine profit from them. The central
is in progress, and it will go right on
until the control is just as powerful in
this line as it now is in meats.
Cannot Combine.
''The farmer can't combine; there
are too many of him. and his circum-
stances don't lend themselves to COM
bination. He is getting more for his
stock than formerly. But I can re-
collect when beef cattle were worth
about IS per hundred, some twenty
five years ago, and you could buy the
best cuts for 16 and II cents the
pound at retail; now they cost twice
that, or more. Eight-dollar hogs are
not responsible for accent bacon; not
by any manner of means. The in
fuences that come between the far
sponsible for that, and by far the
chief of these is the combination of
the packers and the railroads.
But 1 don't want to be understood
as attributing all the increased cost o
living to these things. The whole ma.
ton is living extravagantly. I know
man who sold his home in order to buy
an automobile.
1.-The tariff has contributed it's yer,
important part to some Of the increases
in prices, and 1 fully agree with Sena
tor Clapp. when he says that if tn,
tariff had been reduced. as was tn,
promise of the Republican party. in
stead OF increased, it would have serve,
as a check.
THE tariff may be charged with di
rect responsibility for the increases o
the prices of all the products of lead
for the increases in cottons whicl
ought not to have been raised, and il
woolens. on which the duties ought +
have been reduced. Sugar ought to b
much cheaper than it is.
Legislative Remedies.
"As to legislative remedies, we mus
have legislation to prevent development
and maintenance of monopolies. III