The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-08-07
PEOPLE HELD UP.
BY LOCAL TRUSTS
How the Consumer Is MIXED
by the Several Food
Combines.
ENORMOUS PROFITS
ARE ENRICNING TRUSTS
They Even Prey Upon Each
Other in Efforts to Corral
Everything.

The farmers trust, which IS the first
one of the food combinations In salt
Lake 10 get whack at his sucker, the
consumer, struck a snag on SATURDAY,
when it fell against the wholesalers
trust. the second Of the food combines
to hold up the consumer. And III WAS
hit hard Here is the story;
Some time since n delegation from
the farmers trust waited upon tho
wholesalers trust-the latter then buy
ing and shipping potatoes from Cail-
fornia to this city. The farmers trust
informed the wholesalers trust that the
Utah potatoes were ready for markell
and il the wholesalers trust would
cease its California purchases, the
farmers trust could supply the demand.
Acting upon the old maxim that there
| is honor among, etc, the wholesalers
trust cancelled their orders for the Cal
ifornia tubers. Potatoes were then sell
ing for rs cents bushel
One Trust Does Another.
Just 80 soon as the California supply
was disposed of, tho farmers trust
Jumped the price Of tho Utah product
| to $125 per bushel and declined To-
bring in the spudS only In small lots, tho
reason alleged being, that they were
too busy having and harvesting, and
that only upon Saturday could wagon
loads be brought In.
| 1t is the season Of the year just be-
| fore the canperies open, hence the,
farmers trust is glutted with tomatoes
which sell for 10 cents per bushel at
the maximum to the wholesalers trust,
although the canneries get them for 30
cents per bushel. Tomatoes had to be
unloaded, hence when the farmers trust
brought in potatoes in small quantities
they brought tomatoes in large quaint
ties. Then the wholesalers trust as,
also the retailers trust, were informed
| by the farmers trust that they could
only have few potatoes at Sl.25, but
to secure these the purchaser must take
three or four bushels of tomatoes at
| 81 per bushe. 1T WAS q hold-up Of one
| trust by another, but the consumer. the
sucker, paid tho bill.
Wholesalers Wrought Up.
The Wholesale trust became angry
A conference was held, orders for Cali
fornia potatoes were wired and on f'rl.
day night the wholesalers trust had
several carloads Of spuds. Saturday
morning the farmers trust learned
something. California spuds We're here.
The farmers trust dropped the price
paid Friday Of Sl25 per bushel TO -
! cents, drop of 80 cents in one day.
| The wholesalers trust won, but the
consumer, the sucker, still paid on Sat
urday $140 per bushel TO the retailer,
while the wholesalers trust received 50
cents to 81 per bushel There are, how:
ever, people who say there is no food
trust In Salt Lake.
How Combines Work.
Perhaps the working Of the retail
dealers food combine was never better
! illustrated than on Saturday. The con
srmer is the sucker. He pays the tid-
dler Possibly the wholesalers are lg-
urinc upon combine TO root out the
smaller concerns, but If SO the prices
for products bought from the farmers
trust and then sold to the consumer
would indicate that they had bigger
| lob on their hands than most people
imagine,
Enormous Percentage.
Saturday the retailers trust bought
cucumbers from the farmers trust for
three and half cents q dozen. The
consumer paid thirty cents n dozen, or
almost nine times as much as the re.
taller paid for them from the farmers
trust. This is profit for the retailer
| of 757 per cent.
Green corn was sold by the farmers
trust for five cents dozen; the con-
sumer, the sucker, paid 20 cents a dozen,
profit of 400 per cent,
Potatoes were sold by the farmers
trust TO the retailers trust for 70 cents
Il bushel; the consumer paid 80 cents
per. peck, or $l.40 per bushel, profit
of S61a per cent.
Tomatoes sold by the farmers trust
to the retailers trust for ! II cents per
pound, while the consumer paid three
cents per pound. At the canneries the
price paid the farmers trust for to-
matoes would have been one-half cent
pound, q profit to the retailer of 156
per cent,
Still it is alleged that there is no
trust among the retail dealers Of Salt
Lake,