Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-01-26


the complaint against dear beef that
had much to do with starting the
whole agitation against high prices.
Thus there is a flaw in the argument
somewhere. If the price Of hides has
gone up because the supply has de-
creased, why should not the price of
meat have gone down when the de-
mand decreased? In other words,
| the argument that decreased consump-
ton of meat has produced higher
prices OF leather because it cut off the
supply is refuted by the fact that it
has not caused lower prices Of meat,
although it cut of the demand. / have
taken trouble to show fallacy of this
because it is so plausible and because
it is on a par with lot of other fan
tastic explanations of high prices.
Why Not Accuse the Weather.
AS an instance, several people who
ought to know better have claimed
that lack of scientific methods in farm
ing is responsible for the advance in
prices, when, as a matter of fact, there
was never so much scientific farming
as today. Another claims that labor
unions are responsible, when every
real student Of the question knows
that prices have advanced much fast
er than wages. There Is something
more in the claim of lack of farm
ers and scarcity of farm labor, and
yet the Improvement in agricultural
machinery has supplied this defect in
great degree. With modern tools one
man can do as much on the farm as
two or three used to do. Moreover,
Secretary Wilson's crop report shows
each years acreage and yield larger
than those of the year before. There
is undoubtedly congestion IN the cities,
and this would produce increased con-
sumption. yet taken alone it would not
account for the radical boosting of
prices witnessed in the last year or
two.
There remain among possible causes
for the condition only two worthy of
mention, the influx of gold and the
trusts. Now, if we deal with cold
facts and not with efforts to bolster
up some pet theory we shall find that
the tales of the fabulous production of
gold have been much exaggerated. 1t
would almost seem that it has been
done for q purpose by somebody who
people Where is all this increased
amount of gold? Is it in the pockets
Of the people? Have you seen it? Is
it in the vaults of the United States
treasury? Is it in the banks? Where
is it? Does it not exist chiefly in the
imaginations of certain statiSticianS
who are trying to make a case? Where
is all this gold produced? In Alaska?
All the gold taken out Of Alaska is
but a fiyspeck compared to the worlds
commerce. So far as l can determine,
most of the people who claim that the
influx of gold is the cause of high
prices are taking somebody else's
word for the marvellous and Stagger-
ing increase in the output Of gold.
Moreover, If this were the real cause
it would affect all values alike, when,
as a matter of fact, it is universally
admitted that it has not affected
wages. Before coming to the last
cause. the food trusts. a word about
the tariff. which 1 had well nigh over
looked. 1 take it that the American
people want the truth of the matter
and are not particularly interested in
partisan claims one way or the other.
II.
an advance in prices in Europe as well
as America. though not to the same
extent. Part of Europe is free trade.
1t is also true that here at home arti-
Giles on the free list have been affected
by the rise as well as those that are
protected. Hides were conspicuous for
having been taken off the dutiahie list
1T the direct Intervention of the presi-
dent, yet there was recently decreed q
sharp advance in the price of shoes.
L do not claim that some Of these
factors may not enter into the problem
as at least contributory causes to the
increased cost of living l only insist
that they are not the chief causes and
that all of them taken together could
not produce the unusual condition by
which we are confronted. study of
the situation forces one to the conclu-
sion that our high prices are artificial,
that they were not produced by nat
ural causes and that some unusual fac
tor has entered in. There are many
proofs that these high prices are arti-
fetal, of which three may be men,
toned. One is that during the panic |
of 1907 the price level kept up, the |
first time in history that such a condi- |
ton prevailed during a panic. Anoth- /
er fact is that the laws of supply and |
demand seem to have been set aside. |
However bountfful the harvests may
have been. prices continued to climb. |
The third proof is that during all this /.
rise in food and farm
products the farmer has been but lit
tie benefited. Actual Investigations in
the state of Michigan disclosed the
fact that, while potatoes were selling
for 80 cents n busheI in rural districts,
the farmers receiving but % cents,
the same grades of potatoes were re-
failing for from 20 to 20 cents per
bushel in Detroit, although it was but
8 few score Of miles distant and the
charges were not more
than to 8 cents a bushel. Like con-
ditions were found in other lines 1
confidently predict that a like invesi-
cation in any large city Of the Union
when COnDared with tho country one