The Elbert County tribune., 1910-01-28
COMBINATIONS
MAKE FOOD DEAR
SECRETARY WILSON SAYS FAULT
Is IN TRUSTS AND LOCAL
COMBINES.
EXACT UNDUE PROFIT!
HINTS AT SENSATIONAL INDIcT-
MENT OF THE MEN WHO
ARE RESPONSIBLE.

Washington.-'Tt's the trusts and
the nfeasly little combination in every
town and city in the United States
that keeps the price of food so high,"
declared Secretary Wilson of the De-
partment of Agriculture when asked
by the district committee of the house
to put his finger on the men respons-
ible for the present high price of food
stuffs.
The secretary. declared that the
dealers in every city are organized
and that they take from 60 to rs per
cent. as their profit after the meat
comes through several hands from the
farmer to them. Shreveport and Mo-
bile. he declared. top the list. demand
ing 60 per cent profit, while many
cities take only IS per cent.
New York and Philadelphia mer-
chants are satisfies, he declared, with
20 per cent, while the merchants of
the national cObital take AZ per cent
Some of the statements relating to
the food situation made to the COM
mittee by Secretary Wilson were:
1--WE have been conducting an ex-
haustive inquiry and are still working.
We have found that the farmer does
not get any more for his two-year-old
steer than he did twelve years ago.
Il haven't the facts at hand, but am
gathering them, and expect to show
that the food products of the Ameri-
can farmer are being sold cheaper in
foreign countries than they are in the
United States.
Fewer farmers are feeding their
grain this winter than for years be-
cause they got their fingers burned
last year feeding 60-cent grain to a
steer that they could not get return
out of.
Until comparatively recently the
American people enjoyed the cheap
est food in the world" con-
tinued Wilson. But one of the rea-
sons why meat is so high is because
there are not enough people farming
profitably in America; they are not
making an acre produce enough; they
are not getting enough out of a days
work.
"The worst farming in this country
is done east of the Allegheny noun
tains and agricultural land is cheapest
in that locality. In consequence" !"
continued Secretary Wilson, ''the boys
have left the farm and the scarcity of
labor is now the greatest concern of
the agriculturalist."
The secretary went into the high
prices of food exhaustively and indi-
Gated his department would shortly
make public sensational indictment
of the very men who are responsible
for the enormous increase in prices.
I'm the old countries Of the world
this has been done for hundreds of
years. Why could it not be done here?
You have the power to summon wit
nesses and compel their attendance.
Find out. You have a great opportu-
nifty before you. This should teach all
American cities how to govern them
selves. I believe the situation here in
the capital is typical of the situation
in every city in America"
Wilson analyses the situation on the
American farm as badly in need Of
betterment. I'VE can't import farm
laborers from the old country because
it is against the law. The farmer
cannot get help at any price. In the
corn belt three-fourths of the fodder
| is going to waste because labor cannot
be obtained to put it up for feeding