The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1910-02-11
dent. yet there was recently decreed a
sharp advance In the price of shoes.

dent. yet there was recently decreed
sharp advance In the price of shoes.
/ 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. A 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 condi-
ton prevailed during a panic. Anoth-
er fact is that the laws of supply and
demand seem to have been set aside.
However bountiful the harvests may
have been, prices continued to climb.
The third proof is that during all this
phenomenal 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 bushel 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
few score Of miles distant and the
transportation charges were not more
than Z to o cents bushel Like con-
ditions were found in other lines. 1
confidently predict that a like investi-
CATION in any large city Of the Union
when compared with the country one
or two hundred miles away would
show similar contrasts. Who gets all
this enormous margin between what |
the farmer receives and what the ulti-
mate consumer pays?
The Rat In the Meal Tub.
What is the unusual factor in the
situation? There has always been |
more or less tariff, there has always |
been certain amount Of luxury, there
have always been some lax methods
In farming, and to offset whatever in
production In gold is actually
found to exist 1t must be remembered
that silver has been demonetized as
ultimate money of redemption. These
other factors have been present and
ire not radically different from what
hey were before. For this unusual
Use in prices there must be some I'M
usual cause. What is it? What is the
lew factor?
There Is but one answer possible
he trusts. Prices are no longer ruled
" the natural laws of competition.
they are arbitrarily fixed by combina-
ions. There is monopoly in enough
f the chief articles Of commerce to
.overn the entire price level. What
yer minor causes operate to produce
Ugh prices, and they are many, these
in restraint of trade are
he chief cause. Here is quotation
rom Congressman julius Kahn of
california which is\so pat that l can
lot forbear quoting ii. Being asked
D what he attributed this increase in
ost, Mr.. Kahn said:
attribute 1t first of all to the forma-
on of trusts that control these things
AXE the item of fish. In the past, when
here was an abundance of fish in the
acfic coast markets, the price went
own. Now when the market is glutted
ne dealers simply send the surplus to a
establishment, where it is con-
erted into a fertilizer, and that amount
{ the stuff as an article of food is with
rawn from consumption. This creates a
ctitious shortage. and the price is kept
p. The same thing is true Of fruits.
ruits ought TO be cheap in California,
Ut the price Is kept up when there is an
unusually big crop through the practice
T destroying that which falls. putting II
cold storage or otherwise keeping 1t
Ut of the local markets, so that the sup
~ is reduced The natural law Of supply /