The Washington herald., 1910-02-05
In re The Consumer.
Says the Boston Herald

Says the Boston Herald;
when the consumer finally is cornered and finds
himself forced To buy every necessity Of life in a
market absolutely controlled by a combination Of
capital he will perhaps realize the necessity Of
utilizing the power Of law and its enforcement TO
secure his rights. His supply Of meats and allied
products is now absolutely controlled by such a
combination, which moves prices up and down at
Will. regardless Of actual supply. To what extent
his other supplies are 50 controlled the consumer
does not know, and possibly does not suspect 4
combination Of breakfast food manufacturers with a
million capital Is now announced. It soon VIII be
an absolute necessity that the government super
wise and regulate trade in the essentials Of living
Just as it now SUPERVISE and regulates the con-
venences Of transportation, communication, light.
water, &c"
If our great and good friend Mr..
Thomas +. Watson. unreconstructed and
sun rampant Popullst, were the father
of the above Illuminating and hopeful
suggestion. perhaps one might incline to
pass 1t along with that tolerant but ex
tremely uoncommittal and Indifferent
comment, Important if true" and let
it go at that. But coming, as it does,
from Boston. the center Of culture and
the nations magnetic pole of intelli-
gence. we must consider it in that seri-
Gus vein the source Of its PRONUNCIATION
invites.
How happens il that we have fallen
on such evil days, anyway? Has not
New England. in large measure, con-
trolled and directed the destinies Of this
glorious republic for-oh, well, no matter
how long; quite long enough for expert
mental purposes. at all events? Was 1t
not a New Englander. indeed-even a
Massachusetts statesman-who first set
up the dogma, The consumer is a
myth" And if now, after all these
days, we find ourselves so surely in
the middle of such a tremendously bad
fix, whittier are We drifting. may we
inquire?
The syndicated dealers in meats and
allied products already have US in their
grips; the breakfast food manufacturers
are reaching out for us. and viii get
us, we feel reasonably sure And that
lit VIII soon be an absolute necessity
that the government supervise and regu-
late trade in the essentials of living
Just as it now supervises and regulates
the conveniences of transportation. COM
municauon, light, water" &c, we hesi-
tate to dispute ever so slightly. In
short, We appear To have arrived per-
ilously near the "jumping-off place" for
a fact,
Now, then, regardless Of who started
this viewing with alarm-Mr Tom Wat
son or the Boston Herald-how did we
achieve our present melancholy status?
Surely our progress has been slow and
very quiet; gum-shoe methods must have
prevailed somewhere and frequently.
Has Congress been the diabolicaI agent
at work to our undoing? Mayhap-and
for the sake Of the argument. we Will say.
for sure. But who is responsible for
Congress? This same precious con-
sumner? It is difficult TO see how that
gentleman. sympathize with him as we
may, is ultimately TO escape the i'm
parchment.
And If, lastly, this same consumer did
get himself into all this trouble. whose
business is It to get him out? His bust
ness? Whoever guessed that first, 90
head.