The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-11-10
TRADE RINGS IN
LONDON Town.
i
Price Of Food Products Are Mounting
the Ladder and Cost of Liv-
ing is Going
Up.
ARE MAKING EXCUSES
Recent Strike and the Drought Give
Merchants Chance to Lift
the Prices on Every
thing.
lBy Ed. L. Keen, London correspond

tby Ed. L. Keen, London correspond
ent of the United Press
LONDON. Nov. 10-The price of liv-
ing in England is still going up. Coal
mas advanced shilling a ton, The
price OF milk has been raised from
> 10 ~ cents per quart. and the milk
ring assures the consumers that
the increased price will hold until
March l, 1912. at least. Nearly every
tnlng in the food line has gone up.
And the English masses, MAYER far
from the bread line, the average earn
Ing power or those male adults is
little less that SIS week, want to
know why.
1t isn't altogether question of sup
ply and demand. according to experts,
Nor has free trade or protection any
thlng to do with it. 1t is simply that
tiee mlddlemen of England, conscious
OF their power, are putting on the
screws In every department of com
MERGE there are rings" of middlemen
who fix prices. Though coal has gone
up shilling ton, the mine owner
gets the same old royalty. Though
milk has gone up rs per cent, the
farmers, VINO own the cows get the
same old price.
The rings" have their excuses
ready, of course. Recent strike
troubles says the coal ring" THE
drought says the milk ring
The fault is partly the farmers
who are afraid to combine against
the middlemen, and whose methods
are antiquated.
Everywhere thoughtful men are
awakening to the knowledge that one
of the greatest enemies of the coun-
try's prosperity, perhaps the greatest,
is the all-powerful and Unnecessary
! middleman.
A writer in the DAILY News" calls
upon the government TO introduce ag
ricuitural colleges and experimental
stations simiisr to those in the Unit
ed States.
The Stockholders league, without
: government assistants, is sending lee
: turers into the agricultural districts
/ ! to preach combination against middle
men, intensive culture, and scientific
y farming and business methods gen
y orally.
l. The British accept as truisms thu
statements that England cannot feet
e herself" that THE English farmel
n is the best in the world" and tina
= Farming does not pay The Eng
fish consumer eats Danish bacon ant
e eggs, Dutch or Siberian butter, ant
h bread made from Russian or Arsen
i tine wheat. And he of course, pay
l. the freight The prices Of food ar
n consequently SO high when compared
e with the earning power of the poo
II of the great cities, that cases of star
IL walton ere comnon--so common tina
e a coroners jury in White Chapel il
!" London invariably finds that a pei
s son who has died from starvation die
n from natural causes"
Except during harvest, there
# never more than an eight weeks SUI
n ply OF food in Great Britain, an
n much of that is purposely held bac
e by the rings" to create artificia
o prices.
e The English farmer has ~
II convinced that farming does nc
e pay that he has let 100000 of tn
e finest arabic land fall down to gras
s. and there are now only 100000 acre
r. under wheat, producing annually onl
Re 100000 bushels, while 256,000,0C
j; bushels are needed annually to fee
r the people.
I, The up-to-date husbandman make
IS his own soil; breeds giant wheat wit
l. more ears, more berries to the cal
he breeds into his wheat the facult
o. Of resisting disease; he breeds legior
ID of bacteria to work for him, enric
IL ing the soil with nitrogen. The En-
lish farmer does as his father ar
grandfather did before him; he sticl
70 wheat into the ground and hopes
will grow. And because his crops q
: not pay" he converts his plough,
fields into pasture for cattle.
At the thought Of milk he smile
He can hold his own, he says in Il
milk business The Dutchman, Dane
Belgians and Frenchmen, get fire.
z milk into London and other center
So he keeps COWS, and saves in far
labor But he keeps cows as zoolo
q cal gardens keep bears He keeps
r milk records. He does not know he
d much any given COW costs per We
q to feed, nor how much milk it give
n. whereas the dairymen across the che
70 mel know to the last cent how mu
Ell their herds cost per head to Ike
y and TO the last pint how much ca
" COW gives If the Belgian COW dc
not give 400 gallons year, it
Is slaughtered to save grass and feed
le Before the milk from the Engli
n farm reaches the consumer it pass
r. through nobody knows how ma
!, hands. EVERYBODY gets his bit of co
mission. The quart that the CT