The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-10-16
HE'DLIKE TOKNOW
Professor Fisk Asks About Mig
ger in Wood Pile.''
Talks to Socialists on Social
Control
COST OF ARMOUR BACON
Cheaper in Cascade, Colo. Than
in Topeka.
COST OF ARMOUR BACON
Prices of Commodities Should
Be Government Regulated.

Where is the Ethiopian in the
wood-pile?
! Would some butcher kindly tell me
: why the best Armour's bacon was sold
to me for 26 cents at Cascade. COL and
| here the same amount costs IS cents?''
These questions were asked by Prof.
! Daniel NJ Fisk, professor of sociology
/ at Washburn college, before the meet
/ ing of the Socialists at the Crystal
| theater last night. Speaking to the
topic Social Control" he advocated
| government regulation of the prices OF
| commodities, allowing only a reason
able profit on articles retai1ed based
on the actual value received by the
! purchased He also cited how the ex-
| press companies were unreasonable in
! their rates and would not deliver
! whether express was prepaid or not
| further west than Fillmore street in
| Topeka or further south than Thir-
! teenth. In addition he said that a GER
= tain packing house in Topeka sold its
| goods cheaper out of town than in the
home city
His address in part follows:
Il do not call myself a Socialist, I
am only a learner, but-and I would
| just as soon be quoted as to this: I
am keenly in sympathy with many
| SOcialistic principles.
1.-THE first rule was the rule of the
| clan father as in savage times, then
| the rule of a few elders and then the
For instance; Mr.. Dick of Chicag go
controls nearly all of the patents on
! neo- styles and mimeograph- When
| you use these machines you must sign
a contract not to use any ink or equip
ment with it except that sent out by
{ his company. The equipment is made
of cheap materials but the ink, for in
, stance, costs 81 for a small bottle.
by social control mean we should
have government men who could find
out how much less such things could
be sold with good profit and make the
manufacturers stick to that reasonable
price.
Cost of Medicine.
1.-THE other day I bought a seven
ounce bottle of cordial drug store.
1t was composed Of water, cooking
soda, rhubarb and peppermint, cheap
materials, but 1t cost me 20 cents, or
10 cents an ounce. think that that is
a monStrous price considering the
cheapness of the composition of the
medicine. Social control would COM
pei druggists to show the value of that
stuff and if the price is exorbitant, it
would be reduced to its proper cost,
giving the manufactures. jobber and
retailer only a reasonable profit.
"A friend employed in a jobbing
house told me the cost of pencils re-
tailed at 60 cents per dozen was only
"a cents a dozen wholesale. Do you
think the difference of So cents profit
for the retailer which is paid by the
pupils who use the pencils, is just the
square deal for them?
In Cascade Col, the best Armour's
bacon cost me 26 cents. Here it costs
SO cents. And Cascade is 700 miles fur
Their from Kansas City where it is
made than in Topeka. Would some
butcher kindly explain it? Where is
the Ethiopian in the wood-pile?
THE four express companies have
agreed not to deliver express even when
PREPAID further south than Thirteenth
street and further west than Fillmore
street in Topeka
I'VE hear a great deal about the
'sanctity of contracts in the courts,
but when a contract is on one side
and a man on the other and he is being
ground to powder I think we should
talk about the sanctity of men.
AT present the doctrine of every
fellow for himself prevails. BUSH
ness man, if heis craftier, shrewder and
more unscgruplous than his competitors
can make more money than they and
can run his steam roller over the other
fellows.
But why ought little children have
their lives ground out, working in the
cotton mills all night until they are
sleep starved?
why ought womens lives be sacri-
feed as in the New York factory where
many girls were burned to death be-
cause of lack of fire escapes?
However a move is going on for the
better In many places the child Ia
Dor law prevents the exploitation of
children. And social control will be
esta blished, prices of commodities will
be investigated and reduced SO that the
consumer pays a reasonable price, Civ
ing manufacturer. jobber and retailer
a req sonable profit and no more, when
the answer to the old question: Am
my brothers keeper? will be uni
versally: am