The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-05-29
THE SUPPOSED LEATHER TRUST

ne l, =. department OF Justice, IT.
| is announced is about TO enter upon an
Investigation As to the Supposed cx.
istence of leather trust in this coun-
try. The reason for this supposition
investigation of the alleged packing
| trust in Chicago that in nomiuallv ac-
counting for every part of 4 slaughtered
animal, no account was taken OF the
hides Those were supposed to be the
personal perquisites of the individual
members Of the packing firms. 1t is
known also that when President Taft
took hand in the final shaping of
the tariff law of 1909, he insisted that
hides be put upon the list of free i'm
ports.
1t was expected that by reason Of
these free imports of hides, the prices
Of leather goods, and especially of
boots and shoes. would fall. But that
mas not been the ease: ON the con
trary, the price is higher than before
In endeavoriug to solve the problem
and ascertain why it is that the free
raw material has not influenced the
market downward, As expected. there
seems TO be but one conclusion possible,
and that is that the speculative com
bine has the country by the throat, and
that in leather goods there is a close
agreement 10 uphold and raise prices,
no matter what the cost of leather
may be-
1t is the old story /, is the same
principle as that carried out in the
coffee combination so graphically de-
tailed the other day by Mr.. Herman
Slelcken of New York in his testimony
before the House committee which is
Investigating the Money Trust 1t
was made very plain in that case that
A combination of money, backing the
coffee dealers. had held out of the mar
ket millions of bags Of coffee, with the
result that the coffee prices have
doubled within the past few years, in
spite of the enormous coffee produc-
ton. 1t rs the same in prices of other
foods; IT is the same in sugar; IT is
the same in tea it is the same In gen
eral prices which have made the cost
Of the necessities of life so very much
higher than ever known before
1t is evident that the tariff leeisa-
tion has little TO do with it, and that
prices are maintained and are expected
to be maintained, by the speculative
trusts, IN coffee, in sugar. in tea, in
leather goods, and in pretty much
everything, without regard TO what the
tariff may be or whether there is any
tariff at all upon the article As Mr..
Sielcken intimated, if all the reserved
coffee were thrown on the market. the
combine could take care of it, and the
price would not be lowered The spec.
ulative combines rule and fix the mar
ket rates.
The evidence of all this is so plain
In the market prices themselves, in the
constantly increasing figures of the
cost of living, that the argument is all
on one side, OF course there is
leather trust, Of course there is cof-
fee trust, there is sugar trust. there
are trusts everywhere, but does IL
amount TO anything TO undertake to
prosecute them' 1t certainly amounted
TO nothing in the Standard Oil case
and in the Tobacco Trust case. The
case against the packers trust failed,
although the existence Of the packers
trust is well understood Whether anv
prosecution of the leather trust would
amount to anything or not must re-
main for the future to determine, in
case such suit he brought. But it must
be confessed that the preccdents in
like eases are not encouraging towards
any expectation of beneficial results.