Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1912-08-09
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE.
By CLYDE H. TAvENNER.
Washington. D. c., July 20. 1912.


Democratic administration is coming into
power, and knowing that this will mean
the end of the tariff protection privilege
under which they have plundered the peo-
pie for nearly score Of years, the tariff
trusts are going to take one final gouge into
the pocketbooks of the people before they
are pushed away from the troughs of spe-
cial privilege at which they have grown
fat.
The leather trust, which is largely owned
| by the beef baronS, has announced that
the price of leather is to increase 20 per
cent. The increase is attributed to the
greater demands of the automobile manu-
facturers for leather. This demand Is no
greater now than it has been for the last
three or four years, and those who are
| familiar with trade conditions say the ex-
cuse given by the trust is only a subter-
fuge. The increase will mean another
boost in the price of shoes, which will mean
that hundreds Of thousands Of people,
especially women and children, who are
unable to pay more than they are now
paying, will have to use cheaper quality
of footwear
The cloth manufacturers-wh means
the wooden trust-all have announced an
increase in prices Of cloth for fall and win
ter deliveries. The price of wooden cloth,
it is announced, will 90 up all the way from
five to twenty cents yard, This increase
is made necessary. the trust managers say,
by the wool shortage here and abroad and
by the increased cost of labor.
It will be recalled that Immediately after
the Lawrence, Mass strike last winter the
wooden trust announced an increase of
fifteen per cent. in its products. The ex-
cuse was that this had to be made in order
to meet the demands Of the workers. The
mill men, women and children who had been
working for SIS, SO and 81 a week were
granted an increase Of five per cent, which
meant only few cents additional each
week to them. and to meet this increase
the price Of cloth was boosted fifteen per
cent. In this way the wool trust owners
were able to make the consumers pay, not
only the increased cost Of labor but all the
expenses Of the strike as well. so that div
idends. far from being less on account of
the strike, were actually greater as result
thereof
Both Of these announced increases are
purely arbitrary. There isn't the slightest
excuse for an increase in the prices of either
leather or clothing, and the only excuse for
either is the inordinate greed OF the trust
owners. These men know that after next
year they will have to climb down from
their high perch, whence they have been
directing their wholesale robbery of the
people. and for that reason they are pre-
pairing to get the last dollar possible for
themselves before their special privilege
graft comes to an end.
THEY'RE ALL DOING IT Now.
The trusts have found out nothing pays
so well as dissolution" Following the
decree of the Supreme Court ordering the
Standard Oil trust to dissolve. the value of
that monopoly's stock went skyward. The
court decree, without changing the trust
in any way, except in the matter Of adj
ministratiOn, amounted practically to a
government guarantee to violate the laws.
After the decree was issued the trust man.
ayers discovered that the monopoly stood
in no further danger Of government prose-
cution, and as this danger always had been
the chief menace to the trust. il was
great boon to have II removed Accord
ing the value of the trust share rose rapidly
AS result other trusts have begun to
dissolve" The beef trust has announced
dissolution" plan. so that 1t, too, may
conform to the Supreme Court definition of
law-abiding trust. The powder trust did
likewise, the decree, in its case, being writ
ten by the trusts own lawyers. and later
approved by the Federal court Of Delaware.
Next to high tariff, dissolution" is the
best thing that ever happened to the trusts.
WILSON AND IMMIGRATION.
Some Republican newspapers are trying
to make II appear that Gov. Wilson is foe
TO immigration, using a certain statement
in one of the books he wrote as the basis
for their charges. In the book in question
DIR. Wilson deplOred the practice. in use at
the time he wrote the book, of certain
transatlantic steamship companies in ar
officially stimulating immigration from
Southern Europe. These steamship COM
panies got out huge advertisements and
posters setting forth that every man who
came to America would be given free
farm and good job, and other ridiculous
promises. Gov. Wilson wrote that this had
the effect Of bringing many people here
who were not in position to make sue
cess in this country, and who would have
been better off at home.
Gov. Wilson Is not opposed TO immigra-
ton He wants this country 10 continue
to be a haven for the oppressed peoples Of
| Europe, but he wants sane and reasonable
regulations, such as at present prevail. He
doesn't want steamship companies to hold
out false promises to prospective lmmi-
grants, and 1t is significant that practically
all Of the foreign newspapers published In
this country are in accord with his views.
THE EXPRESS GRAFT AGAIN.
The Interstate Commerce Commission in
its report on the express business sets forth
that while the express companies pay div
idends on capitalization Of $106. 900, 900,
they have an actual capital investment Of
less than S7.000,000. Their chief asset
is their contracts with the railroads, which
contracts are little more than licenses to
rob the people. Express rates in this cOun-
try are ten times what they should be on
some classes Of merchandise, and as much
Of their traffic Is in food stuffs the tremen-
dous benefits they enjoy add directly to
the high cost Of living.
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