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Show I The Hold-up on Food Prices I The "Butchers and Grocers" are somewhat overworking their business in this city. They have advanced prices until they 'H . are nearly prohibitive and the poor are suffering because of their unlawful greed. We say unlawful, for there is a clear and straight- ) forward statute in this state which imposes a savage fine upon all who are convicted of the crime which this association is daily i committing. Think of butter, eggs and common vegetables being higher in this city than in any other spot in America not ex- If cepting New York City. And this trust, for it is nothing else, has out its walking delegates to bulldoze small merchants whose instincts are decent. The law ought to be appealed to, but that is a slow process and the storm-tones of th" '"'nter will soon be in . the air. With coal from the nearby hills at about the cost of Australian coal (and a famine promised at f ; ; with a beef-roast at one-twentieth the cost of an 800-pound steer; with potatoes at the rate of $250 per acre; with butter at a cost which would buy and feed a first-class cow for a year, and other food in proportion, what is to become of men who are working at $75 per month arid trying to support their families, what is to be? It seems to us that the best thing to do would be to combine against the com- bine and import food by the carload. It certainly would be a saving over present prices. And there is no assurance that the I present prices will not be still further advanced, as the arrangements of the hold-up are more and more perfected, and the weather j, grows colder. i The robbery is hurting the town; people vill not come, to a place where a highwayman waits on the corner to rob them. Every day brings new infamies to light. The jobbers make the bluff that the retailers have raised the prices, the retailers that the r - jobbers are the thieves. The truth , is. they are all partners in the, combine,, and ..the , object , is to fleece consumers. The fact that r people who live here are charged nearly 100 per cent more than in the country; the fact that there are walking delegates and that H small traders who would be glad to sell at a reasonable profit cannot for cash buy of the jobbers, ought to send the mongers who II I have put up this steal and are carrying it through, to the penitentiary. We said above that the law was too slow. We take that back if the law will begin a criminal prosecution. That would bring things to a climax in a day. If a dozen thieves combine to H f rob a house, and are caught and convicted, there is trouble in landing them in the pen. If an association of so-called merchants 1 make a combine to rob every house in town, why should there be any trouble in a swift conviction? ' And these thieves will not distract attention from themselves by calling the real-estate men names. We call for the arrest I of the officers of this Butchers' and Grocers' Association and for a vigorous prosecution of them. The way to stop this hold-up is H to stop it. H |