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Show Robs the Hungry Poor. Q OMETIMES a man is robbed with- out knowing it. ' Other times he is cheated, but blames himself a-.? much as the swindler. When he is held up. not once, but every time he sits at his table and looks at a plate of meat, then ho Ms aroused to some action towards punishing the robber. In most cases prosecution of the robber rob-ber fails. The robber has the most money and can employ the best lawyers' law-yers' on his side to throw dust into the eyes of justice. The court may also be inclined to pick some flaw in the law contemplated to punish such offenders of-fenders and declare the statute of no effect because of conflict with other and previous statutes.. That happened in an anti-trust prosecution by the state of Illinois not long ago. The supreme su-preme court shot the Illinois law all to pieces, Justice McKenna alone dissenting. dis-senting. The beef trust has' been indicted by' public opinion and is on trial. It is being investigated - by the attorney general of the United States and by the New York state authorities). It is in that state at this moment that the complaints com-plaints against it are most bitter, for ' the suffering its alleged misdeeds have caused is most intense there. The list of offenses charged is a long one. It Includes boycotting, blacklisting, blacklist-ing, the ruin of competitor, the restriction re-striction of supply, the regulation . of prices, and the establishment of a system sys-tem by which all retailers of meat arc j made its servants. The broad charge which sums up the asserted iniquities of the trust is that it is a monopoly, which has made meat dear and is depriving de-priving the laboring poor of a food they need to maintain the efficiency of their labor. The Chicago Tribune, ever willing to give the devil his due, says that be-i be-i cause of the odium which inevitably attaches to a "trust," it is often held responsible for many things which are not of its procurement. It is not cer-i cer-i tain that the burdensome advance in the price of beef is clue to the machinations machi-nations of the beef trust. Trusts do not always operate to advance prices. They do not always wish to advance prices for fear of the effect on consumption. con-sumption. They are satisfied sometimes some-times With the profits obtained from economies in production and distribution. distribu-tion. The greater relative advance in the price of cattle on the hoof than of mat of dressed Deet goes to snow mat a scarcity of cattle has something to do with the almost prohibitory price of beef. This much can be said about the beef trust. One of its great . objects as with the Standard Oil company is to crush out competition to destroy the small competitors. It is unscrupulous in carrying out its policy. No doubt unfairness and oppression have been resorted to in smaller places, especially in the east, whence come the loudest complaints. No doubt local butchers, carrying on a legitimate trade in a fair manner and selling meat at reasonable rea-sonable prices, have been driven out of business by the methods of the trust. It has undersold them has sold be-' be-' low cost sometimes in order to break down its rivals. It has adopted illegitimate illegi-timate methods to suppress competition competi-tion and establish a monopoly. rmihtlcc the 7-nof Vine Hnn -ill fhnf lies in its power to beat down the price of cattle on the hoof and obtain complete com-plete control of the market by paying lower rates at the stockyards for its own supplie-3 than the farmer or stock raiser would obtain in a fair, open market. mar-ket. The trust, owing to its large purchases, pur-chases, is able to bear the market when it buys and to bull the market when it sells. To the extent that the trust considers it expedient to raise prices and oppress consumers it will do so. It is not scrupulous or squeamish. It will go as far as it thinks it can safely go, and no farther. We would not mind seeing the persons per-sons unlawfully engaged in combinations combina-tions which have raised the price of beef, including some of their railroad accomplices, put on trial, and, if found guilty, severely punished. A few-healthy few-healthy examples would be useful to the community, and might serve to appease ap-pease public opinion, which, at the present time, is not in an amiable mood. |