TRUST-RIDDEN AMERICA.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 725, 26 January 1910, Page 8

TRUST-RIDDEN AMERICA.

COST OP LIVING INCREASED 33 PEE CENT, Americans,; and more' 'particularly: those' in the Eastern, States,' 'are •feeling the pinch /'of ! prosperity. with . a/"Vengeance. With. the. sympathy.' and co-operation of the. Milk -Trust and the Beei . Trust; it is now announced; that a BreadTriist is about toV begin with a capital; of i!3,000,0UU, mainly :to extract an extra halfpenny a loaf : from the pockets of the people, : ;as/ the;. Milk . Trust has already done, by adding a .'cent, per quart to .the cost of milk, 'and as the Beef Trust has added • innumerable- cents per pound-to the price of • meat, - . . J , . v ; . : 1 The latest TVust, ' says • the "Tele-; 1 graph's". .New >York correspondent, is ..es«. ; sentially a \Vesternconcern,; backed with Western capital, and. the direct support of' the great "Western milling concerns, j ; Xt • received' into its, r "sphere } of in-1 iiuencfc".;' in the proposal' to.' corner .the ' price' of .bread, in.-fchp; metropolitan .district most of.'the big bread-makers." of (New York,. Brooklyn, .Jersey City, and Hoboken^'and,,according to tho big wholesale dealers in llour , at New Yorkl. the Bread Trust spells ''ruin" • for the •; proprietors of'small bakeries in and afcouhd the;city of. New York; ' '

16 light .these organised, efforts, at ej tortion it . is suggested that . consumer here shall 'form a trust, and' steps liav< already: been taken in. this, direction. ;] don't tkink.it will be successful, becausc money- is .plentiful oust now, "wages are high," and Americans have .long been'.'accustomed.'to/, pay .just whatis imposed by the trusts. - We shall kick a .bit, that 'is all, and: , January shall pay our extra halfpenny;per loaf.. „■ ■■'.'if'-. : Official figures show that during the last few years the cost of. living -here has advanced 33 per. cent.,- and-the salaries of mechanics and the: middle-classes . ,have remained stationary..... Notwithstanding these'advances in prices, .however,-., it..is still , true that. the average; American' has a -bigger.::,margin'..for- savings: than, the European,-and: while, trade" is good, as atpresent, .and .employment' ample, ho will continue. payings and .kicking :nntil a slump ; arrives,, the; philanthropic trusts ;will. temporarily, reduec the .'.price of necessities.