THE BEEF TRUST.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXV, Issue 13035, 31 March 1910, Page 4

THE BEEF TRUST.

Appaekntly the efforts of the people of the United States to retaliate on the robber barons of the Beef Trust 'by refusing to eat meat have only resulted in raising prices higher than ever. This is just what was predicted. It was though that the meat packers would unite to fight the boycotters of meat by stiffening the price, and leave the retailer to fight it out with his customer. In connection with the effort of the Trust to maintain high prices wild scenes have been witnessed recently in the Chicago stockyards, where packers have been bidding against each other to an unprecedented extent, until hogs reached 9.40-dols, per lb, the highest price for 40 years. While packers point to this as an evidence of the shortage of supplies, justifying their increase of retail prices, the ; pnblic is. very sceptical, and well it might be, for the farmers state that when they, wanted to sell their fat hogs prior to' -the. boycott ■ being instituted, the packers said the price wanted was too high, as the supply far exceeded the demand., There was a measure of truth in the latter-statement, for the cold stores /contain over 50,000,000 pigs. It is the last straw that breaks the camel’s back, and this latest move of the packers to raise prices higher than ever will only inspire the United States authorities to put ,f<srth fresh efforts to break down the monopoly.