76 THE HIGH COST OF LIVING 



receives. Instances of the destruction of great 

 quantities of food to keep up the combine have 

 been reported, while the withholding of food to pro- 

 duce famine prices is so common as no longer to 

 excite comment. 



These manipulators in the food centres of the 

 countiy fall into several groups, of which the chief 

 are: (1) the railroads; (2) the refrigerator-cars; (3) 

 the banks working in sympathy or co-operation with 

 the other agencies; (4) the food exchanges which fix 

 prices in the various cities and control the auction 

 and selling agencies ; (5) the grain elevators and ware- 

 houses; (6) cold-storage plants and warehouses; 



(7) the packing-houses of the Western cities; and 



(8) the middlemen, jobbers, and wholesalers who 

 stand between the terminal agencies and the retail 

 stores. 



These arc the profit-taking agencies between the 

 producer and the consumer. They not only take 

 toll for the service they perform, but, what is far 

 more costly, each is interested in creating a con- 

 tinuing condition of artificial scarcity so as to col- 

 lect an additional tribute through speculation. 



