WHY THERE IS NOT MORE FOOD 99 



distributei's decree. They first fix the price as low 

 as possible and then exert financial pressure upon 

 the fanners to sell at the season when prices are 

 low. Then after the food supply has been cornered 

 prices are again fixed by the manipulators for the 

 nation and the world. As stated in previous chapters 

 the farmers and cattlemen in the West were forced, 

 by these methods, to sell their produce year after 

 year at less than cost. 



The control of the food supply of America is more 

 complete than any one really knows. And no mo- 

 nopol}^ has been as ruthless in its treatment of the 

 producers, on the one hand, and the consumers on 

 the other, as the food syndicates which operate in 

 all of the larger cities and which control almost 

 every article of food. This system is so inter- 

 related that it is impossible to trace the conspiracies 

 or the cost of the manipulations to the consumer. 

 In addition to these agencies there are monopoly- 

 owned steamship-lines that transport nearly all of 

 the fruits from Florida and Central and South 

 America, from the Carolinas and the eastern shore 

 of Marjdand, while the haulage of fruit, of meat, of 

 fresh vegetables, of poultry, butter, and eggs, and 

 of perishable products by land is done by the re- 

 frigerator-car companies, owning thousands of cars, 

 which are hauled by the railroads at an agreed rate. 

 The fast-freight lines give their owners an advan- 

 tage over other competitors, for they can deny cars. 



