Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 April 1892 — Oat Meal. [ARTICLE]

Oat Meal.

Act I.—Scene: Congress, act of 1890. (Duties raised.) McKinley -increases the duty on oat meal from a cent to one cent per pound in the interest of the manufacturers of Ohio. Act ll.—Scene: Columbus, Ohio, January, 1891. (Trust formed.) Underthe heading: “All the Oat Meal Mills Consolidated,” the New York Tribune describes what occurred as follows: “Incorporation papers were filed at Columbus to-day for the Consolidated Oat Meal Company, with a capital of $3,500,000. All the oat-meal mills are thus brought under one management, with headquarters at Akron, Ohio." ActgH.l.—Scene: Factory. (Wages reduced.) Soon after the formation of the trust the men and women employed in the Akron Mills, the largest in the trust, were forced to accept a large reduction in wages. Some have been compelled to submit to these reductions since the opening of the first act. Act IV.—Scene: Offices of the Trust. (Prices raised. ) Oat meal that sold for $4.90 per barrel when the McKinley bill passed at this time sells as high as $7.40 per barrel. Act V.—Beene: Ravenna, Ohio, Aprlj 1,1892. (Factories closed.) The Quaker [ Mills, with a daily capacity of 400 bar- , rels, has been closed by the trust tor an I indefinite period, and 100 men thrown out ; a? . uapioyc wit.