able to defy Britannia on the sea.
The Yankee Peril confronted Londoners when they saw American capital
securing control of their proposed underground transit system. At their
tables they beheld the output of food trusts. One of these, the
so-called Beef Trust, called down upon itself in 1902 domestic as well
as foreign anathema.
The failure of the corn crop in 1900, together with a scarcity of
cattle, tended to raise the price of beef. In 1902 outcry became
emphatic. Advance in meat values drew forcibly to view the control held
by six slaughtering concerns acting in unison.