The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-09-11
MONOPOLY ITS TENDENCIES.

franchises OF monopoly corporations, and
deplOring the inevitable disastrous results
70 the country of the workings Of such Cor
poratiOns, with this query" Who can or
will resist this monopoly zingl tendency of
the chartered tax gatherers."
The National Labor Union answers " we
can, and we will" and only asks to enable
It to fulfil that promise, that the mass Of the
people, to whose benefit such a resistance
must inure, should give ear to, and thorough
" and calmly prepend, just such sensibly
written arguments as that which eliminated
in the question above quoted. Many affect
to sneer at the NetO York Herald for its al:
legged vacillating policy, and as being the
organ Of nothing nobody, other than old
fogy Bennett" 1t is not our present pur-
pose to present to the public any empty eulo-
GUM upon the Herald, or its proprietOrs, or
70 parade the sagacity or wisdom Of any par
ticular journalist, or coterie Of journalists :;
but the Herald in its occasional peeps into
the future, evnces such an ability for that
sort OF peeping which is proven in the al
most unvariable ful6lment Of its predictions
that when it takes its key note from us, and
warns it's leaders of the evils which thl eaten
them IN the fostering of monOpOlies, of any
kiId, and SO pointedly and positively points
out those evils as it has done in the article
= ferred to, We were wanting in our duty as
faithful recorder Of significant events, did
We fail to call attention to it. The continu-
ance OF Railway and other monOpohes, 10 q
bud Which, in the progress Of time, will
flower into-if not an ImpeTalism-then
that which is equally vicious, uIjust, and
tyrannical-a government over which its
entire wealth, in the possession Of few,
shall preside with a deFpOtic power, and
more than despotic inclination. This il
no deD0gogIc prediction. The vast and al
most irresistible eentroli1ing influences Of q
false monastery system, and an equally
false, and iniquilous system Of special legis
lation, its legitimate Outgrowtb, that are al
ready at work, predicate the institution Of
such government as an event Of the near
~ "a InS "~sseSJ
Apply in tLrsebe only preventive. Indi-
vidLsls to-day, handle an amount Of capital,
without attracting more than a passing no
tice, that few years since, in the hands of
large corporation, would have filled the
country With a feeling close akin to awe,
and, few years bacK, the idea that corpora
tiOns could possibly attain such proportions
as they now have, and count their assets by
the hundreds VI millions, as they now do
would have been treated as too prepOsterOus
for consideration. The corporations of two
decades since, were more chary-and ye,
nos half as secure in haodling their b.
dreds than those Of to- day in manipulating
their millions. The power of money, or of
the few individuals who in this country to-
day, control It oil, has become SO enormous
~ powerful, that no other known power
rave that Of numbers, dare contend with it,
and the power Of numbers is not an avail
atle one, until the people are purged Of their
timidity, their blindness, ard their judas
ress, the three great vitistOrs Of the power
ol unity. We ask why money has this pow
er, bow it secured it, and how is to be re-
lieved Of il? And answer, it's power has
gradually accrued tc it from the profits of
usury, the natural sequence Of none
tary system, in which the value of money is
PTopOrtiODed to the scarcity or plentitude oI
The material composing it, and from le-
gisatiOD, which by the wholesale granting
Of subsidies, without warrant, either in law
OF in equity, has invited, and assisted com
binatiCns among capitalists. The greatest
mcLoPoly in all the world perhaps Is tn,
Pacific Railroad, in the profits of which 9
few are only to participate, while the bur
Gen Of its construction was borne solely By
lbe muses.. That road is an index to the
plan, by which all monopolies are built up
ana pGpetuated. In some instances the
ujustice Of the privileges, immunities, OF
subsidies, granted by Legislative corporate
enactment, and that popular passiveness,
that is accepted as its endorsement, is MOI
50 patent as in The case Of the Pacific Rail-
roud, though they are nevertheless equally
Unjust or illegal. In monopoly, the inter.
ests Of the many are subordinates to the
Irt fit Of few. The many are improVerish-
ed ard enslaved, that the few may be made
wealthy and powerful. The gradual ten
d,ncy Of this power to the enslavement Of
the nations industry, as indicated in the
words Of the Herald, the incidents and the
peoI IF the times, the thousands Of idlers,
male and female, anxious TO work, but with
out mai eL for their labor the thousands
II OILERS, who fatteR and luxuriate while
stunning labor-can only be successfully
conbatted BY such a movement, as is now
being ruIsed into 1" fighting" proportions BY
the National Labor Union. The dangerous
power If monopoly is the immediate cause
Of the existence Of that organizatlon-and
TIE sole purpose Of its living, is to fight
monopolY,and all else which il deems mimi
cal to those Wto gave il birth, the be-thrall
cd millions Of our country. The interests of
legitimate and honest traffic, and those of
PRODUCTION, are !dentical-alI save the land
sharks, the money gob5lers, the Wander.
bills, the Stewards, the Belmonts, the Fisks.
the Wall, Third, and State Street hordes,
are vitality interested in the success Of the
cause which we are engaged. Time alone
can develop whether they will take part
10 our great undertaking in season to avert
the impending crisis. God grant ito unsrr.
AZ record may reflect Our hope.