Northern Ohio journal. [volume] (Painesville, Ohio) 1872-1896, 1873-09-13

made. If a robber had his pistol at my
head, l should give him my purse"
What interest is there here which can
not be made to feel this iron pressure?
But, as if it were too tedious to capture
these several interests in de-
tail, they go to Congress and demand
the possession of Goat lslaud-still de-
mand it-boast that they viii get it
and will get it if they carry this election.
Reserved for military purposes, they
scarcely intend to change its purpose;
they only intend to lombard the city, in
stead of its enemies, when it refuses
their deuandsi
God in heaveni You are two hum
dred thousand-they are threei Have
they got a hook in the jaws of this ievia-
| than, to draw it as they please?
l have known good men who gave up
| the fight, for resistance seemed hopeless
| have known others (ofren the hard
handed sons of toll, sometimes in the
employment of the railroad), who in
spirit of manly dependence, preferred
| to eat black bread which was their own
rather than pound-eake from another's
| table; and yet others who, from profess
sional and clerical abilities of a high Or
der, could have maintained a social posi-
| ton of their own, who, for the daily
| dole of a fixed salary, and for the gra
cious privilege of using the imperial
| ss0ur" when they looked at a locomO-
motive, were willing to run errands, re-
peat stale ISLANDERS, and mouth the ha
treds of their employers with gratui-
tous, eringing and obsequious mean
ness that must disgust the manhood of
their masters, if they have amy manhood
| left.
| These influences, though more appar-
ent in cities and commercial and mauu-
featuring communities, are by no means
confined to theme Even In the country,
farmers will tell you that their rates
may be changed, their depots moved,
their accommodations restricted, or that
they owe upon railroad sections with
unprotected titles; and they, too, are in
the tolls. To one community hopes are
held out; threats are made to another.
Go through the State. Upon every
pulse of industry there is an iron finger
counting its beats; upon every throat
there is an iron hand that tightens or re-
lakes its grasp at the interest or caprice
of an iron will.
MAKES COMMON CAUSE WITH OTHER
Add to this direct power that which it
naturally draws to it. 1t is power in
hand which can be used for any pur-
pose. Isthere project to monopolize
the waters of great valley, SO as to
own the lands as affectuaily as by title,
the railroad has new aid and ally, with
promise of reciprocal advantage. 1t
'smakes itself friends of the Mammon of
Unrighteousness, land all schemes gath
er around it as convenient centre. 1t
| will defeat them if they do not aid it,
and the bargain is made. 1t has its own
lobby and newspapers. 1t enjoys veto
power superior to that of the executive,
exercising its prerogative upon bills be-
| fore they pass. Perhaps we ought to
thank it for its moderation! Now We
begin to understand not only the motives
for seeking political power, but the
means and appliances by which it is
sought. Now we can comprehend how
a central office in San Francisco, with
wires laid to every county, sends its po-
litical receipts to every convention of
every party. We are to be allowed to
vote, but not always to count the votes,
if asuperservieeable Board of Supervis-
ors will appoint Election Boards to Or
der Sometimes we are allowed to vote
for good men-men whom we could our
selves choose-but who will be, if elect
ed, in a minority so hopeless and be so
enmeshed in the web of circumstances
that they cannot stir hand or foot. We
are to be allowed to go through all the
forms the Declaration of independence
and Proclamation of Emancipation will
still be read on the Fourth Of July, and
the s'fiag of the free hearts hope and
home" be carried in procession; the
eagle will 'snoult no feather,"4 on the
coin of the realm. and the "Battle-cry of
+ Freedom" will be musical as ever.
| -l So fair so calm, so softly sealed, 5
The first, last look BY death revealed
| Such is the aspect of this shore:
| IT'S Greece-but living Greece no more!
have referred but incidentally to that
twin birth of incestuous shame, the
Credit Mobilier and the Contract and
Finance Company. / have said nothing
of the two hundred and twenty
| four millions of acres of public
land-three times the area of Great
Britain-given to railroad companies,
and at the last session of Congress bills
were introduced giving one hundred and
eighty-nine millions more--nOr to the
millions--hundreds of millions Of which
the Southern States have been robbed,
and under the false pretense that the
railroads were to be built by the paper
companies. I have made no reference
to the $50 900, 900 this state and its coun-
ties have been asked for railroad COM
panies through Legislative action and
popular votes, nor to the fact that while
the General Government is paying ST..
O00, 900 per annunl on the bonds of the
Central Pacific, and the State, $105, 700
: the company can successfully defy the
State to eollectits taxes, and with an eff
: frontery that is sublime, makes the gifts
and largestt it has received one of the
; grounds of its refusal to pay nor tn,
fact that to-day there is not piece Of
species ofpublic property, from Chin:
Basin and Goat Island to all the broat
acres of our national domain, from thu
remOtest spring in the mountains to th'
3, rolling waters of the rivers of the plains
upon which some ineipient or fu1l-growI
monopoly has not fixed its convetous eye
: and does not hope to obtain through
! some kind of political corruption or bar
/. gain and sale. s.i* .'dz 'ii7'- -
And if mention them now it is to say
that 1 regard them only as symptoms o
a disease, the surface coats of a corrupt
ion that is inward, which threatens Il
: destroy all freedom by destroying tina
$ manly independence which is its onl,
: sure foundation, and making dominan
\ the principal that government is a thins
r for personal aggrandizement. to get ricl
5 out of it, and not ordained to give equa
q protection to all.
r For the expression upon other occas
: sons of sentiments like these, have beel
: freely called an agitator, a demagogue
s an aIafnfiSE ana a COmmunlSC. AS com
e munism seems to be the ssraw head an,
y bloody bones" of this generation, and j
: made the symptom of everything tina
h is bad, l desire to say just how much o
: it have.
1 l believe that the man who owns on
e dollar holds it by a right as sacred as TIL
s man who holds million; and that tn
man who does own million does not ac
G quire by that ownership any create
t right to take the dollar, than the owne
s of the dollar has to take the million.
: do not subscribe to that doctrine of po
r litical ethics, 6. To him that hath shall b
a given, and from him that hath not, i
+ shall be taken away, even that which Ia
t hath" / do not concur in the Scriptur
: al reading, "Sell all thou hast and Civ
: to railroad company The man VIII
S has earned his dollar by the honest swea
) of his brow, or his brain; the man VIII
o has received by Inheritance, or who ha
O accumulated by industry, energy, thrift
frugality, foresight or good luck, woul
d protect in his fortune, small or great, b,
e every sanction of imminent or law
! Housed in his possessions--eabin or cas-
n tle-he should be protected from tn
| tOnph nf the EOunrnmant op1 tba fnp,