Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1874-08-20

HoSS, lnCiuuIuS dtHVot wv 0P'
/ favor except ultimate sovereignty,
and have done so TO promote the
general good, aud even now, when in
our own state, the railway companies
have defed the Law aud the spver.
eign authority and still defy them.
setting themselves up IS umpires of
the law, and the extent tf their own
rights, the people are unshaken in
their high purpose of still being just
| to them.
The people are of the opinion that,
while il is their right and duty, Tor
the general good, to regulate the rate
OF use of private capital invested in
custom mills or in bonds and mortga-
ges in such a manner as to maintain
the great equities that ought to gov
ern the different forms of lnves ment
and production, it would be a base
prostitution of authority to allow in.
oorporated capital TO regulate lis If.
And especially is this opinion of the
people Intensified when they discover
a tendency in incorporated capital t.
transcend the legitimate bounds Of
inves ment-to cripple o. crush out
all capital IL cannot control, and TO
strike down the civil uchority which
generously IA ored Il with lis corpor-
teprivil ge.
Now the preference given by the
Committee TO he railways over the
people ia setting the price of fares
and freights cannot be entertained a
momeat by thc.pepplo without at the
Same time entertaining the entire
surrender of their right Is civil rule.
The @c of setting the price being an
act Of sovereignty caanot be exer-
clsed BY the railway companies with
on : impairing the sovereignty Of the
people. 1t the sovereignty of gov
ernment-of the people : can be i'm
| paired in ono direction it can in an
other. 1.-THE railways are all wed to
arrogatc sovereignty in their affairs,
banks Insurance panies-all cor-
pordtons-caR in theirs And now
long would government-the people
have any sovereignty, private in
vestors would equitably be enti led
to the same, which SIMPLIFY leads to
the destruction of all sovereign Y -
all government II the people.
The suggestion of the Com mittee
about buying out the railroads is a
subserviency to aggregated capital
sufficiently palpable TO excite indig-
nation, were its grossaess not sugges-
tive Of establishment and pity. Why
not also buy out all toll-bridges, mills
and lurnpikes !? Is it because they
have not planted themselves in an az
titude Of defiance to the law? O, is
it because they have had not the aid
OF subsidies. loans of credit and md
grants, and the people would not en-
Joy the novelty Of buying bac what
is largely their own
| eff it be net one of these"
| 1t is any thing you please
except that the government 10 at
mptlng to run all the material en-
terprises of our civilization would not
be sustained by an adequate solicit
tude for office.
According to ell tho facts in the
history of railways, the fable of the
goose would have the more legitimate
application when trGnsposed, but the
read II will excuse me from alluding
ia detail to all the weak plausibiities
of the quotation. l. needs only TO
be read to be understood. In the en-
tire abandonment OF the great land
marks of elf-government, the trans
fer Of all rule to an Inc rporated Dir
ectory-addins to the greed of con
solidated capital absolute power in
the control Of all vaIues-the teach
ings Of the quotation invite to our
shores IA condition of things worse
than exists under the monied Feudal
ism of Europe.
Having, from its first organization
been in devoted cooperation with
the political party whose leaders full
inmate this enormity; proud of its
great achievements, h opeful of it's vi
tai proneness to purge itself of cor
ruption and error, and finding not
one press of the party to speak of ii
other than TO laud it, to me patient
silence remains no longer virtue.
"Men and brethern," | call your
attention to these teachings as /
would to your dwellings on fire or
the plague IN your families We, the
people, will have to act as if both
these calamities were upon US. A
common danger makes common ne
cessity. Ii one party makes such
sacrifice for effective alliance, tho
other will, and the question comes
home to us all, is it not time to let
the leaders follow whore the people
lead ?
History would be brighter for the
record if the people after suffering,
in their harvest fields and workshops,
the impor -unities Of professional
office.soekers, perambulating the
country, drumming upsub- aspirants,
and in the devious ways best known
to themselves augmenting and bind
ing together the different clements
of their rings, would, when election
day arrives, allow them to do their
ol0n noting.
Fellow citizens: never before, in
this state or in this country, has the
power OF aggregated capital and
privileged classes been brought to
bear upon the people as it will be IN
our approaching elections. The stake
on their side is the accumulation
of untold wealth through govern
ment aid 10 the control of all values
known both to production and trade,
the stake on our side Is SELF PREsER-
WALTON
NJ. X. YOUNG.
Glen Haven, Wis Aug 4, 1874.