The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1877-08-16
Corporntlons a Source Of Danger.

There Is q wrong sOIl0 i'"'e'
the middle of n harvest without par
/. allel in the history of our land, rich
in breadstufis, with our grancries OF
n continent filed to overlooking with
grain enough to fill the world; with
fatted cattle Of not a thousand hills
but thousands of miles, we have mil
lions of starving men and women de-
handing bread.
This is not all, nor is it the worst
There is no country in the world
that can exhibit so many colossal
corporations and wealthy men us thi;
land of ours. Our cities and Summer
resorts are crowded with these, while
in Europe they are noted by the
thousands for their immense wealth
and senseless extravaganza. 1t /;
not that John Carrot and Tom Scott
and other railroad kings have suffer
ed from the hard times and conse
quent shrinkagc of yalues-it is that
through their greed they have so eX
tended their lines as TO endangel
their dividends. The fact is, that
through the aid of this powerful gov
eminent, that for sixteen years has
been legislating for the benefit of the
few at the expense of the many, nc
cumulated capital has grown stronger
while the masses suffer. The banker
the bond.holder, the heavy corpora.
tion, the fattened manufacturer, Civ
en- a monopoly, all are content. The
wolf is only at the door of the poor
man, whose wants are as much un,
needed as if he were 4 serf of despot
instead of a free citizen, entitled tC
an official agent called u government
Our deadly enemy, the one great
danger to our Constitution and liber,
ties, comes in the shape of n corpora
ton. The fathers in destroying priv.
LEGGED classes, supposed they had
guarded against the baleful influences
Of accumulated wealth. In repeating
the law Of primogeniture and guard.
ing against aristocrats, they fondly
believed that they had so ditfuSed
property that it could not be gather,
ed and used to imperil popular rights
All that the father accumulateS the
sons will spend, they said. They
took no account of the corporation,
that lives forever; the corporation,
that has the greed of the miser and
the heart of a machine; the monster,
that lives without character other
than what is needed for its business
no impulse, no body to imprison, and
no soul to punish hereafter.
The worst form of this abuse is in
railroad companies that combined
have overshadowcd and cowed our
government. They have dictated
legislation, for they have packed our
Congress, packed our courts and con,
trolled to their own will our PrcSi,
dents. Tom Scott, in the ante-cham.
Der Of the Senate, with Senators beg
cling to know if the bill rs framed
suited him, was but faint illustration
of the slavish subserviency of these
supposed Lawmakers of the people.
They are to our land what the rob,
Der barons of old were to the rivers
and highways of Europe. Owning
the great thoroughfares of trade from
the interior, they exact tolls that
beggar the producer. There has been
no time in the last four years of fnan-
cial distress that saving of ten
cents OH the transportation Of Il bushel
Of wheat between the Mississippi val,
ley and the scaboard would not have
given us control of the European
market and restoration Of good
times at home. And now, with this
great harvest in store ready to be
shipped, if it could be carried at fair
rates to the scaboard, We should have
agriculture made profitable, its labor
stimulated, and through it all the
avenues of trade revivcd-for agli-
culture is the great underlying base
of all our prosperity.-IIash. Capitol.