The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1878-10-03
Continaad from Third Page.

Continaad from Third Page.
the large landed estates, so that a few
Thousand men now own all the lands
in England, Scotland, and Ireland,
where the great mass are mere ten
ants, peasants, or paupers.
1t is not my purpose to dwell upon
this subject. nor to discuss the limita-
lions VIII oh should be placed upon the
monopolies Of the public lands. l
will dismiss the subject, after pass
ing notice of two other most remark
able instances Of land monopoly, IN
this or any other country.
THE AsTOR ESTATE,
in the city of New York, for many
years has been controlled by the fixed
and far-reaching policy Of its found
er. The expenses of supporting all
it's owners consumes but trifie Of
it's income. That policy is: never to
sell one foot of ground; always to buy.
build, and rent; from the rents to pay
taxes. buy other lands. build and rent
other houses, with the ever-lncreas-
inc surplus. That policy, pursued
for a hundred years in the future as 1T
has been in the past. will absorb the
best portions of New York city.
The Vanderbilt Will transferred to
the control Of one man a hundred
millions of the best real estate on this
continent, or in the world. A strip
of land two hundred feet in width,
from the heart of New York,
through all the most populous cities,
and towns, and counties of the state
of New York to lake Erie; thence on
both sides of the lake, through Ohio,
Canada, Michigan, Indiana, and Hi
nois to the city of Chicago; real es-
tate the most valuable; the most
princely and royal of any other; for,
by his own single will, he can levy
tolls upon all freights and passengers
going over it; and, by his power over
competing lines, he can fix, almost at
will, those tolls;-a power, sover-
eighty, lordship over the soil, and
over the transportation OF men and
property, which no prince or poten-
tate in Europe, can. to-day, OF his own
individual will exercise. But some
railroad attorney may say he does not
own any real estate; he owns nothing
but shares of stock in railroad cOmpa-
MES: mere personal property which
pass by delivery, like note Of hand.
That is more fanciful than real.
That is mere legal fiction. When
we look this matter square'y in the
face, railroads are real estate; the
most solid kind of real estate; real
estate obtained by exercising, IN the
name of the state, the power of emf
nent domain over the soil; real estate
with more royal franchises, consist
ing Of the monopoly of transporting
freight and passengers over 1T by
steam engines on iron or steel rails,
and of levying tolls upon them. SO
great are the annual gains OF the
Vanderbilt roads so that every year
he can buy new railway of two hun
dred and fifty miles in length. fully
equipped. Ten years may extend his
lines to the Pacific, and put into his
hands more power over passengers
and property and the commerce OF
the country than any monarch In Eu-
rope yields in his own right.
Do not understand me as complain
ing of Mr.. Vanderbilt. He IS no
more selfish, no more ambitious, no
more g.aasping than any other man.
He is only carrying out to its final
results the plan matured by his faith
er, who, in many respects, was one of
the ablest men who has ever appear
ed in the United States.
call attention to it as great and
startling fact; as one which will, in
the end, bring up for discussion the
81 no, III
and the whole question of land mo-
nopoly in this country.
TIE BUSINESS DEPRESSION.
Fellow citizens, after it was an
nounced that | was to deliver the adj
dress on this occasion, a friend of
mine desired me to answer the great
and pressing question of the present
moment, viz: What caused, and still
continues, the panic, and depression
of 1878 and what is the remedy :
AS l entertain no opinion upon any
public question which l desire to con.
ceal, l will, so far rs can. without
entering into discussion of what
might be regarded rs a party ques-
ton, with all due respect for the opin-
lOll VI VtHCiSs snSNC l tiittl
question; for it is, undoubtedly, the
most important and pressing question
now in the hands of all thoughtful
men.
First of ali, l answer: The cause OF
causes is war.
The waste of values and property
in our civil war, from 1861 to 1865; in
the Franco-1talian war with Austria
and in the war between Germany and
France. is beyond all computation.
When you add to all that. the loss of
the labor of the millions fable bodied
men engaged in these wars.-in the
business of killing each other. and in
consuming and destroying. the whole
taken together. l have no doubt. is
equal to one-fourth of all the accumu.
lated capital of this country. if not OF
the civilized world. outside of Eng
land. who did not engage in them.
know the time has been when
one would hardly dare to say that. ex
pecting TO find many men who would
believe it. l have heard men sc
crazed, that even in the senate of the
United States, they would stand III
and say: the country never prospered