The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1880-11-13
The Reign Of Monopoly.

The Re gn OF Monopoly.
The two most powerful and OPP
pressive monopoly rings in this
country are, as has been shown in
our former articles, the banks and
the railroad corporations. These
furnish striking illustrations of how
good institutions may be perverted,
through selfishness, until the evil
predominates over the good,
Banks of deposit, exchange and
discount are indispensable to bust
ness in its present state. But banks
of issue are simply institutions of
oppression and robbery. They con
troll and regulate the currency of the
country, and by that means dictate
the price of labor and its products.
Railroads are necessity to the
demands of travel and transporta-
ton. But certain men Of great
wealth and rare business talent.
have, through personal enterprise
and ambition, and by combinations
with other men of the same sort,
monopolized the stock, and got con-
troll of the great trunk lines Of rail
roads and many of their branches.
They manage them in their own
selfish interest; whereas, being pub
| lie highways, railroads should be
built and run in the interest of the
public. We have already seen that
they arc built at the expense of the
public, by the proceeds of land sub
sides, etc. How it happens that
private individuals and corporations
obtain control and monopolize the
profits, is what the people do not
understand, but would like to find
out. ttis--our- purpose to at-least
furnish soaae hints bearing upon
this dark st5 ject.
Railroads,are usually built in adj
vance of any urgent demand for
such highways. Certain men, of
avaricious and speculative turn of
mind, form ring under the cor
porate name Of the Northern Pa
cifc Railroad Company, for exam
pie. These men hold meeting and
elect themselves to office. One is
made president, another vice presi
dent, another superintendent, etc.
They ask Congress for a charter,
which simply means permission to
build and operate the road. This
obtained they ask for a subsidy, to
assist in the construction of their
proposed road. BY urging the adj
vantage to the whole country, and
especially to the section through
which it is to pass, they succeed in
getting bill through Congress, and
signed by the President of the
United States, setting apart each
alternate section of land lying with
in twenty miles of the proposed
road-on either side-which is
placed in the hands of this ring of
self elected railroad officers, to be
sold by them at such prices as they
may choose to fix upon it. The
Government reimburses itself, by
doubling the price of the remaining
alternate sections of land along the
proposed railway.
The board of railway officers,
who have not invested a dollar,
save what they have spent in lob
bying their pet schemes through
Congress and who as individuals
are probably bankrupts, are as a
corporation worth quarter of a
million, with almost unlimited pos
sibilities for speculation before
them
The next thing to do is to build
the road. Beg pardon, if you think
SO You arc totally ignorant of rail-
road sfinanciering. Oh no. The
next thing they have to do, is to
issue say 900 shares of stock. repre-
senting $1,000 each. The next
move is to advertise this stock in all
the influential newspapers, especi-
ally the leading religious newspa-
pers, and sell it to who are verdant
enough to buy it. They say in
their advertisement, and the editors
whose papers get their patronage
repeat it, editorially, that this stock
can now be had for fifty cents on
the dollar, and that without any
doubt whatever, it will go up to
i've hundred per cent above par in
a very short time Men who have
cut their financial eye teeth don't
invest. But in all parts of the coun-
try, are industrious and frugal men
and women, who have saved up
during life time, from one to five
OF ten thousand dollars. They de-
sire to double or quadruple their
fortune. They are assured by the
officers of this railroad company,
who of course are honora BILE men,
else how did they get elected to
such responsible positions, that here
is chance to get rich without any
trouble at all. The editor of their
paper who never told a lie in his
life, endorses the scheme unquali.