The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1881-06-09
MONOPOLIES.

years party feeling has been SO intense,
the disposition to abuse victory gained
over q section has been SO freely indulg
ed, and the strife for spoils has been so
animated, that the insidious and syste-
matte concentration of power by railroad
corporations has escaped attention or if
adverted to, has earned for him who
deserted the field OF party warfare for
that of economic questions, the title of
demagogue. Meanwhile corporations
were being unified in opinion from a
well recognized community of interests !;
the peoples representatives We're cor
rIpted, the different departments Of the
government were undergoing a slow
process of vitiatiou through the adroit
iniuistrations Of monopolists. The peo-
pie were IN a furore Of excitement over
the southern brigadier, while concen-
trated capital with the cool deliberation
50 essential to success, worked, safely
concealed by the smoke and dust raised
by sectionalism and craftsmanship, and
wound It's tentacles around those Offices
designed for the public good.
Blaine was to be made president.-
livery railroad corporation il the nation
lad direct interest in having him at the
lead of the government. He had proved
lis fidelity to railroads and hal some
thing more than gratitude for past favors
t. warrant his constancy to their interests
IN the future. "a lively sense OF fayors
t. come" brought about that mutuality CT
interest which made Biaine's candidacy
something very much to be desired by
railroad companies. The hand OF organ
ICED capital did not attract much atton-
ton. Blaines record as a fighter Of
southern brigadiers, his Unsuitable thirst
for the gore of the confederacy 50 ilnmi-
mated him, that the public eye was daz-
lied by his splendor and he was accepted
as an embodiment OF purity.
4 The attack was not limited to any one
department. The Legislative arm of the
government had to be bent from its legit-
innate purpose SO as to be support for
monopolies. The congress of the United
! States was to be made a tool to deprive
the people of their rights and make them
serfs of monied oligarchy. The man
most watchful of the encroachments by
railroad companies upon public rights
and most dihgent in limiting their power
so as to protect other interests more vital,
though not SO well organized, Allen G..
Thurman, was driven from the senate,
and the people, those whose champion
! he was, but who differed from him in the
unimportant matter of politics, shouted
their Joy at his downfall, as did the Ro-
mans at Rienzi's. Almost every senator
elected this year is one who has an in
terest in, either property or salaried, in
railroad.
The next step, not the next in attempt,
was to secure men On the United States
bench prejudiced in favor of railroads.
| The companies have a precedent for
| packing the supreme court. Grant
demonstrated that it might be done and
that the president guilty of the corrupt
act, suffers nothing in popularity. Hayes
appointed Stanley Matthews, but the
people seemed to grow little restless and
apparently manifested little alarm
| The nomination was withdrawn but again
made by Garfield and though it was OPP
posed by such jurists as Edmunds and
David Davis, Matthews, through the per-
sonal solicitation of Jay Gould and other
railroad magnates was confirmed and is
now United States Judge.
These monopolies work while the peo-
pie are busying themselves with war
which closed over sixteen years ago
The peoples friends are being driven
out, and the people are in such fervor
Of patriotism over the firing on Fort
Sumpter 20 years ago that they are viii
| ling to throw the government to the dogs
SO that they will have no thoughts of
business to interfere with the war dance
which has become the test of loyalty and
patriotism. We must waste our time III
sickly sentiment over the 'boys in blue"
have "grand armies" and holiday par
AIDES, or we are disloyal. We must listen
to the silver tongued orator rolling off
his rhetorical platitudes and applaud his
patriotic sentiments or we are disloyal.
The rising generation must be instructed
in loyalty by Stimulating sorrow for those
who died while in the employment of
the government.