The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1881-06-02
Anti-Mon9poly..

Anti-Mo Monopoly
The following extracts are from an ed
itorial in the Brooklyn Eagle Of May 9th
The Eagle is the leading Democratic Or
gan in that city:
The railroad corporations in particu-
lar have pressed forward steadily to the
goal OF supremacy over all the other in
tercsts conferred in our government.
They own the Senate of this State and
apparently Of the United States. Wcget
whatever legislation they assent to- and
none which they oppose. So far, at least,
as the internal commerce Of this and the
neighbcring commemorative Of Pennsyl-
vania and New Jersey is concerned, the
notion that popular influences shape the
laws is a childish delusion. Under such
circumstances, to talk about putting off
the contest till a more convenient season,
as Mr.. Beecher did d few months ago, is
simply to urge delay in the inter
est Of the enemy. If, indeed, the
men who appreciate the foothold already
secured and the tendency to strengthen
it, should postpone the conflict, who will
pretend that in the interval the gain
would be on the side of the people? Will
it be easier to effect reform after the cor
porations have doubled their wealth, ex-
tended their influence into a thousand
new departments of industry, habituatcd
constituencies to corruption and terror
ism, and made our politicians SO familiar
with prostitution that those who refuse
brides and denounce the takers Of them
will be regarded as wild theorists or bill
ious disturbers of a natural arrangement?
No man in his senses can be in doubt as
to the propr;ety of dealing with the evil
now, and OF lifting it to the first rank in
our politics.
"Our Republican friends viii, we APP
prehend, have to make up their minds
that the evils which have grown up un-
der the party in power will not be cured
till it is ovcrthrown. The very fact that
a distinctive movement is being Iostered
| by them is OF itself proof that there is
something rotten in their political Den
mark.
It ought in this relation to be borne in
mind that there is no war proposed upon
corporations as such These merchants
who are most active in this movement are
not blind to the advantages which the
country reaps from corporate capital just
ly used The war is upon abuses. Its
purpose is to make the man who handles
100000, 600 of stock live subject to the
law made by the people, as much as the
man who transacts the humblest kind Of
legitimate business. There is nothing
proposed that will prevent the building
of railroads or the construction Of tele.
graph lines What is aimed at is to pre-.
:, vent the controllers Of these enterprises
from e,nasculating all the other enter
prises and industries Of the country
2 Nobody desires to see impoverished rail
: road corporations, or to have those wht
a honestly invest in them deprived Of a fai
e return on their capital or REASONABLE
], compensation for the risk they run. In
1 deed, the disposition is to err on the sid
0 Of generosity. It is, however, ditferen
e matter when those corporations are S
a managed as to present the specialize G
fortunes of hundreds Of millions wrun
by few men out Of the industry of tn
J country, and The political rights Of th
d people assaulted with corrupt weapons, t
it the end that the work of plumber may 6
q on unchecked. To this it is proposed
y object To this objection is decided
made, and on this line there is going
n be struggle to the death, if it takes tiff
n summers. -