The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1881-11-23
The Growth of Monopoly and Cor.
porate Wealth.

: and especially the attention of those
who lead opinion and mold public
policy. No touch need be added to
color the picture so wildly drawn by
the New York journal.
"IlI fares the State to Fastening ills prey.
When Weslth secumulsteS and men decay"
1t is worse when the wealth accumu-
lates, not because labor and industry
has been controlled by individual Judge
ment and interest, but by legislative
favoritism and the enforcement of trib-
ute from the mass of the people for the
1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of the comparatively
few.
The immense wealth amassed by the
corporation of which Jay Gould is the
head, was accumulated by the bounties
which the government first wrung from
the producing and laboring classes, and
then lavished upon its chartered favori-
ties. The Pacific Railroads were built
with the lands, money and credit of the
government (the people,. When built
they turned their heels upon their bene-
factor, and with defiance undertook to
cheat and browbeat it. They defed
the law which obligated them to set
apart a portion of their earnings to in
demnify the government for the money
it had advanced them, and sent their
attorneys into the two houses of Con-
gress, to prevent the passage of laws to
compel compliance with their obIiga-
tions. Everybody remembers the hard
fight of Senators Thurman, Herman
and others to bring these bloated cor
porations to terms, and it is charged
that they are still seeking to evade the |
requirements of the law.
Monopoly shows itself also in the
National Bank corporations which have
assumed to dictate the financial policy
of the government to expand and con-
tract the currency at their will, and to
keep up the interest on the public debt
at a high rate to increase for their own
gains. The late President Hayes vetoed
the funding bill during the last days of
his disgracefui term, at the dictation of
the Banking corporations, and did not
blush to avow it in the message, assign
ing the reasons for his act. These
establishments are clamorous for the
perpetuation of the national debt to
perpetuate their own existence.
The Bondholders have also been
marked objects Of favoritism. They
pay no taxes on their investment, and
though the law requires that they shall
be paid, principal aud interest, in gold
and silver, so potent is their influence
over the government, that its officers
have set the law at defiance, and refused
to regard anything but gold good enough
for them. At their behest silver was
demonetized. The pressure of public
opinion compelled its partial remoneti-
zation, but the law has not been strong
enough to force the treasury depart
ment to carry it into execution when it
comes to paying the principal and in !
.erest of the public debt, although the
lollar for the coinage of which the sill a
yer bill provides is precisely the dollar |
peciied in the contract between the l
government (the people,, and the bond d
FOLDERS. a
Another form of monopoly is the t.
liscalled protective Tariff, the sys- i
em of levying duties ostensibly to de- u
ray the expenses Of the government, d
ut VIGOROUSLY to build up monopolies n
y increasing the cost of every article a
f necessity to the consumer for the ta
nrichment of the manufacturer. The u
doctrine is for Tariff for g
evenue only" the leyying of taxes in u
ne shape Of duties upon imports for
ublic, and not for private use for
arrying on the government, and en- =
bling it to perform its legitimate func- 70
ons, and not to build up private for a
1nes at public expense. In govern 70 70
tents where the voice of the people is m
by the bayonet, and they eff
re controlled by privileged orders and pr
ereditary rulers, remedy for these tn
buses is wrought out in fire and 5a
lood; but under governments of the III
eople, the remedy is peaceful and of esl
lsy application. 1t comes by the bal ba
t, which falls NJ,
Like snowhakes on the sod
And executes freeman's will ~
Is lightning does the will of Col col