The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1881-03-04
An Antl.MonopoIy League.

pamphlet of the Autobiography League,
Signed by l.. Il. Ohitlenden, presi-
dent, and Henry Nichols. secre e
ten Hppeal TO the country, has been received
They charge that both existing political par
ties are afraid OF the already great and danger
GUS monopolies of railways and telepraphs,
that they are powerful enough t. buy 1uiles
courts, legislatures and congress, and when
not able to buy they can intlmidate. Bays the
address: Monopoly Is growing In all the
States Ii has completely subjugaled only one.
In California IL has ripened It's fruits. There
monopoly is king. There fJw men control
steam transportation They have anuihilated
comp ititon. There Is not a farmer, not pro-
Queer, between ME mountains and the Pacific
who does not pay them heavier tribute than
conquered people ever paid to their conquer
ors. They llx the value Of the farm, the mine,
the mill, aud the forest. They decide yearIby
year VIII ether the producers shall make u pro.
ut or u loss; whether his children snail travel
toward the academy or tho po0r-houee. They
name senators and judges. They have their
candidate For the presidency They have
bound the prosperity of California In iettegs OF
Iron, ia'alh death, rs unyitlding as the grave.
Reyiytng commerce, which covers hcr sisters
with the sunshine OF prosperity, cannot pierce
tho wall within which she Is imprisoned Her
Hoil may bring forth golden grain, her mines
Yield golden harvest, but her people do not
profit by II. Once they united together, mode
new constitution, and declared that compe-
titlon should tDencelorth be crimes, and lhUDe
who committed them be punished M felons.
These monopOlists nullilled the constitution
and went on making the very contracts 1t
prohibited" .~-~,
= In proof of these assertions they submit the
following:
at Is little more than fifteen years snce
Huntington, hopkins ~ Co. " ~. hardware
merchants OF limited meh,aiu san Francisco.
They built the Central Pacific railroad, aud
deseryedly made fortunes estimated AZ from
81, 600 900 to ", goo, 900 each. They found the
railroad enabled them to tax the production
and commerce OF the entire Pacidc coast.
Twelve years have rolled around, and recent
estimates. biased upon legal proceedings nee
essay In the estate of Mira. Hopkins, place
the partnership wealth OF MIR. Leland stan
ioru NJ s3i $685. that OF Mr.. Charles Crocker
ats3i, i95,i5s; that of Mrs. Hopkins at i2j, =
$50, 972, while Mr. Huniington's wealth is
estimated even higher than that Of Messrs
Stanford ana Crocker.
1T Is about twenty years since the late Mr..
Vanderbilt graduated from the steamship
business Into railroad management; his pos
sessions ut that time We're vslued at from
xo,OO0,0OO to $40, 0c0, 900; at his death, some
Three years since, they were estimated at $50.
U0O,000.r
"Mr. Jay Gould obtained his start in the
management of tho Erie railroud, In conneo-
tion with the late smes Fisk; ut tho time he
gave his now famous testimony lin 1879, he
was considerei orth from $1,000 600 to S., 900,
vVVt O-uoy nv Onc hnuWS now lnuCH he IL
worth, but in Wall street estimates are made
ranging from $50, 100000 to 500, 00O,OOO.
Kailroai men VINO have accumulated,
within few years, amounts ranging from
100000 to ID, zoo, 900 are too numerous to men,
ton, as are those, also, In branches OF trade
depending upon and closely Identified " it'll
railroad transportation shippersw who, through
the favor of rsilroad managers, have been en-
anied TO outsttip or break down all compe.
tltion.
If true history of the Standard OIL COM
pany could BIO written 1t would read more like
romance Of the middle ages than a statement
of commercial facts posslblc In the nineteenth
century. This Ia the organization to which the
Hepburn committee alludes as this mystic
riOus organization, whose businers and tran 8.
actions are OF such q character that its members
decline giving history or description of II,
lest their testimony DO used to convict them of
q crime. >"
They pronounce all this as dangerous to the
liberties Of the people and the stability of
their present republican form OF governmenG,
and call for the Organization of third pollti.
cal party 10 combat 1t.