Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1881-03-04
THE NEAREST ENEMY.

FRIDAY MORNING. MAR. a. 1881.
THE NEAREST ENEMY.
The nearest enemy to the people of this
country just now is not the knot Of ambi-
tious and often INSCRIPTIONS leaders in
the great political parties. The danger |
from political schemers IS great but not /
at hand; but there is an enc
nv to the welfare of the people COM
pared with whose schemes the arts of the |
party leader are as the prattle of childhood.
The great Monopolists Of the country have |
no party; destitute of partizanry as of prin-
ciple, all organizations are alike to them
80 they serve their selfish purposes. II is
this class of men that now menace the
country through their combinations IN
railroads and telegraphs. Colossal combi-
nations in railroads with the ''control''-a
new but significant word in American
affairs-of lines in various states, can and
do now fix the price that farmer shall
get for his wheat as effectually as if they
hired him to make it. With their man
agement of transportation he becomes but
a servant of the company, and the price OF
his products is pretty much regulated by
how much freight-tax he can bear without
being broken up. The power which these
combinations possess is startling to those
who have not paid attention to their prog
ress. Six years ago committee was ap-
pointed by the U. S. Senate, on which
were such prominent Senators as John
Sherman, Conkling, Johnston, of Virgin
ia and Others, whose duty is was to en-
quire into the matter Of transportation
rates to the seaboard. One item of their
report ia we'll nalcnlatad to make the peo-
pie of the country thoughtful. They as
certained that the four trunk lines of road
between Chicago and New York could, by
a single stroke of the pen reduce the value
of property in the country by hundreds of
millions of dollars. Another five cents
Der bushel for the carriage of cereals was
equivalent to tax OF forty-three mil
lions of dollars on the crop of the year be-
fore. And this autocratic power was
exercised by those roads whenever it suit
ed the will of those who controlled them.
The whole production of the Pacific coast
has been taxed by the Central Pacific
road until the wealth of it's builders
Huntington, Hopkins & Co., who fifteen
years ago were hardware merchants of
limited capital i'll San Francisco-is now
estimated at hundred millions of dol
lars. Another monopolist of the same
sort is Jay Gould, who seven years ag'
was estimated to be worth three millions
and is to-day the accredited possessor OF
sixty millions. These millions are not the
fruit of industry but of what is called b'
their owners ''sagacity. "-that sagaclty
which makes pooling arrangements in rail
reading and thus supplants competition;
that sagacity which corrupts legislatures
and congresses; that sagacity which has
no politics but has all greed, and with
whom Republican or Democratic candi-
date is welcome to support if he can only
show that he is TALL right" in his views
upon the sacred rights'' of monopolies.
To these men the people of the land are
as game to be plucked and in their hands
they are as helpless as an honest farmer il
the hands of professional sharrers. They
are absolutely without conjunction as
was shown by the answer of one of their
magnates, to an enquiry Of the New York
Chamber Of Commerce, that ''it is the
right Of railroad managers equally with
individuals, to contribute large sums to
control elections and influence legisla-
tion.'' And this corruption of the peo-
PIES representatives is done with money
extorted from the people themselves. And
when they cannot corrupt, they, SO bold
have they become, threaten. A year ago
the President Of the Philadelphia and
Reading R. R., said in an argument be-
fore the Committee on Commerce of the
National House of Representatives 81
have heard the counsel of the Pennsylvania
Railroad Company, standing in the Su-
preme Court of Pennsylvania, threaten
the Court with the displeasure of his
clients if it decided against them, and all
the blood in my body tingled with shame
at the humiliating spectacle" So sue
cessful have the monopolists been that no
step is now considered too bold by them.
1t has not been a week since, riding over
all legal opposition, the two great tele-
graph companies of the country consoll-
dated. Their property is worth about
fifteen millions of dollars, but their shares
were put up to eight hundred thousand,
making capital of eighty millions of dol
lars on which the people will have to pay
tine holders enormous dividends.
Such things do not pass before mems
eyes without exciting alarm. The people
may be slow and long suffering, but an
end to their patience must come some
slime. That end, if we mistake not, is
nearer at hand than those who have pro
voked it imagine. We see that mass
meeting has been held in New York, at
which the venerable Peter Cooper and
men like him we're present. That assem-
bly, adopted resolutions favoring laws COM
polling transportation companies to base
their charges upon cost and risk of service
instead of on 'swhat the traffic will GEAR"
laws to prevent pooling and combinations;
laws to prevent discrimination against any
citizen or class of citizens on public high
ways; laws making it the duty of public
law officers to defend a citizens rights
against injustice by powerful corpora
tions; stringent laws against bribery, in
GLIDING prohibition of free passes, and
the passage of laws by Congress enforcing
the provisions of the National Constitu-
tion to regulate commerce among the
several States and fixing maximum rate
to be charged by corporations for labor
service or the use of property, ct cetera.
If the monopoiies are wise they will take