The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1881-08-25
The Coming StrugGie.---The
People Against Monopoly.
STATE Convention Of Anti
MonopoIists in New
York.

The first gun of a campaign that may
at ten years and grow hotter and wider
S!th each changing season, was hired
A. Utica last week 1t Is probably not
known to our readers that during the
past wear Anti Monopoly AMI Civil lie
form Associations have been organized
IN many of the Northern States, partlc
ularly In New York. where the grinding
ion of the Railroad, C.na!, Iele-
graph, and other Monopolies has be
come intolerable. Southerners- AS yet.
have only a faint conception oil the pow
err aud greed Of these corporate VAIN
pvres. which were fed and pampered
while small and harmless, but which
have now out-grown control, and arr
u~Dgratefully sucking the very lite b'ooi
Of e people who reared them. The
public have submitted TO be bed WIKI
surprising patience but 1t appears iha
Patience under Robbery, at length. i
losing lis Virtue. There is not a doubt
hat We are on the eve Of a gigantic
struggle to chain the monster. Near
ole hundred AIT Monopoly AssociA
tons have organized IN Nes OK dur
my the past few mouths. ms mem
DerS are composed u All political pa
ties; but are chiefly Repub lcaa, b.
cauSe that party Is In power IN Hea!lt
all the Northern States, and any purely
Democratic movement would be SET
d W. 10 party intrigue, and utterly iait
effec
A state conference Of delegates from
the principal Associations met At ltica
ast week a, above mtlmated. Nam
prominent gentlemen. such as hon. l..
+ CnIttenden, Henry Nichols. h 4
+. b. Thurber, Esq (who are fFe>i
dent Secretary. aud Treasurer, respcc
lively Of the National AMI Monopoly
League) Col. F. A. Conkllng (brothci
Of y, Y State Grange, Gen Crooks,
Josiah j. White. DIR. John +. Henry
President Manning, of the Batftlo
Board of Trade, Ex-senator Donneii,
Gen. 4. s. Diven, ct IT. Among the
letters read was one from hon. l|1oratio
Seymour saying he was too feeble to
attend, but-'hope to aid your move
ment during the course of the season.
Mr.. Chittenden. well known as tx
Register of the Treasury, his auto
graph may be seen on many bank bills,
or treasury notes, or coud be seen If one
only had the bills was chosen temper
airy chairman, aud made u neat speech
which wa. loudly ~applauded. He said
An enemy has been born and come
10 maturity in our republic which is
dealing heavy blows against its life. 1t
is the united power of competitions
Once they worked singly and by secret
corrupted the people. They
are grown bolder now. and believe
themselves invincible. They have en-
riched their followers with spoils. They
have brought town, city, and State un-
der their dominion, aud, having cap
luced most of the out works, are now
preparing for the final assault upon the
citadels of u Government the State
Legislatures, Congress, and the Su-
preme Court Of the United States. 1t
would be strange indeed if the people
were not alarmed, If the country was
not more profoundly stirred by the bold
aggressions Of corporations than ever
before. In the presence of a national
the people have hoped that
there would be some limit to these ag-
gresslons, but every new II gives rise
to another, until it ha. become a Ger
that they will not cease short Of
absolute control of the Government.
This tact has impressed itself on the
of all thoughtful men, of all citi
zens not held to corporations by bonds
of personal interest, and these citizens
have decided, with a unanimity almost
unknown before in this country, without
OF party or creed, that these
must cease that corpora
the creature OF the State, shall be
controlled by the State
Gen a. 5. Owen, permanent chair
man, made a vigorous speech which
brought down the house repeatedly.
other things, he remarked:
The railroad companies are formed
by interpretations They were granted
charters on condition that they were to
and operate railroads, and. as
a reward, they were to receive a liberal
compensation by way of a tax on the
commercial interests Of the country,
uses them for transportation in
the relation OF servant of the people to
construct highways for the peoples use
and accommodation; the obligation un-
lertaken by the people was a liberal
compensation for the money they In
vested and for the time and service they
To the management OF the cor
p~oratlons. Tins Is the true relation be-
Lween the people and the railroads.
They are our servants. They now seek
to reverse the relation. and claim that
Of being our scryauts they shall
be Oul masters.
The convention drafted a lengthy al
lress to the public, setting forth the
grievances that are sought to be re lress
ed. Here Is an extract
when charters to construct railroads
we're first granted by the people, it was
the understanding hat all advan-
beyond 10 per cen upon the &C
tual capital invested were to accrue to
inc public, ard as the promoters Of
these enterprises usually had other in
,erests which benefited largely by the
invention of steam roads. their con
,truction proceeded yer. rapidly. Not
however, with all these ad
santayes, and IN order to absorb the
benefits resulting from new inventions
improvements which tended to
reduce the cost of steam trans
oOrtatlon, they created fictitious values
Tor these roads and maintained rates
nigh enough to pay dividends upon
-hese inflated values, and thus cheated
he public out OF a large portion of the
benefits Of these improved highways.
The result has been TO suddenly accu
Iuulate enormous wealth for the man
ayers Of these reads. As an illustration
If this, in 1867 anu 1868, S47, 900, O0U