Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1881-03-17

ted States by hundreds of millions.
They may, at their own will and pleas
ure, disarrange and embarrass business,
|depress one city or locality and build up
another. enrich one individual and ruin
his competitors, and. when complaint is
made, eoony reply. What are you going
to do about itf"' Af4Fft M,
The men who wisld this stnpendous
corporate power have grown wiser with
The passage of events. Hitherto they
have teen spparehtls content to absorb
and control the great industrial and ma
terial interests of the couptry, by mo
nopoly of the channels and the imple-
ments of transportation, but recently
new and alarming conditions are pre-
lsented. They know full well thatif the
ipeople can freely communicate With
each other. they viii see the dangerous
tendencies Of this power, and organize
to restrain it. Hence, in order to lay
deep and sure foundations for the main
tenance of their power, and to defeat the
efforts of the people to curb it, they
haseanow seized upon the channels of
thought. Look at it a momest One
man, who controls more miles Of rail-
road than any other in the world, and
who is almost daily adding new lines to
his colossal combination, now also con-
trolls the telegraphic system of the Uni
tied States and Canada, and is reaching
under the sea 10 grasp that Of Europe.
Net content with all this and determined
that no instrument of commercial and
political power shall elude his grasp, he
is (as learn also the owner of the AS
sociated Press, through the agency of
which the news is distributed over the
entire country. He may at any time Sc
cure the fourth papet which will give
him absolute control over the news
which tbs people shall receive. When
that takes place what will be our condi-
tion? What chance will sthe people
then have to resist the embellishments
Of corporate powera- How shalf- they
even communicate with each other on
the subject? What opportunity win
there be for a fair discussion of these
Questions The daily news, supplied to
the myriad Of newspapers, must first
Ipass under the supervision of one or two
men, who represent the Associated
Press, and who are appointed by its
owner. They will have full authority,
and doubtless will be required, to sup
press, add to or color the information
thus sent out as may best serve the in
terest, the ambition, or the malice of the
man to whom they owe their places.
Hence the twenty millions of people
who read their morning papers at their
tbteakfsst tables will daily receive just
4such impressions as this enc man shall
tchoose to give them. Public men and
affairs, and business interests and move
nents, win beseen in the eoloring which
IshaH best serve his interests The legis-
Iator who shall then be bold enough to
| raise his voice in behalf -7of the people.
or to strikes SbteSPin their, defence. will
be misrepresented or denied a hearing
before bis own constituents. The Bnsa-
ness man who shall venture ts question
the Divine right of corporate rule will
be crushed, and no telegraph wire or as
sociated press will voice his woe or de-
mand redress from his prosecutors. The
people will find themselves unable to
communicate with each other except by
the gracious will and pleasure of the
autecrat of the wires. Should special
correspondents untertake to supply in
formation not deemed expedient to be
sent by the Associated Press, they will
find that the owner of the wires can
supply ready remedy for such pre-
sumption.
The channels of thought and the chan
nels of commerce thus owned and con-
trslled by one. man., or, by a few, men,
what is to restrain corporate power, or
to fix limit to its exactions upon the
-people9 What is then to hinder these
men from depressing or initiating the
value of all kinds of property to suit
their caprice or avarice, and thereby
gathering into their own Golfers the
wealth of the nationp Where is the
limit to such q power as this2 What
shall be said Of the spirit of q few peo-
pie who will submit without a protest
to, be thus bound hand and foot ?4 have
hinted at some of the dangers which
menace our future. Ii it be TO correct
these evils, and to. avert these dangers
your league has been organized, it will
receive thebenedietionsof the people.
The practical question is, "what are
you going to,do aboutit?" Ts my mind
the answeris easy. This organized gil
gantic corporate power can only be kept
under proper restraint by the organized
power of the people, expressed through
their State and NationalS governments.
That such governmental power exists
and may be properly exercised l have
not particle OF. doubt. 1t is plainly
written in our constitutions, and has
been unequivocally declared by the Su-
preme Court of the United States.
The limits of this letter will not per-
NIT discussion of the constitutional
question nor adetailed statement of the
practical'rcmedy for existing evil. l may
however, venture to suggest that, in my
Judgment, the first and most important
duty of Congress is to emancipate the
people from the supervision and control
of corporate monopoly, by the establish
ment of system of postal telegraphy,
whereby they shall be afforded a safe,
sure and cheap method of communica-
tion with each other There is no doubt
of the economy and success of such a