The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1882-11-30
MONOPOLY MUST GO.
The Alarm lsclls Are Ringing.
from The Chicago Express.

Our Government is no longer re-
public OF the people, bnt an oligarchy
OF corporations. Our statutes are no
longer enacted to carry ont the cx-
pressed objects Of the constitution. hut
to enable law-createl giants to build CO.
lossal structures upon the ruins Of man.
hood and individual enterprise. The
power Of wealth is almost irresistible,
and, when it once obtains the mastery
over manhood, its sonlless insensibili-
ties refuse to yield until its iron heel is
broken upon the wheel Of revolution.
Corporations to-day mononolize nearly
all the resources Of wealth, and what
they have not got their hands upon is
hardly worth monopolizing.
They as effectually monopolize tn,
soil of America as do the land barons of
England the soil OF Great Britain. Ire
land and Scotland. Five men can meet
in Wall street and, by determining what
shall be the price Of carriage. can fix
the prices Of all farm commodities at
the seaboard, and decree Just what pro-
portion of the annual crop shall be
theirs, and what proportion shall be
retained by the producer. The cnor-
nous profits which accrue to money and
transportation monopolies are simply
their annual rentals from the lands of
American farmers. Kansas will this
year pay land rent to Wall street
barons Of $3.0OO,O0o. Every other
Western State will pay proportionate
levy. In what are our farmers better
of than the Irish tenants?
Six men met at Long Branch and do
termined how much coal should he
taken out OF the mines OF Pennsylvania
and sent to market. To the dictation
Of those six men the price Of nations
fuel was left.
To-day two men determine and fix
the price Of our artificial light.
Thus by monopolizing either the pro-
dnctivc or the exchange agencies, less
than a score of men, in the older States,
control the price Of our light, our
food and our fuel. When these three
great elements OF health, life and
human happiness are at the Il citation
and mercy OF score of men, how far
are we from an oligarchy? Corpora
tions control not only the agencies and
sources Of wealth, but the national
and State Governments, and in MANY
instances our judiciary and courts Of
justice. 1t is not that legislators and
Judges are more corrupt, but such are
the conditions that men are comp.ll 4
TO barter what they have for the means
OF subsistence. Corporations, railroad,
money and other monopolies having
barricaded all the avenues Of wealth
and b, paths of subsistence, in order to
pass and CLEAN livelihood, men of all
classes are compelled to pay such toll
- is demanded.
To be elected, national and State Of
ficials must swear allegiance to the oil
garchy. Men pinched by poverty, with
wives and children ut home suffering
for the comforts Of life, are asked to
barter their votes TO the highest bidder
when they will command better price
than their labor. But this cannot al
ways continue. The end must come
sooner or later. Manhood confirm ilv
borne down will at last touch bottom.
and when that time shall come the fires
which blazed from Pittsburgh to Chic go
in 1877 will be clipsed by the volcanic
glare OF the most gigantic revolution
The world ever witnessed.
But" says one, 1.-The snbstratum Of
American society is so much better off
and more happy than the laboring Pop
ulation Of Europe. there is no danger Of
revolution" BE not deceived. Com
tent is not the result Of conditions. nor
are those sorest oppre ssed necessarily
the first to rise in rebellion against their
oppressors.
II ignorance il bliss, knowledge and
wisdom may promote misery and dis
content.
The experience and traditions of pop
ular liberty and equality will never al
low the American people to sink to the
leve' Of European serfdom. They are
jealous OF their liberties, conscious Of
their rights, and brave enough to rcpel
invasion whenever they become satisfied
that they are in danger. And that time
is ut hand. The alarm bells are ringing
ont from the shops and mines OF the
East, and the long roll is echoing back
from the prairies OF the Northwest and
the grain fields Of the Mississippi and
Missouri valleys.
The feet Of labor are being firmly
planted on the bedrock Of organization,
and refusing to sink lower under the
| oppressor's burden. Labor has raised
it's strong arm against its taskmaster
and sent out the irrevocable decree that
MONOPOLY MUST Co.
TARIFF REFORM.