The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1882-03-30
DOWN WITH MONOPOLY.

AA0us V0AA4S . Az AOolAU = ' Woo 0s1ASN ~ r
to respond to the toast, "Opposition to
Monopolies, aud spoke as follows:
HON. JAMES \. DooLlrrLE IN REPLY TO THE
TOAST, " OPPOSITION TO MoNoPoLIEs."
Mr. President and Gentlemen:
| can respond to that toast with oil my heart,
for "Down with Monopoly is the battle cry Of
freedom. II always has been Il always will
be. The struggle against monopoly-the strug-
gle for common right against special privilege
lis no new warfare. II u % old % our Gov
eminent; aye, older. In truth, our Govern
ment Is hut the outgrowth Of that struggle
struggle which began moro than 1900 years
ago. AT time when Rome held the world in
chains; when the high priests scribes and
pharisees claimed al the religion, learning.
wealth and responsibility Of the Jews. car
penters son. Jesus OF Nazareth, began war
sentence Of seven words he laid the u at tho
root OF it: "Thou shalt love thy nefghbor -
myself" Ever since he uttered 1t, it has been
ringing through the ages. Il 10 ringing yet
It has changed and Is changing, hour
by hour. the civilization and social
Those words, no simple OF themselves, were
moro powerful than armies They reached and
inspired the souls Of men, setting them on 6rc.
The spiritual fires thus kindled have burned
more and more brightly through al these cent
uries. The conflict Of right against wrong, Of
equality against caste. OF freedom against
slavery, went right on in every form and every
where; in church and In state, in cabinet and
assembly, in cloister and university, - we'll %
upon many . bloody field Of battle. In the
midst OF crumbling empires and rising and fall
ing kingdoms the irrepressible conflict went
right on from age to age.
Though progress In . single generation Vas
Glow, still there was progress. Though often
defeated, humanity gained strength With every
struggle, and ct the end Of sixteen centuries
great progress, great victories great triuinphs
bad been achieved. But there seemed not to
b. sufficient room in the Old World for battle
field upon which the great and browning vic
tory for mankind could be won. In tho full
nesn Of time, and in the pre- violence Of God,
Cd World to the New, which. 1t would seem,
WAS reserved for that very rirpose
for the holy experiment Of Government op.
posed to al m0nopoly-its corner stone
the equal rights Of man. By that
change, here to this New World. humanity
gained the vantage ground This great repub-
llcthe ret ublic OF tho ages-the outgrowth OF
this struggle Of the centuries, appeared Ia
1776. Our Declaration Of Independence, the
constitution OF the United States, and Of every
State, in theory, are al right; arc III pledged
in favor Of liberty, equality, fraternity-A
pledged against monopoly and special priv
iege. And vet, In spits Of oil These, there have
gigantic monopoles thu ~ord has ever seen in
the form Of railway and other moneysd corpor.
atione.
For example: The Standard Oil Company
the extent OF whose affairs has just como q
light, started in 1868 with only q, OO0, 90 capt
tal. In 1880. in twelve years only, il divided in
profits over SIG, 900 600, and increased its capi
tai from l.0OO, 900 to eos, COZ, 900. II nov
holds an absolute monopoly OF one OF the -four
great staples Of export. To enable il to grasp
sucn vast sums and to break down all it, com.
petitorr, the four trunk-line railways from
west to east paid back to il, in rebates on
transportation. SO, Is. 2i8 within period OF
kings did for this corporation thcy can do fol-
another. and give TO it monopoly Of some
other great staple.
While our people have been fighting for the
Union, and TO pnt down one species Of monopo-
" in the form OF negro slavery, there has sud
denly grown up in this republic an empire Of
coniederated railways an empire Of gigantic,
and, - they claim, OF irresponsible powers,
reaching from the Atlantic TO the Pacific, which
threatens to revoluiionize the Government and
70 enslave us all-East and West, North and
South, white and black. The powers Of that
empire are 10 great and oyershadowing that .
distinguished Senator, late Secretary OF tine
Treasury WAS forced to say:
"There are in this country four men who.
in the matter OF taxation. possess and fire.
quently exercise powers which neither Congress
nor any State Legislature would dare to exert :
powers which, II exercised in Great Britain,
would shake the throne to its very foundation
These men NAV 1t any time, and for any
reason satisfactory to themselves, by stroke OF
tho ft,.. ne kkn
United States by hundreds OF millions. They
may at their own will aud pleasure disarrange
and embarrass business, depress one city or
locality, and build up another, enrich one in
diyldual and ruin his competitors"
These coafederated railways not only tax the
commerce. Of the people "all i will bear to
enrich thu mselves, but spend large sums to
control elections and influence legislation. In
1868 one railway alone spent more than & 4, 0OO,-
600 for that pu' pose. and charged it to the
sInd,a-rnbber account OF 'sextra and legal
services (Hepburne Rep. Watson's testi-
They not only seem to control elections Ard
judiciary appointments, but to control improp-
efly judicial decisions. man Of standing,
before the Committee OF Commerce Of Wash.
ingtOn, in January. 1880, said that he had
heard the counsel OF one great railway, IN the
Supreme Court Of one Of the old thirteen States,
threaten the court with the displeasure OF hi.
clients II 1t decided against them. We do mol
wonder that he added "All the blood in nv
body ting!ed with shame at the humiliatn.
spectacle"
Mr.. President and gentlemen, the war for ID,
Union is over. Negro slavery is gone forever
The foolish attempt to subject the heart, brail
and manhood Of the South to the ignorance o
freedmen, and to the cnpidity Of carpet-baa
punderers, is at length abandoned. But let n
not be deceived. The struggle against monop
<NI~- enfvN ~AAl
only taking on new form. The great Ant
browning struggle in the trial Of mans capacit
for sels-government il vet TO come. Asl see it
and feel it coming, and that it may be yer,
near. how wish, sometimes, that youth wonl,
come agsia. Above all, how do wish we ha,
another Gen. Jackson to lead us in that struggle
Look where we will, the dangers OF mOnOpOl
threaten ns on every hand. The monopoly o
coolie immigration by the Chinese Six Compa
ncs, with all its attendant vices and degrade
ton. threatens California and al the Paci6
States. POlygamy, another Asiatic institution
founded upon the slavery and monopoly o
women, holds Utah, and threatens nil th
great questions, and leaving no duty undone I.
solve them, let Us not forget that the grea
question Of the hour Is this: Shall corporation
be our servants or our masters? Shall We
ourselves, be freemen or slaves? /. this
Government oil the people, by the people an
Aot Sss0 tCOk>Vs VI - SulS oUScIuiucul VI COZ
porations, BY the managers " corporations, /
rob the people aud enrich themselves ?
have not time, and this ia not the occaaio,
to say moro than this: trust We may be abl
to put forward great, earnest and patriot
man--evcry inch . man who. like Gen Jacl
con, may lead and INSPIRE Us IN tho cOmini
struggle inspire Ms to do nothing which 10 no
clearly right. and to submit to nothing wrong
and, when the battle wakes hot, to take goo
care to destroy nothing great, or good, or use
ful, but with firm purpose and steady hand I
overcome, TO restrain, and to remove al Il
evlls Of monopoly TO teach al corporation
hat they ~ creatures, are not above their ere
ators that they were made by the people, an
are bound to serve the people upon eqn Il term
and for reasonable compensation that raj
wSys. espccisly, are public highways and Ar
common carriers for the people, And not thei
masters nor their oppressors.
conclude my response 10 this toast in u
words Of Gen. Jackson to the Senate, near
fifty years ago, aud mono more eloquent are
bt found IN the English tongue: II would PEI
s,iade my countr,men, 80 FAR "a may, that
i not in splendid Government, supported
powerful monopo!ies and aristocratical estal
lishments, that they viii ind happiness, or the
liberties protection, but In PLAIN system, vol
Of pomp, protecting oil and granting fayoru