Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1882-04-27
MONOPOLY AND ITS FRUITS.
Address by Professor AdIer-The oil
Monopoly and the Builders Of Pala.
ces ArraIgned before the Court Of
Morality.

Cbickering Hall was crowed in every
part yesterday morning 70 listen TO Pro-
fessor Felix Adler's address upon mo.
nopoly. He spoke for q full hour, and
several Of the sentiments he uttered were
followed by hearty applause. He said:
The danger Of monopoly is real and
grave IL is all more grave because the
organs of public speech are too often ST.
lent with respect TO il, and its encroach-
ments are rarely made fully known.
When we perceive a fortune Of more
than 300, O00, 900 in the hands of a single
person we may well begin to ask wheth-
er such concentration Of wealth is likely
to endanger the safety Of the republic or
not. Let us consider a few Of the points
that are urged in favor of moDopolists.
Il is said that capital can only render its
most efficient service when It is massed
in large quantities. This is true. 1t is,
Furthermore. said that large capital must
be controlled BY a single mind; that there
must be captains of industry, men whose
genus. like that OF military commanders,
enables them to lead the armies of indus
try. This also is true. In former times
a commander actually owned his army:
had proprietary right in the service OF
his soldiers, and the head OF a country
was supposed to own the country. But
this view has long since been abandoned:
A distinction between Executive control
and ownership has long since been made
the army and in the State. So, too, time
will come when IL will be made in the do
main of industry; when there will be great
capital and great directors of capital, but
not, therefore. great capitalists; when the
captains of industry will content them
selves with the honor of direction, with
the charm that lies in the exercise OF good
authority and peculiarly with the ample
salaries which the general joint stock
companies of the future can well afford
to pay them. II is said that the possess
ION of great fortunes may be public ben
eft when the possessors use them for
large philanthropy; but as matter OF
fact we have little guarantee that they
will be so used, and in plain speech many
Of the wealthiest are at the same time
the meanest.
THE OIL MONOPOLY.
All this discussion would be of little
immediate significance if it were not for
the circumstance that the evil results
which monopoly has already produced,
and is even now producing in this coun-
try, have become so palpable and oppress-
i've. About a year ago an article was
published giving some account OF the
great monopoly which has laid its heavy
hand npon the oil regions OF New York
and Pennsylvania. and setting forth facts
which, taking them as reported Tin the
Atlantic Monthly must fill one with hor-
ror and indignation. 1t is there charged
that hundreds of families have been ru-
ined by this monopoly; that thousands
of persons, honestly seeking to earn the
means of subsistence, have been thrown
out of employment by it. A list of sew
enty.six reineries is mentioned, of which
twenty-one were driven out of the busi-
ness, thirty-one were dismantled, and the
remaining twenty-four were leased or
sought to be run in the interest of mo-
nopoly or to be shut down in order to
keep up the price artificially by this
means. All this would have been i'm
possible without the collusion of the
great railroads that are supposed to be
common carriers, serving the public at
large. It is stated that the great railroads
have returned millions on millions as re-
bate to oil monopoly, and that they fl
nally refused to cary oil for the compet-
itors of the monopoly at any rate, thus
seeking to shut off the competitors entire
ly from the market. And all this in a
free country, in which the laws are sup
POSED to be made and enforced equally
for the benefit of the whole people! The
late President Garfield once compared the
great corporation to the robher Barons of
the Middle Ages, who levied tribute on
the passers-by. The smile is bit too strik
ingly true. Take this one instance of the
many reported in the article to which
have referred where the agent of the mo-
nopoly entered the Office of one of the
few remaining competitors and gave him
to choose between this alternative: Eth
er to reduce production by one-half, to
pay O tribute to the monopoly and to sell
at the price it might fix, or to accept fl
guage of the robber who demands the
purse of the traveller or his life. 1t was
sheer brigandage, and nothing better.
IN LEAGUE WITH POLITICIANS.
But not only does the monopoly injure
these private interests, italso introduces
or perpetuates corruption in the manage
ment of our political affairs. The party
politician needs the means of the great
the great corporation needs
the vote of the party politician. Thus
the monopoly is served by another, and
they combine to injure the interests of
the people, their common prey. We are
told that the people of Pennsylvania in
vain sought redress for their grievances
from the Legislature, from the Courts,
from the Governor of their State. and
finally from the Congress of the United
States. Somehow the Legislature, the
Courts, the Governor and the Congress
refused to act, and people obtained not
what they sought. it possible for us
to divine the reason?
And now there is added another Cir
that makes monopoly dam
gerous It is the extravaganza and dis
play which are its fruits. Here in this
City of New York we witness, think
for the first time In the history of the
the building of magnificent
palaces by private citizens These pala-
ces are the fruit of monopoly. They are
as such--in the name of morality dare
to say--an eyesore and shame. l do
not believe that any of the truly educa-
ted and refined will envy this display of
nor those who diplay it.
They are not from any higher estimate
of human life enviable. And yet, when
we preceive this new and evil fashion of
palace building in our city, we can not
help recalling to mind a few things. We
can not help recalling to mind that there
Is no provision made for the chronic sick
IN our city; that there are hundreds of
poor and sick people who are
turned away from the door of every hos.
pital. and forced to die in neglect and
needless pain, because there is not wealth