Omaha daily bee., 1883-03-01

the people from extortion py railroad
monopolies.
IT is suggested that the missing
"No. 1" is Tom Collins.
The Anti-MonopoIy Movement.
Cleveland Lea Ter.
The nti.monopoly excitement Is
causing no little uneasiness In some of
the eastern cities, and papers that
have In che past given the subject
attention but to rieicule 1t are now
devoting to 1t their serious thoughts.
The New York Commercial Bulletin,
In q long article headed SIS 1t an Ir.
repressible Conflict" refers to several
recent events in thi, connection which
it regards as Of %portentous Importance.
In New jersey, says our contemporary,
the restraints of legislation are In
voked upon railroad corporations with.
out any particular regard for judicial
limitations or constitutional r~estric-
tions." The speeches recently made
in the New Jersey legislature against
the railroads we're intensely bitter and
they were received with applause
quite unusual In legislative bodies.
One speaker predicted innumerabIe
ills '1f the state did not put Its foot
upon this serpent's egg before the
venomous brood was Matched" A
leading senator, in speaking of wealthy
corporations, said:
"We have nourished these powers
in their childhood, but these corpora
lions have turned upon and are op.
pressing the people who fostered them
to manhood. They have attempted
to enrich themselves, yea, have on.
rlched themselves, by obtaining,
through questionable means, exemp.
lions which enrich them and impover.
ish the people, and II these exemp.
tions remain In the statute book,
they will continue to be q menace to
liberty and destroy the fortunes Of the
individual who must pay all the taxes.
This atate enjoys the reputation Ct be.
ing owned body and soul by corpora
tious and of being run by them. 1t Ia
a byword in the mouths cf all men.
Fer forty years 1t has been so. These
grasping companies have corrupted the
fountains of government, have elect.
ed, owned and venalized our legisla'
lures, aud have bought exemptions az
though they were marketable commo
dities."
It Is said that the above took the
senate by Storm and was received with
''thunders of applause, which shook
the chamber" "The railroad com.
panies," says the Commercial Bulle-
tin, "were voted down, and so far as
this branch Of the Legislature had the
power, they found themselves, In a
moment, az 1t wefe, dlslocated from
a position in which they had been se-
curely entrenohsd For a period of thirty
years." We quote from the New
York Bulletin on this subject.
"While these events ars'in progress
In New Jersey, q similar conflict Of
opinion and interest is In progress in
our own state, and with correspond.
ing results. The swift processes
whereby the elevated railroad five cent
fare bill was pushed through the as.
sembly the other day, with the per
emptory denial of an appeal from the
corporation for further time In which
to prepare their demurrer, followed
BY . like denial, subsequently from the
senate committee Oh railroads, to whom
they next carried their remonstrance
we say these are unmlstakable man
ifestations of the popular temper
which It would be folly to mlslnter'
pref or belittle. The antecedent
creation of q board CT railway
commissioners to watch wei the In.
terest of the people, together with q
refusal to permit q state governor tc
name these commissioners, on the bare
fu,picion that he was friendly to the
corporations, are Incidents not less
significant and not less illustrative Of
the resentfal spirit which corporate
greed and corporate aggression are
evoking, and which threatens to be-
come ere long an exceedingly difficult
element to manage. Pennsylvania 4,
following, as if instinctively, in the
same wake, as we read In Harrisburg
kilograms only yesterday, that "a bill
of the most sweeping character hal
been introduced in the senate; il
practically declares war on all railway
within the state, and, if enacted, il
will put those great corporations under
the popular thumb.
The Century Magazine, In its las
number, has an essay on this subjec
from which We quote q few lines:
1--WE are glad that u legislator
are making at least a show of ipquir
log into the method by which thu
public is robbed In the interest o.
stockholders, and they In turn are
robbed by corporate managers; b!
which wholesale robbery Is cloaked By
legal forms of consolidation, 'reor
ganization,' 'recsiverships,' ant
'watersd stocks by which q man l
allowed to control rival or double rail
way systems, and with impunity ARA!
one against the other, as suits hi
varying purpose, thereby despoilini
the public with the ease of a gambleI
who plays with marked cards"
The Presidents Burden.
De'roi, Free Press
No n breads an adjournment o