Weekly Chillicothe crisis., 1883-05-31

subordinate and tributary TO them
The great railroad king alone can fight
the great railroad king, and control OF
:, the railroad system not only gives the
d railroad kings control Of branch roads,
or express companies, stage lines,
s. steamship lines, etc, not only enables
them TO make or unmakc the smaller
towns, but it enables them to "siHe the
pile OF any one who develops bust
| ness requiring transportation, and to
, transfer to their own pockets any sur
/, plus beyond what, after careful consid-
;, GRAFTON, they think ho ought to make.
, The rise of these great powers is like
:, the growth of agreat tree, which draws
= the moisture from the surrounding soil,
/ and stunts all other vegetation by its
shade.
So, too, does concentration operate
in all businesses. The bic mill crushcs
out the little mill. The big store uu-
delsclls the little store till it gets rid of
its competition. On the top of the
building of the American News conf
pany on Chambers street, New York,
stands ncwsboy carved in marble. 1t
was in this way that the managing man
of this enormous combination BEGAN.
But what was at first the union Of Il
few sellers of newspapers for mutual
convenience has become such Il power
ful concern, that combination, after
combination, backed with capital and
managed with skill, have gone down
in the attempt TO break on share its
monopoly The newsboy may look
upon the statue that crowns the build
ing as the young Englishman who goes
to India 10 take Il clerical position may
look upon the statue of Lord Give. 1t
is lesson and an incentive, to he sure;
but just rs Gives victories by establish
ing the English dominion in India.
made such career us his impossible
again, so does the success Of such con-
cCrn as the American News Company
make II impossible for men Of small
capital to establish another such bust
ness.
So may the printer look upon The
Tribune building, for the newspaper
writer upon that of The Herald. A
Greeley or Il Bennett could no longer
hope to establish u first class paper in
New York, or TO get control of one al
ready established, unless he got Jay
Gould to back him. Even in our new
est cities the day has gone by when a
few printers and u few writers could
combine and start II daily paper. To
say nothing of the close corporation of
the Associated Press, the newspaper
has become an immense machine. re-
quiring large capital, and for the most
part il is written by literary operatives,
who must write to suit the capitalists
who control il.
In the past generation 4 full riggcd
lndiamau would be considered u very
large vessel if she registered 800 tons.
Now we are building cOasting schOOnrrs
of l,OJ0 tons. II is not long since Our
first class ocean steamers were of L.
200 or l,jOO tons. Now the crack
steamers ON the transatlantic route
are rising TO 10000 tons. Not merely
are there relatively fewer captains, but
the chances of modern captains are
not as good. The captain of Il great
transatlantic steamer recently told
me that he got no more pay now than
when rs 4 young m@n he commanded Il
small sailing.ship. Nor is there now
any ''primagc,' any "vcnturc,n any
chance of becoming owner rs well ?
captain.
Un1cr any condition of things short
OF Il rigid system of hereditary caste,
there will, of course, always be men |
who, by force Of great abilities and hap
py accidents, win thcir way from poy-
crty to wealth, and from low to high
position; but the strong tendencies of |
the times are TO make this more and
mOlC difficult. Jay Gould is probably |
a smarter man than the present Van
dcrblt Had they started even, Van
dcrbiIt might now have been pcddling
mouse traps or working for II paltry
salary as some ones clerk, while Jay
Gould counted his scores of millions.
But with all his money making ability
Gould cannot overcome the start given
by the enormous acquisitions ofthe first
Vanderbilt. And then the sons Of the
present great money makers take their
places, the chances of rivalry on the
part Of anybody clsc's sons will be in
lintcly less.
All the tendencies of the present are
not merely TO the concentration, but
to the pcrpetuation, of great fortunes
There are no crusade; the habits of
the rich arc not to that mad cNtrava-
gancc that could dIssipatc such fortunes;
high play has gone out Of fashion, and
the gambling of the stock exchange is
more dangerous TO short than long
purses. Stocks, bonds, mortgages
safe deposit and trust companies aid
the retention of large wealth, and all
modern agencies enlarge the sphere of
its successful employment
On the other hand the mere laborer
is becoming more helpless, and small
capitals find it more and more difficult
to compete with larger capitals. The
greater railroad companies are swal-
lowing up the lesser railroad companies;
one great telegraph company already
controls the telegraph wires of the con
tinent and TO save the cost of buying
up more patents, pays inventors
not to invent. As in England,
nearly all tho pubIic-houses have
passed into the hands of the great
brewers, so, here, large firms start
young men, taking chattle mortgages
on their stock. As in Great Britain,
the supplying of railway passengers
with eatables and drinkableS has passed
into the hands of n single great com.
pany, and in Paris one large rostaura-
teur, with numerous branches, is TAX
ing the trade of the smaller ones, so
here the boys who sell papers and pea
nuts on the trains are employees of COM {
panies, and bundles are carried and er- ;
ranos run by corporations.
| am not denying that this tendency {
is largely to subserve public convcn- {
fence. am merely pointing out that
it exists. A great change is going on I
all over the civilized world similar to I
that infeudation which, in Europe, dur |
ing the rise of the feudal system, con- '
verted free proprietors into vassals, c
and brought all society into subordina- I
ton to an hierarchy of wealth and Q
privilege. Whether the new aristoc-
racy is hereditary or not makes little $
difference. Chance alone may deter 9
mine who will get the few prizes of S
lottery Rut H. is not tho lnss cnrt ain r