The Bossier banner., 1883-02-01
Mon0p0iies.

lOE d space IRON earliest times
And the processes By which they
have acquired power and the man
ner of exercise possess striking
features of similarity. 1t is inter.
esting to note moreover, that the
rule of monopoly has never yet been
overthrOwn without struggle. The
gradual concentration of political
power in the hands of kings of
former times, the absolute sway
over the lives and property of the
people, the tyranical abuse of un.
checked authority, while it succeed.
ed for ages in holding men in seem
ing subsection, finally led to politi-
cal upheavals and revolutions, in
which the gun, sabre, block and
guillotine, played conspicuous and
bloody parts. 1t has taken a long
succession of years marked by SAN
culinary struggles to establish the
great fact that governments are con.
stituted for the benefit of the people
at large, and that a monopoly of po-
litical power in the hands of one, or
select few, is not to be tolerated.
In these latter days we find atten
tion directed to what may be termed
business mOnopolies. We are all
familiar with the struggle waged
for 80 many years by the House of
Commons against the East India
Company, which led to the acquisi-
tion by England of the Companyis
possions, since become the empire of
India. President Jackson's contest
with the bank ofthe United States
is a matter of history. It seems to
have been reserved for Us TO witness
a growth of monopoly hitherto un,
precedented, and an acquisition of
power which is destined, unless
checked, to prove dangerous to the
form of government framed by the
men of T6. 1t is not the part of
wisdom to gloss over perils, or to
disregard, for the sake Of present
benefit, the injury to the people
which win inevitably result from the
concentration of immense wealth
and consequent power in the hands
Of limited number of men, whose
great abilities renders them the more
dangerous. Recently there was a
gathering Of railroad managers in
the East, not for the purpose of ar
ranging a schedule of rates of
freights and fares that would prove
advantageous to the public at large,
while leaving fair profit TO the rail
road company, far from it. The OBJ
ject of the meeting was TO effect o
combination to control the carrying
trade of the country, and determine
upon the share of the spoils derived
from the levying of exorbitant rates,
to be divided between connecting
lines, and also the amount of subsidy
to be paid competing steamship or
railway lines. The absolute neces-
sity of railroads constitutes the
greatest danger; the people cannot
do without the swift means of trans.
portation afforded by the iron horse,
If they expect to keep pace with the
rest of the world. The days of the
coach and prairie schooner have pass
edaway,t he local millor the country
town no longer constitute the mar.
kets for the produce raised by our
farmers. We must reach the great
marts of the world as speedily as
the producers of other sections or
other nations, if we would receive
the full rec0mpense for our labor
The railway consequently is the
great power of the age, and for this
reason the combination of great
companies, the concentration of vast
wealth In the hands of q few, and
the absolute dictorial sway of the
so-called railroad kings in regulation
of freight tariff, the unchecked, I'm.
restrained power of controlling the
pa