The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1883-12-01
uoNOPOLisTs.

Yes my sou, monopoly is a bad thing.
and am glad to see the people Of this
c,r q fsanizigg themselves agains.
the monopoli,s that are crushing the life
out Of honest and worthy competition.
There are several monopolies in this atilic.
tel land. Some OF them are worth mil.
lions. All OF them want to be worth
twice as much as that Vanderbilt and
Could are famous monopolists. The
Western Union Telegraph Company is a
gigantic monopoly. And there are sew
eral other monopolies.
When you employ three hundred,
or thirty, OF ten workmen and pay them
with your money, and committee waits
on you to tell you that ii you do not dis
charge certain workman, good me-
chanic, sober, quiet faithful, whose only
fault is that he belongs to no labor organ
izatiOn, the other two hundred and nine
ty-nine, or twenty.nine, or nine will
quit work in the midst of your busy
season; you are in the clutches of mo-
nOpoly-a monopoly as grinding, grasp
ing and cruel in its way as the Western
Union. 1t is called trade union, but it
is a monopoly.
When committee Of workmen come
to you and say that. as you have a great
many contracts half-fnished, and as men
are scarce and hard to get,fand as they
have you on the hip, they will strike in
ten minutes unless you allow them to set
their own pay at the highest figures,
then that is a monopoly that acts just
precisely as the Western Union does
when it absorbs rival line and tells you
that as there is only one Office in this
town they will raise the rate little.
When you tell workman that times
are dull and the market stagnant, and
that you don't need them anyhow and
they can work On half-timc or none, then
you are the monopoly-that is, you are
the striker. A monopoly is chronic
striker. 1t is always watching chance
to pinch you and squeeze just little
more work or money out of you for its
own benefit.
The tramp who airs his rags at your
kitchen door while his breakfast Is pre-
pairing is monopolists. He knows that
you hate him and don't want to feed him,
but he knows that you are afraid, If you
don't feed him, he will set fire to the
stable some night. So he makes you
give him breakfast dor nothing.
The honest farmer who holds back hi,
wheat until he can squeeze 81 40 pei
bushel out Of you for it, not because it il
better wheat than you got for 90 cents
but because wheat is 80 scarce, is as meal
monopolist as there is in the lot. ia,
Gould couldn't give him any points.
The man who charges 40 cents poun'
for very ordinary butter just because tn
roads are so bad the people who are sell
ing their butter in the villages for 2
cents can't get to the city with it, he, toe
is monopolist. When you buy jar Q
lard of him, poke into it with ramro
to feel for a bowlder.
And the lady who burns steak an
chips china for you at SO week, is
monopolist. You spent six weeks lool
ing Tor her. she stays with you tw
weeks, breaks IS worth of china an
glass; loses 81 worth OF spoons and fork
collects Sc for wages and goes of, wit
twenty.four hours warning, to a plac
that offers her more china to smash an
~ 90 week for smashing it,
You see, my son, in looking about ft
monopoly to denounce or demolish, OF
naturally envious disposition leads us [
assail the monopolics that are more for
unate than our own. We clamor again
Vanderbilt and Jay Gould, and Wester
Union and fail to observe the small,
monopolies, that differ from the gre.
ones, not in spirit, but only in wealt
and power. r. j. Burdette.