Omaha daily bee., 1883-02-22
THE NATIONS DANGER.
The Railroad System of the United
Slater, Versus the American
Republic.
1BY A NEBRASKA FARMHR.l

This is not the only question effect
ing our people. But of all great poll
teal questions, for indeed 1t has be-
come one, IL is the very one that needs
the most immediate attention. IN.
like the political questions, 1t threat
ems directly the civil liberty of the
c%itizon, and conso quently jeopsrdiz 70
the American republic.
The American people should, as OF
old and by the eternal 1t w%ill-secure
to all without regard, life, liberty and
the purauit of happiness in the high
eat degree; and to retain 1t 40 such, IL
ID absolutely essential that no trium.
virate or syndicate OF capitalist gam.
blers shall be enabled to control, OIL.
,eotly or indirectly, the industries of
the people, for the reason that such a
control places the svariee Of the olti-
zen In opposition to and in oontac .
with lis civil duties.
Do the railroads effect the industries
of the peoplel Who dare answer,
Some men will sacrifice their avarice
to their civic duties; hey are true
patriots, but their number Ia too
ama)l, very much too small; and their
manly independence ofteptimes re-
suits In disaster to them and theirs.
This should not be made possible In
this land Of ours. But besides those
few men, there afo others. The mil
lions who toll day By day, year In and
year out, are at tho mercy of unscru.
pulous demagogues, who stop at moth
Ing to subvert the suffrage Of the peo-
pie to their greed, and this is an out
rage upon the civic rights of all, for
the reason that the American repub.
lie becomes q farce If the suffrage Of
the telling millions Is not placed above
the ambitious fancies of men who by
chance happen to be their employers.
It is more important to republican
institutions to safely guard the suf.
frage Of the weak than to strengthe q
the suffrage Of tho powerful, and. nc
true American will ever stand 'oy 9
system which has a tendeAcy tc
weaken the civic liberty Of tie maaset
for the pecuniary interests If the very
few.
1t Ia much more necessary for thu
maintenance Of Dur democratic repub
lie, that the toiling millions retair
their suffrage free and unrestricted
than to have the prestige or power O.
g few millionaire railroad kings prol.
titute that suffrage.
A prostituted suffrage, such as i,
wished, encouraged and forced BY
railroad or monopoly cappers, Ia the
one great down grade of republican
life, which leads direct to an abyss
where despotism rules absolute. Com
paratively 1t would not be an evil, sc
far as the American republic 10 con.
cerned, If half a dozen railroad kings
were disfranchised; but It would b.
the ruin of the American republic il
the suffeages of the toiling millioni
were at the mercy or command of
few interruptions capitalists. ST.
much for the difference between thu
suffragss Of the few aud d,,e suffrager
of the many.
Capital is avaricious and eowardly;
the ballot should be laSeral an6
brave. Therefore no political con-
cord can exist between the two.
It may, perhaps, seem an exaggera
tion to some to take this advanced
view of the situation, but really it Is
not, as the sequel will show. During
the last decade the power of corpora
lions has grown at such a rapid rats,
tho.s conduct 80 reckless and so de-
void Of p~a.s..otinm, and their will SO
despotic, that no eIe can gainsay Of
doubt the proposition. On. railroad
system has become a matter of stock
jobbing and robbery wild and fabu'
lous, a political problem instead of al
industrial enterprise, as 1t should be
AID the result will prove as disastrous
to capital as 1t has been to labor, and
more too, unless an end ia at once
brought to that speculative frenzy.
The fact Is that our railroad system
is far In advance of the records of the
country, not In carrying and producing
capacities, but "a to the relation O
our population and the vast extent o
our territory. Our agricultural CEN
ters haye by scheming legislators beer
hurled away at breakneck speed from
the manufacturing centers, and tn
result Is what we see, to.wit: Tha
the laborera In the manufacturing cen
} ters, as well al the laborers In the az
ricultural regions, are the victims o
those scheming men who have subsi
died national legislators for the en-
actment Of laws which not only mad
? the Godlike homestead law q sponso
i to the immense land subsidies whicl
. those scheming men have secured, bu
t which has also placed labor ct tn
: mercy of capital. Such a state of al
: fairs cannot exist much longer, ere Ia
3 Dor must, per force, assert It's equaiit
o with capital, and supremacy over az
cumulated and Ill gotten riches.
r Liquidation must furnish the rems
v dy, and speedily too, or q more MAZE
tic, but more terrible power, will.
|, 1t must be understood, now and foI
ever, that the fallsclous sophistry
railroad cappers, whether penny
liners or rsilroad superintendents, ca
9 not force the labor of our land |
chains. The laborers of this matte
refuse to meet railroad kings a the
o equals, in a political sense, beoaut
suoh an equality can only be debasin
If and ruinous to the American repul
lio. Patriots can aver meet patriot
i. but railroad kings have become t.
d rants, and between the patriot an
5 the tyrant Is the law! but II the la
q is set aside by the corruptive pow
of capital, beware for then the
d may be blood!
"a To be or not to be--without s
= ~. nD a.. .ot tha nua,f;on.