The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-02-01
Thleves-and Robbers.

another is q thlet he who takes by violence
what belongs to another IS q robber. The
robber is properly supposed to disappear,
with other predatory animals before the pro-
gress of civilization but this is a superficial
Judgment. The force that unIawiully depFives
men of their property passes through many
transformations, but no force is more persistent.
Men are plundered nowadays in America far
more frequently and fagrantly than in Eng
land in the days of RoJin Hood there are men
among us beside whose Tobberles those of the
brigands of Italy and Greece and the Bedouins
of the desert are mere pleasantries. OF all
the triumphs ofinpeAtOn none ale more won
dertul than those by which the hard earned
gains of millions are forclDly conveyed to the
vaults of the roOber-Nrinces. No business is
more highly organized, more stfenuously pur
sued, more successfully managed than the
business of robbery, Yet, under all the elab-
Grafton of method, it is robbery nothing worse
nor better
The popularity of the modern method of
robbery is the employment, by the robbers, Of
the State, as their enforced agent and accom-
plice Sometimes, but not often, they organize
their clients and retainers INTO armed bands
and seize the coveted booty combining to have
the Stale confirm possession. But the force
on Which they prefer to rely is the quiet and
resstess force of the laws and the courts. By
artfully contriyed legal schemes they constIain
courts to do their bidding. The judges may
be unwilling instruments, yet they are bound
to sanction, impartiaIly, tile working Of legal
processes. But what shall we say when weak
or corrupt judges hasten to legaiize schemes
by Which great corporations are wrecked or
rehabilitated as suns the purposes oi The con-
spirators
Of the gigantic fortunes now held in this
country, not a few haye been gotten by legal
robbery Twenty cuts ago our millionaires
could be counted almost on the finger of four
hands. To-day their enumeration would carry
us into thousands. Since the new system of
robbery was perfected about twenty men have
amassed fortunes, which, taken together, ex-
coed the debt of the nation. Twenty years
ago many of these men were poor. Some of
the new mllionaires have grownrichh honestly,
but some OF them have led raid upon the
production and the accumulated wealth of the
country. SO Napole0nic III is Doldness and
success has been the method OF the master
robbers, that rich men OF better instincts have
been dazzled by it, and have adopted it openly
and independently or have lent indirect CO.
operation and social credit to the robber chiefs
ana have shared IN The plumber. Men OF hon
oraole regulations, WltU have been crowned
with pubic honors, have c0untenanced these
crimes as affording the surest way OF adding
" SHSAA NAiooOloif lOltttiGS vi ltu5 JHGuJ{,
or even thirty millions. Its by no means our
purpose TO throw discredit upon the pursuit OF
wealth. Honest production and the honest
gains OF wealth that is employed in the ser
vice OF society are the bulwuaks OF civilization
But we do say that examples OF private greed
are sapping the sources OF public honor; ex-
ampies OF gigantic and counlenanced robbery
are undermining the foundations OF public
morality and corupting the national char
acter
Our legislators have failed to see, or, for pri-
vate and corrupt reasons, have Winked at the |
tact, that The laws which were made to fit old |
fashioned ideas of honor and morality instead
of protecting the public are the strength and |
the protection OF dishonest men. The old code |
OF commercial honor is lost sight of in the |
complex transactions of stock jobbers, who |
remain out OF sight While their work is being |
done by conscienl eless factors by lawyers |
skilled in discovering loop-holes in the law |
and III juggling with the law; by Hobbies with |
money at the doors of legislatures; by paper |
shares and paper promises to pay; by cipher
messages and spies. and by abusing the tacil-
lilies OF stock exchanges
1t IS We'll that our legislators are making at |
least the show OF inquiring INTO The methods |
by which the public Is robbed in the interest |
OF stockholders, and they, in turn, are robbed |
by corporate managers; by which wholesale |
robbery Is cl0aked with legal forms of "con-
solldallon, reorganization ''receiverships,"
and 'Watered stocks" by which men may
safely consplre TO peryert the natural course
OF production and trade, aud rob the public
by the article OF corners by which man
is allowed to control rival or double systems
OF railways, and with impunity array one
against the other as suits his varying purpose,
thereby despoilmg the public with the ease of
q gambler DiaVlnp with marked cards
What haye the people to say about these
practices? They do not appear, as yet, to
have anything To say. The rUbber princes are |
held IN nigh esteem. They go about to the
colleges, some of them, and doctors of Law
and Doctors OF Divinity grovel at their feet;
II any Mordecai has refused TO bow down be-
fore til m, his name has not been reported |
Men whose riches have been increased by |
spoillng their nei9hbors are held up as shining /
examples for the imitation Of our youth So
long as teachers Of morality silently indorse |
such iniquilies, it is not to be expected that
the people will cry out against them. But the |
day IS sure to come when PLAIN men will |
clearly see that no one man can get with clean |
hands, III an ordinary Lifetime, a hundred mil |
hon dollars that such an enormous pile, so |
suddenly collected, must be loot, not profit. |
That will be day of reckoning, indeed, for |
the robbers and for the judges and for the leg |
lslators and the public teachers who have been |
their accomplices.
Meantime these facts are to be kept in mind |
that we have among us "a class OF men who, |
in their rapacity, are bent on enriching them
selves by torciby Selling the property of their
nelgaDors ana that they have learned how to |
use ior this purpose the organized force OF the |
state. Some means must .,e found OF putting |
a stop to them. Unless this be done speedily, /
The respect Tor law on which social order rests
will not long survive.