Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-10-11

railroad monopoly and aQgre5alonJ are
mainly OF our own making. States
and communities have willingly and
thoughtlessly conferred these great
powers upon railways. and they must
seek 70 reetJfy their 0pcH errors"
TIA. does not sa, that an unearued
lard grant. or any other so called vested
right OF tyrannical corporation. ia un-
changeable. immutable and eternal.
Does 1t! Again he speaks:
That YOU may aot neglect this broad
er view of the question, will quote some
sentences written by Chas. Fourier sixty
six years ago-nearly quarter Of a cen
tury before the fire of the first steam 10
connective was lighted. After tracing the
course of civilization through its sew
eral phases of development. and de-
o!ariRe that it WAS then (lS08) past the
middle Of its third phase, and moving
iSsard its own destruction, he said:
Civilization is tending toward the
foorth phase by the influence of joint
stock corporations, which, under the
cover of certain legal privileges, dictate
terms and conditions to labor, and ar
bitrarily exciuds fyam it whOmsoever
they please. These corporations con.
tain the germ of vsst fendai coalition,
Shish is destined sson to invade the
whole Industrial and financial system,
and give birsh to commercial feudal
ism. These corporations will
become dangerous and lead to new out
breaks and eOnvulsious only by being
extended TO the whols commercial aud
industrial system. The event is not far
distant, and will oe brought about all
the more easily frem the fact that il is
not apprehended. Extremes
meet; and the greater the extsnt to
which anarehioa' som petition IL carried,
the nearer Ia ths app oaeh tc tho reign
OF HnfUersdt DsoIsoPg y, which is the op-
posite excess. Ii is the fate of civiliz-
alton to be always balancing between
extremes. Circumstances are tending
toward the organization Of the CONNER
cial classes into federal companies, or
affiliated monopolies, which. operating
in conjunction with the great landed
interest, will reduce the middle and
laboring classes to a state of CONNER
cial vassalaRe, and, by the influence of
combined action, will become master of
the productive industry Of entire ma
tions. The small operators will be forced
indirectly TO dispose of their products
according to the wishes of these monop-
olists; they will become mere agents for
the coalition. We shall thus see the re.
appearance of feudalism in an inverse
order. founded on mercantile leagues,
and answering to the baronial leagues
of the Middle Ages. Everything ia con-
ourring to produce this result.
We are marching with rapid strides to-
ward commercial feudalism. and to the
fourth phase of civilization =
Recommendations h. al Al
says: "These declarations read some-
thing like prophecy, so far as they re-
late to the effects of combined corpora
tions."
Again he alludes to the power of the
corporations aud the dangers of the
strpggie ia the following words:
"in most States each legislature has
narYe sed and abridged the powers of
its sacaessors, and enlarged the powers
of the corporations; and thess, by the
strong grip Of the law, and in tre name
of private property and vtsted rights,
hold fast all they have received. BY
these means: not only the corporations.
but the vast railroad and telegraph sys-
TENS have virtually passed from the
control of the States. Ii is plainly
evident, from the experience of the lass
few years. that the efforts OF the st ties
10 regulate their railroads have amount
ed tc but little more than feeble annoy
ance. In many cases the corporations
have treated such efforts an impertineut
intermedaling, and have brushed away
legislative restrictions as easily as Gul
liver broke the cords with which the
Lilliputians attempted to bihd him. In
these contests the corporations have be-
come conscious of their strength, and
have entered upon the work OF control
ling the States. Already they have
captured several of the oldest and
strongest of them, and these discrown-
ed soversiQns now follow in chains the
triumphai chariot of their cenquerors.
And this does not imply that merely
the officers and Representatives of States
have been subjected to the railways, bat
that the corporations have grasped the
sources and fountains of power, and
control the choice Of both officers and
representatives"
A gloomy view. this of Garfield's; is
il not2 But his strong hopefulness and
his faith in the future of America come
ont in the following:
lit depends upon the wisdom, the
culture. the self-control of our people. to
determine how wisely and how well this
question shall be settled. But that it
will be solved, and solved in the inter
est of liberty aud Justice, do not doubt.
And its solution will open way 10 the
solution of whole chapter OF similar
questions that relate to the conflict be-
tween capital and labor. The gloomy
views of socialistic writers on this ques
.iou would have more force il the dam
gers here discussed had grown up IN
spite of our efforts to prevent them.
bat the fact is, they have grown up by
our help, while We were unconscious of
the fact that they we're dangers"
Ia not this enough 20 define clearly
Garfield's views1 Have you any doubt
where he would stand on this question.
were he alive today? Could anything
be more explicit than these earnest, sol
emn warnings? Can Republicans fail
to heed the voice of their party's second
martyr President?
OTHER LEADERS
OF the party, almost without exception,
utter tue same sentiments. Numserless
quotations could be given from the
speeches of Charles SIMMER. Henry
Wills IN and Benjamin Wade, OF. OUT
dead chieftains; and from those of
Plumb, Van wyck, Mckinley aud other.
OF our leaders In toe senate and House
But further quotations are unnecessary
No Republican viii maintain that Gar
field. Blaine and Logan are NOS true cx-
FOUNDERS Of Republican doctrine.
Before leaving this branch Of the sub
iecs. however. 10 .asy be vel 30 mention
the
aKroKT or TuK SENATE COMMITTEE
On Puhlie L&nds. A majority of ths
members of this eommsttee are kepab.
llc@nss the kepanlic@n uemosrs bsins
SaaAfars Fiumh. Blair. beiph. hili ans
Van Nyek. fsr uaaths thsy had b.
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