The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1885-06-04

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the morality of the company-not his:
nor is he unhappy over it so doing
as it produces gain. Thus, Its reacting
influence On the man corruptS and
deerades, until ut last sort of finan.
cial self-respect will conStrain him,
first to excuse, aud then to defend, all
the means, no matter how corrupt,
which were used to bring him for
tune.
THEY BREED PUBLIC CORRUPTION.
Thus their tendency is to breed
public corruption, on which N turn
they must depend to perpetIa!e th;lr
power and whether 10 the walks OF !
business life, in the halls OF legislation, |
or across the railing, in that third |
eStatej which they dill ect; the price of |
their favor is notwithstanding Obedience. |
They deS:rJy the Independence of |
those " no are IntertS. ed Iii them, and
vote their employees at elections;
thereby destroying pro t..Ilt0 the free
dom OF elections. lie must e Il blind
observer of passing events who doub $
this ; and it Would lie lndee. strange
il 1t We're otherwise for having Their
origin in the one iiea of plolit, and
being exempt from their very cnarao-
ter from TIE moral rul s COVER ii e
natural persons. their ali peIraulns
intelligence sees the ii So symptoms oi
popular uneaSineSs OF in, atience over
their methods, and woe to the unluckv
dependent who will not stand by what
| is called the interests of the company.
For ii constrained by some lingering
| feeling of independence or love of
| country, he attacks by his ballot the
interests of the invisible master, no
matter what questionable service he
may have rendered in the past; the edict
comes from the head Office 'off wi h
his head so much for Buckingham |"
Ex-S majors; Congressman and others,
as their agents and attorneys, attend
primary meetings ard conventions
and inspire political platforms, which
now figure before the public about as
the red flag in the hands of the Mex
lean matadore does before the aWak-
ened bull.
A FACTOR NOT RECOGNIZED AS SUCH
IN THE CONSTITUTION.
Here we discover the existence of a
dangerous power in directing the
government, which is responsible to
no constituency, and is recognized as
factor in government by no consti-
tuition. This factor exerts its Influence
by constrained votes, and by the pot
ent means of business connexions,
involving profit or loss to individuals
as the result of its favor or disfavor
and, whenever necessity requires, by
means or bribery, direct or indirect
without conjunction or conscience
| for tho fnrDjtU6p of tho aot for If hos
on conscience.
A FREE BALLOT.
Pat, lots may declaim over the beau
ties OF an elective government, but
the ballot is the bulwark OF civil
liberty only when the hand that depos
its it is unshackeled. When 1t fall:
from the trembling grasp of corpo
ration dependant, it but registers thu
decree of an invisible master which
only values the government that vii
preverve and increase its special priv
ileges. Far different is the ballot o.
him who tills, and can keep the lane
/ that sustainS him. His ballot regist
: ers Will, unawed aid unbought, anC
: though it falls from his hand, white
J and silent as ike snowflake, in thu
= valley at midnight, it is the only
potent taliSman which can fully dis
enthrall and preserve liberty regulated
| by law.
, THEY WIDEN THE GULF BETWEEN
8 RICHES AND POVERTY.
have said that pribate corporation!
as now existing were for the mos
part of recent origin. Fifty
years ago, when Black Fridays
T strikes, and dynamite were
| MI
. suits Of life wese conducted BY
! natural persons, or copartnersiphs
who were responsible to the full ex
tent of their property for their deal
, ings. Men now within the sound OF
my voice can remember when no mil
! lionaireS were believed to exist In the
: United States except Girard and Johr
= Jacob AstOr. 1t is safe to assume
that in 1880, ali the men worth one
,, million Of money in America could
!, have been counted on the fingers OF
one hand. To-day one city can num-
!, Der among its inhabitants over one
: hundred and fifty MEN worth over 6
mellon of money each, among them
tx o, either of whom owns over one
|, hundred and fifty million of values.
The verrlest simpleton can under
, stand that such vast accommodations
of personal wealth, could not have
been gathered in one life time by the
skill and energy of any one man, hon.
estly directed. For, remember how
vast these fortunes are, when one man
who began life penniless owns values
{ greater than any England's nobjemen,
except the Duke of Westminster
though some of their estates represent
the gathered plumber and industry of
, five hundred years. Such glamour
surrounds these corporation kings
that only last year the public looked
with as much complacency on the an
noucement that one Of them bad con-
tributed vast sum to debaueh the
public in the selection of a ruler as
we may suppose the people of Rome
did when the Praetorian Guard sold
the empire to the highest bidder for
cash.,
THEY CREATE INCENTIVE FOR
FRAUD.
If we trace the history of these
great Accommodations Of wealth, we
will find that private corporations have
afforded in most cases the means of
creating them. The artful manipu-
lstion OF stock, obtaining governing
control of a franchise to depress its
value and then purchasing it. wrecking
the confding owners of smaller inter
ests-these and like means are prac-
ticed to obtain almost fabulus wealth,
with which to gid the brazen fore
head of its possessor, and enable him
with the power which it confers, to
purchase the stock of the great daily
press, and with it to poison all the
healthy springs of public sentiment.
THEY BUILD UP AN ARJSTORACY.
The direct tendency of the legal
crea' ions is to build up up and indi--
| vidual personal aristocracy, by aggrega-
ting great wealth in the hands of the
few, who detract from national wealth
by extravaganza, and corrupt minds
of the youth by grand displays of
their Sudden riches