Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-04-29


| The Chicago Tribune editorially says:
In his testimony before the House
committee Mr.. Mcdowell, of the
Knights of Labor Executive Board, said
that one cause of the Southwestern
strike was 'the universal system of wa
tering railroad stocks, which made it
necessary for railroad managers to screw
down the wages of labor as much as
possible" OF course Mr.. Mcdowell
did not intend to say that the South
western revolt arose out of any particu-
lar act of stock-watering, or that it was
designed to undo any wrongful act of
that character. In fact, the strikers
made no demand for general increase
of wages, and so far as can be learned
their alleged grievances did not concern
the question of wages at all. Mr.. Nc
Dowell obviously intended to be under
stood as saying that stock-watering is
the occasion of general discomfort among
workmen rather than that it was the
immediate reason for the Southwestern
outbreak, and this view is confirmed by
his subsequent declaration that the eff
fort to pay dividends on fictitious stock
had produced "great irritation all over
the country" Mr.. McDowells state
ment is unquestionably correct, and it
puts the responsibility for much of the
prevalent discomfort where it belongs.
In the early period of railroad build.
ing in this country the stocks and bonds
issued represented fairly the cost of
construction, and it was believed that
when the business became settled the
charges levied on the public would cover
only a fair return on the capital in
vested. All such expectations passed
away with the rise of the Jay Gould
school Of railroad wreckers and stock
gamblers. When the law required rail-
road stocks to represent the cost dollar
for dollar, it was evaded by the creation
of construction companies and Credit
Mobllier organizations as wheels within
wheels, and in this manner the statutes
were nullified and the roads bonded and
stocked for two, three, or four times
their value. AS a consequence the peo-
pie are now being assessed in the form
of freights and transportation rates to
pay dividends on uncounted millions of
bogus capital. 1t would be hard to find
any parallel to the stupendous outrage,
perpetrated by cunning 1nanipulators
who studied the letter of the law to
evade its spirit and who succeeded in
fixing an enormous amount of watered
stocks as permanent tax ON the indus
tries of the country 1t is drawing it
very mild indeed to say that this rascal
ity has caused great irritation" among
all classes Of the people and produced
an ill-feeling toward all who were en-
gagged in it.
Jay Gould, after an unprecedented
career as railroad wrecker and stock
gambler, now poses before the coun-
try as the embodiment of law and order
His vast fortune has been accumulated
by the systematic and Industrious prac-
tice of every vile known to man who
studied the law that he might avoid its
requirements and evade its penalties.
He has employed the finest legal talent
In the United States to seek for loop
holes in the law and advise him how far
he might go without becoming liable to
Imprisonment in the penitcntiary. Act
ing in this manner, he has watered both
bonds and stocks and shifted illegiti-
mate burdens on the people; he has
wrecked roads and compelled honest
stockholders to sell out on terms little
better than robbery; and by false rep
reservations and tricky management has
induced investors to buy his diluted
stocks at vastly more than their value.
But all the wrong he has done individ-
uals is insignificant compared with his
stock-watering jobs, which have laid
lasting and illegitimate burdens on the
business Of the country. 1t is an as
founding paradox that after such
career Jay Gould, who cunningly kept
within the letter of the law while viola
ting all its equity and spirit, should be
able to appear as the representative of
legal right and call upon all men OPP
posed to lawlesness and disorder to rally
about him. He has done more than any
man in America to stimulate sharp prac-
tees and foster contempt for the law
to the protection of which, he now APP
peals. His name is odieus, not only
among his employees, but among mer-
chants, farmers, manufacturers, ship
pers, and in fact all classes The mere
fact that he represents one side in a
great labor dispute and presents himself
as man with the law all on his side
encourages contempt for legal authority
and makes it more difficult to settle
strikes in any quarter. If Jay Gould
would gather up his stocks and bonds,
get aboard his yacht, take on a sixty
days supply of coal, and start with the
intention of going as far as he could
and never returning, the country would
rejoice.