The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-07-07
DR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
HMONOPOLY AND COMMUNISM
STRUGGLING FOR THE POS.
SESSION OF THIS COUNTRY"

Text: "The Lord delighteth in thee and
ehy land shall be married. xii, 4.
+ As the greater includes the less, so does
che circle of future Joy around our entire
world include the epicycle Of our own repub
lie. Bold, exhilarant, unique, divine i'm.
agery of the text. So many are depressed
by the labor agitation and think everything
b this country is going to pieces, I preach
this morning sermon of good cheer and
anticipate the time when the Prince of Peace
take possession of this nation and 'thy land
Ihall be married"
In discussing the final destiny of this ma
ton it makes all the difference in the world
whether we are on the way to funeral or q
wedding. The Bible leaves no doubt on this
subject. In pulpits and on platforms and in
places Of public concourSe, hear so many of
as though we were on the way to national
interment, and beside Thebes, and Babylon
and Tyre in the cemetery of dead nations
our republic was to be entombed, that wish
you to understand it is not to be obsequies, but
nuptials; not mausoleum but carpeted altar;
not cypress, but orange blossoms; not re-
uuiem. but wedding march, for "thy land
Of the suitors who are claiming the hand of
this republic This land is 80 fair, so beauti-
eul, so affluent, that it has many sutorS, and
1t will depend much upon your advice
whether this or that shall be accepted or re-
iected.
In the first place remark: There is a
greedy, a]l-graSping monster who comes IN
as suitor seeking the hand of this republic,
and that monster is known by the name of
monopoly. His sceptre is made out of the iron
of the rail track and the wire of telegraphy.
He does everything for his own advantage
and for the robbery of the people. Things
have gone on from bad to worse, until in the
, three Legislatures of New York, New Jersey
and Pennsylvania, for the most part,
monopoly decides everything. If monopoly
favors law it passes; if monopoly opposes q
Law it is rejected.
Monopoly stands in the railroad depot put
ting into his pockets in one year two hundred
millions of dollars in excess of all reasonable
charges for service. Monopoly holds in this
one hand the steam power Of locomotion, and
In the other the electricity Of swift commu-
ard electionS-city elections, State elections,
national elections. With brides he secures
the votes of legislators; giving them free
passes, giving appointments to needy re.a-
lives to lucrative positions, employing them
as attorneys if they are lawyers, carrying
their goods fifteen per cent less if they are
merchants, and if he finds case very stub
pOTu, Us well dS very puUS
down before him the hard cash of bribery.
But monopoly is not so easily caught now
as when, during the term of Mr.. Buchanan,
the Legislative Committee in one Of our
States explored and exposed the manner in
which certain railway company procured
q donation Of public land 1t was found out
that thirteen of the Senators from that State
received S175,000 among them. Sixty men,
bers of the lower house of that State re-
nd
ernor of the State received 1000, his clerk
received S5,0O0, the Lieutenant-G Governor re-
ceived SIC, 900, all the clerks of the Legisla-
ture received $1,000 each, $4,000
were divided amid the lobby agents.
That thing on a larger or smaller
scale is all the time going on in
some of the States of the Union, but it is not
20 laundering as it used to be, and therefore
not so easily exposed or arrested. I tell you
States to-day is Monopoly. He puts his
hand upon every bushel of wheat, upon
every sack of salt, upon every ton Of coal,
and every man, woman and child in the Uni
ted States feels the touch of that moneyed
despotism. rejoice that in twenty-four
States of the Union already anti-monopoly
leagues have been established God speed
them in the work Of liberation. l wish that
this question might be the question of our
presid ntial elections. and that we compel
the political parties to recognize it on their
platforms.
have nothing to say against capitalists.
A man has right to all the money he can
make honestly. There is not a laborer in the
land that would not be worth million dol
lars if he could have nothing tosay against
corporations as such without them, no great
enterprise would be possible But what do
say is that the same principles should be ap-
piled to capitalists and to corporations that
are applied to the poorest man and the plain
est laborer. What is wrong for me is wrong
for great corporations If take from YOU
your property without any adequate COM
penSation / am thief, and if a railway
damages the property of the people without
making any adequate compensation, that is
. gigantic thief What is wrong on asmall
scale is wrong on a large scale. Monopoly in
England has ground hundreds of thousands
OF her best people into Semi-starvation, and
In Ireland has driven multitudinous tenants
almost to madness.
Five hundred acres in this country make
an immense farm. When you read that in
Dakota Territory Mr.. Cass has farm of
$1,000 ares and Mr. Grandon 5000 acres
and Mr.. Darymple 40,GOo acres, your eve,
dilate, even though these farms are in great
regions thinly inhabited. But what do you
think of this which take from the Dooms-
DAY Book, showing what monopoly is on the
other side the sea. give it as a warning Of
what it would do on this side the sea if in
some lawful way the tendency is not re-
sisted. In Scotland J. G. M. Heddle owns
80, 400 acres; Earl of Wemyss, $1,000 acres;
Sir J. Riddell, 81, 500 acres: Sir C. w.
A. Ross, $1,000 acres; E. e. Scott,
5000 acres; Mr.. j. Baird, 10000 acres;
Sir ]. Ramsden, 10000 acres: Earl Of
Dunmore, 60U00 acres: Duke of Roxburghe
G0,OO0 acres; Earl of Moray, 61,70O acres;
Countess of Home, 5000 acres: Lord Mid
dleton, $4,000 acres: Earl of Aberdeen, g.
500 acres; Mackenzie of Dundonnell, $1,000
Earl of Airlie 5000 acres; Sir ]. Colquhoun,
$1,000 acres: G. Morrison, 1000 acres: Duke
OF Montrose, &c, 900 acres; Meyrick Bankes,
10000 acres; Grant of Glenmorriston, 74.600
acre s; Marquis of Ailsa, 10000 acres; Bar
oness Willougby dEresby, 10000 acres; Mr..
j. Mal,olm, sc. 900 acres; Marquis of Huntly,
10000 a res; Balfour of Whittinghame. 81,
600 acres; Sir j. o. Orde, 81, 900 acres; Mar.
quis of Butte, 5000 acres The Chisholm,
$500 acres: Mr.. E. Ellice, $1,000
acres; Sir G: NJ. Grant, 10000 acres;
Duke Of Portland. lO6.OO) acres;
Cameron of Lochiel, 1O9.5ol acres:
11S,0G0: The Ma kintosh, l24, 900 acres: Lord
Macdonald, 10000 acres; Earl of Dalhousie,
10000 acres; Macleod, Of Macleod, 14l ZOO
acres: Sir K. Mackenzie. of Gairlock, 164 ;.
$50 acres; Duke of Argyle, 175,000 acres:
Duke of Hamilton, Isl, 900 acres: Duke OF
Athole, 194, 900 acres; Duke of Richmond,
255,0O0 acres: Earl Of Stair, 10000 acres
Mr.. Evan Baillie, 30 900 acres: Earl Of Sea
field, 3O6, 900 acres: Duke of Buccleugh, 1872
1888 acres: Earl of Brea! !albane 4S7, ,6!I6 acres
Mr.. A. Matheson, eco, 433 acres and Sir j.