West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1888-05-25

Odd, UUU,UUO over anu aoo'e sheh
own estimate of the cost of the
roads. If the Government had
built the roads and operated them,
there might have been some stealing,
and the managers might have gained
some political influence, but does
any one imagine that they could
have gained as much influence over
Congress as that exercised by the
railroad ring and disclosed by the
Credit Mobilier investigation, or
that oil of them together could have
committed such robberies IS were
exposed by the recent report Of the
Pacific Railway Commission I?
Government officials have been fire.
quently sent to the penitentiary for
the hundredth part ofoffenses which
have made private citizens great
financiers." governors, judges and
u. S. Senators. Had the Govern
ment built the Pacific roads and the
Geographic lines and kept them in
its possession, the cost of their con-
struction would by this time have
ceased to be a factor in operating
them. But instead of this; instead
of the public owning what they have
paid for and which in fact should
be theirs, the public pay enormous
tribute to a few milliOnaires for
their use. Is it any wonder, that in
the teeth of these facts we witness a
rapid increase Of "trusts," and yet
no one man IN office, seems disposed
to espouse the cause of the people
and make their cause, his own fight.
The plain truth is, that these gigant-
ic corporations defy the law and are
able to prevent the election of men
who would apply theremedy. Indeed,
it is already doubted by many
whether the Government will ever
prove sufficient to subdue such an
aggregation of capital and brains.
Exercising functions that are large
ly public in their character, they
nevertheless enjoy the advantages of
private enterprise. = = Com
petition is crushed by their weight
and business men held by the
throat. If ever the people of this
country once get their eyes open to
the true condition of affairs they
will not permit such dangerous cor
porations TO fasten their death-like
grip on our liberties and on our
laws.
Many well-meaning people allow
their fears to make them act false
ly, not only to their own interests
but to their Americanism and hon
est convictions. They view the
growth of these monstrosities with
alarm, but dare no nothing to pre-
vent them. Sometimes their hearts
are stirred by the old-time love for
liberty, and yet they shut their eyes
to growing public sentiment, man
ufactured by monopOlists, in favor
of stronger powers in the Govern
ment;-stronger powers in n govern
ment whose laws are dictated by a
syndicate of railway managers and
by a committee representing such
combinations as the Standard Oil
Company and the Steel Rail Asso-
citation.
Why is it that the masses sleep
in the face of facts like these9 1t is
poverty, not ignorance, that makes
voters submissive. Ignorance does
not make men humble; it makes
them coneeited. 1t is dependence,
not fear, that enables the rich man
to carry his followers to the polls as
the old baron took his retainers into
battle. The late Judge Black once
described these combinations as an
invention to increase the plunderer' S
stealing powers through which his
felonious fingers are made long
enough to reach into the pockets of
posterity, so that he lays his lien on
property yet unereated, anticipates
the labor Of coming ages, coins the
industry of future generations into
cash, and snstches the inheritance
from children whose fathers are yet
unborn.
WALL STREET RAILROAD MAN
AYERS.
W. bo~o of.ov +r;od 20 ronso got