Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1890-10-01

and governed Germany Gaul and Brit
ain? In short who holds and controls
the prerogatives of government in the
United States, the people or some body
else? The prosperity, happiness and
liberties of the American people depend
upon the answer!
Happily we are not left to mere guess
work in this matter. The very highest
orthodox authority in greatest abun-
dance is on record for our guidance.
June %, 1874, James A. Garfield, occupy
ing his place in the American Congress,
said:
Since the dawn of history, the great
thoroughfares nave belonged to the people,
have been known as the Kings highways, or
the public h ghways, and have b zen opan to
the free use of all. on payment OF a small
uniform tnx or toll, to keep them In repair
But now the most perfect, and by far the
most important roads known to mankind.
are owned and managed as private property
by comparatively small number OF private
citizens.
In all its uses the railroad is the most pub
lie OF all our roads; and in al the objects to
which its work relates. the railroad corpora
tion Il public as anv corporation can be.
But in the start il was labe ed private cor.
poration; and, SO far as lis legal status IL
concerned. il is now grouped with eleemosy
nary institutions and private charities, and
enjoys similar immunlties aud exemptions.
1t remains to be be seen how long the COM
munity will suffer itself to be the victim Of
an abstract definition.
1t Is painfully evident from the experience
OF the last few years that the efforts OF tho
States to regulate their railroads have
amounted to Little more than feeble annoy
ance. in many cases the corporations have
treated such efforts as impertinent med
ding, and have brushed away legislative re-
stric ions as easily as Gulliver broke the
cords with which the LIlliputians attempted
to bind him.
In these contests the corporations have
become conscious OF their strength, and have
entered upon the work OF controlling the
States. Already they We captured some
OF the Oldest and strongest of them; and
these dlscrowned sovereigns now follow In
chains the triumphal chariot of their con-
Querors. And this does not imply that
merely the officers and representatives Of
States have been subjected to the railways,
but that the corporations have grasped the
sources and fountains of power, and control
the choice Of both officers and representa-
tives.
The consolidation of our great CONNER
cial and industrial companies, the power
they wieid, and the relations they sustain
pie, do not fall far short of Fourier's defini-
tion of commercial or Industrial feudalism.
The modern barOns, more powerful than
their military prototypes, own our greatest
highways and levy tribute at Will on all our
vast indu tries. And, as the old feudaliSm
was finally controlled and subord mated only
by the combined efforts of the Kings and the
people OF the free cities and towns, so our
modern feudalism can be subordinated to
the public good only by the great body of the
| people, acting through their governments
| by wise and Just laws.
An earnest and truthful statement
like that by one of Americas trusted
statesmen, should have weight
The following is from the official re-
| port of a committee of the United
States Senate. published by authority
| OF Congress in 1874:
In matters of taxation. there are to- day
four men representing the four great trunk
| lines between Chicago and New York who
| possess and who not infreQuently exercise
| powers which the Congress OF the United
| States would not ven ure to exert They
may at any time, and for any reason salts
factory to themselves, by single stroke OF
the pen. reduce the value of the property OF
this country by hundreds OF millions of dol
lars. An additional charge of five cents per
| bushel on the transportation of cereals
would have been equivalent to a tax of $A5
! 100000 on the crop of 1s13 No Congress
would dare to exercise so vast q power ex.
| cept upon necessity of the most Imperative
nature, and yet these gentlemen exercise 1t
whenever 1t suits their supreme will and
| pleasure, without explanation or apology.
| With the rapid and Inevitable progress OF
consolidation and combination those
| colossal organizations are becoming daily
stronger and more imperious. The day
10 not distant, II 1t has not already arrived
whom Il will be the duty of the statesman to
| inquire whether there 10 less danger in leav.
| ing the property and Industrial interests OF
| the people wholly at the mercy Of a few
men, who recognize no responsibility but to
their stockholders, and no principal of ac.
| tion but personal and corporate aggrandi ize-
| ment, than adding somewhat to the power
and patronage Of the government directly
responsible to the people and entirely un.
der their control.
Senator William Window, who was
chairman Of that Senatorial committee,
seven years later, in a letter to Hon. L.
E. Chittenden, Of New York, repeated
and emphasized the above statement
and added that the railroad corpora
tions had grown wiser with the passage
of events and had entered ueon the
work of capturing and controlling ''the
channels of thought" ''One man, -
says Senator Window, who controls
more miles Of railroad than any othe,
in the world, and who is almost daily
adding new lines to his colossal com
binstion, now, also. controls the tele
graph system of the United States and
Canada, and is reaching out under the
sea to grasp that of Europe"
Senator Window further states thai
the same colossal monopoly has com
menced the capture of the great metro
politan newspapers A majority of those
constituting the Associated Press' had
already been secured. The Senator
then adds:
The channels Of thought and the channel.
OF commerce thus owned and controlled By
one man, or by a few men, what is to re
strain corporate power, or to fx d Iimi
to It's exactions upon the people
What is to hinder these men from depress
ing or inh tting the value of all kinds O
property to suit their caprice or avarice
and thereby gathering in to their own Golfer
the wealth If the Nation? Where Is the limi
to such power as this2 What shall be sal,
of tn spirit of a free people who will submit
to be thus bound hand and foot?
The practical question is: What are you
going to do about it?' To my mind the an
swer is easy. This organized, gigantic cor
porate power can only be kept under prope
restraint by the organic ii power of the pco
pie, expressed through their State and Ma
tionII Governments. That such govern
mental power exists and may properly b
exercised. have not part Gle of doubt. !
Is plainly written in our Constitution, an
has been uneQuivocalIy declared by the Su
preme Court of the Unite States.
(To BE coNTINUED.l
J "a County Tcket-
The Farmers Alliance of Leaven
worth County, Kan, held conventio
J at the court house in Leavenworth o.
tho 18th, for the purpose of nominal n
} county ticket for the approaching fal
! campaign. The convention consiste
of six delegates from each of the ST
townships in the county and four fror