The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1890-05-09
Nationalist Doctrine.

The following is from an address
by S. L. Pierce, Esq, st. Paul at
torney of prominence, before the
First Nationalist Club, OF st. Paul.
Mr.. Pierce kindly handed us the
manuscript, and we wish the whole
address could find space in our
columns:
The State grants to half dozen
men q railroad charter by which they
are authorized to enter upon and
take all land required for right OF
way and to charge freight ard fare
Tor carrying persons and property.
These persons in the exercise OF the
corporate rights conferred on them
are in fact the state. The power
they possess is, pro tanto, the power
of the state delegated to them. This
power is conferred on them because
the business they engage in is public
and for the public. They are expect
cd to gain profit in doing this work.
This profit is in the nature of tax
on the person carried or shipping
freight. Since these few persons to
whom the franchise is granted are in
the exercise OF powers OF the state,
and are theoretically acting for the
public, why could not the state con-
struct the roads and carry the pass
engers and freight for itself? For it
must be borne in mind that the public
constitutes the state, and what the
railroad corporation does for the
public it does for the state.
The fact is. we are continually in
novating on what was formerly con-
sidered private rights and private
property. Local improvements are
now made bv the public at the ex-
pensc OF the property benefited.
When l was boy, in my native
state of Ohio, public roads were mud
and mortar during the season OF rain
and the breaking up of winter. Let
one visit that state now, and he will
find macadamized turnpikes every
where. These are constructed as To-
cal improvements by the public, and
the land adjoining and in the locality
are charged with the cost. In our
cities the sewers and street and the
water works are constructed by
charging it to the property benefited.
Practically all property belongs to
the public and is appropriated by tax
alton and assessments for purposes
that would have startled the people
of the early part of this century.
BY the great increase of labor saw
ing machinery aud the modern sys-
tenn of transportation the condition
of mankind has been changed to a
degree not generally realized. Manu-
factories are capable OF producing
far more than can be disposed of,
and that with less manual labor
than was required to produce the
meager output of even fifty years
ago. Commercial business is carried
on hy corporations and wealthy
companies requiring fewer persons to
conduct it than was required under
the old regime OF small shops and
business houses. Population on the
contrary has increased during the
last fifty years at q ratio never be-
fore equaled in the history of the
world. AS labor saving machinery
has increased and business has been
compressed into the hands OF great
manufacturing and trading con.
panies the demand for employment
has not increased with the growth OIL
business and population. The i'm.
: portant inquiry before us is, what
laws shall be enacted to adapt oul
social and business system to the
changes that have transpired in ou1
modes of production and transpor-
tation? Shall wei try by process Of
legal bikes to confine the people OF
this new era to the ways of the old
system Of doing things? Shall we,
in our adulation of the institutions
that grew up with. the old system,
say to the genius of progress, you
must not overlap the legal bar
ri.y- 1sSeacsl by our fathers? You