The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1891-04-23
ThG FIGHT to the Death.
AS TOM DIXON SEES THE FU
TURE STORM.
IL will Be Worldwide Drama
Stormy and Tragic.
THE HOPES AND ASPIRATIONS OF
RESTLESS COUNTLESS MILLIONS.
NEW YORK Auril 10 I

his sermon this morning on "Ecclc-
siastical Owls" by the following re-
view Of current events:
THE COMING GREAT BATTLE.
The last fifty years may be demon
iLated the Era of Con lpoIate Power.
The apostle OF Adam Smith and Her
bert Spencer lave had their day i'm
the economic world. We have had
an era OF unlimited competition in
the domain of commerce. The re-
suit has been somewhat startling con-
sidering the prophecies Of the great
political ecOnmistS. The millennium
l. yet altar. In fact, a free cut-throat
competition in trade seems to have
brought us to a condition that has
produced just the opposite effect from
that predicted. Competition. has
been overdone. 1t has destroyed it.
self. Monopoly in tlade has been
the inevitable result.
The Corporation has been master
OF the forces of our civilization for
the past twenty-five wears. They
have made laws. They nave made
and unmade the policies of govern
ments. Our real rulers have not been
Legislators, governors, Congressmea n
and Presidents. Our real rulers have
been corporate directors, bank Off
Gers, railroad presidents, and mining
kings. We are entering upon new
era i'll the history Of our political
economy. 1t bids fair 20 be an era
OF striking events. 1t will be, in
fact, q worldwide drama. No lover
of his fellow man "a. be indifferent
To the issues of that conflict. Upon
them hang the hUpes and aspirations
of countless millions. In them are
bound up the destinies OF generations
yet unborn. The historian who pre-
serves for us the record will have
material big with the pathOs and
tragedy Of the race. II is to re a
battle Of Giants. Billions of dollars,
backed by greed and lust of power,
the appetitts and passions and ambi-
tione of men OF daring genius armed
with the traditions and superstitions
of centuries on the one side. The
tolling, restless, hoping millions,
pressing forward with resistless
sweep to the higher destiny of the
race, on the other.
The men who have built up the
| gigantic mOnOpolies that to-day form
the governing centres of our COM
mercial life are not the williams and
thieves the ranting agitator would
have us believe. They have not, as
rule, committed crimes in the pro-
cess OF gathering their fortunes.
They are men of business genius, of
daring enterprise, Of matchless skill
ami untiring industry. The mil
lionalre kings of monopoly have
woG the L position in the fierce bat
tie Oh the competitive system. They
are nGt to blame. They are kings
because they have been crowned
with superior strength and daring.
If Our commercial system is, right,
| these men do not deserve the curses
and hatred of the masses They
have done only what those who curse
would have done had they been Civ
eli the opportunity and power. The
signs of the times Indicate that The
future of corporations is to be a
stormy ifnOt tragic one. The fight
|
future of storm outlining itself
l. In the assaults through. the
courts. Hitherto corporate powers
seem to have been masters of the
situation in almost every battle at
law.
The backbone of the sugar trust
has been recently broken in the
courts. Charters have beeu revoked
and havoc played with vast fortunes
figured on paper. The time was
when corporation was regarded as
an Irresponsible, soulless molOch that
could violate the rights of life with
impunity in its march to fortune,
Now tho corporation that endangers
life or limb is in danger of annihila-
tion if jury's verdict is taken as
final. The millionaire directors of
one Ofthe richest railroads in Amer
lea are now under Indictment for the.
loss of the lives of its employees in
the recent tunnel disaster. The
pressure of public sentiment was
such that their Indictment vas forced
on the Grand Jury. 1t is not difficult
tc read the meaning of that senti
ment Of deep and bitter hostility.
Forty years ago such men were con-
sidered the highest order of public
benefactors. Now they are the OBJ
ject Of hatred and suspicion to mil
lions.
2. The conflicts between organic
ed labor and organized capital are
becoming more and more bitter aud
brutal; bitter on the part Of the la
borer, brutal on the part of the cor
porations. The New York Central
Railroad, with its prestige, its superb
organisation, its millions and its ia
huence with other corporations.
succeeded in crushing the Knight
OF Labor in a deliberately planne !
and brutally led assault. When tn ,t
job was complete, Mr.. Webb, Wi. th
perfectly fiendish delight, proceed ed
to dance a jig on their quivering hide.
The whole performance from beg in
nlng to the end, while it was les siti-
mate War, was inhuman and brutal.
and only made the gulf that sepa-
rates organized capital from the toll
ing millions wider, deeper and more
utterly impossible. In the recent
conflict at MoreW0Gd between the
miners and the capitalists, dozens of
men were shot down in cold blood.
The accounts we read were evident
ly all sent out from sources friendly
to the owners of the mines who were