St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-09-18
THE ELEVATOR 1NFAMY.


To attention need be called to I'll at re-
cital of wrong inflicted on the farmers
OF the Northwest appearing in the
Herald of today. Americans will read
it with amaZement and indignation.
Foreigners will read it with surprise
that such a condition could exist in q
free country. Wherever the record goes
1t will carry the convincing proof of a
gigantic robbery. The elevator mo-
nopoly Of the Northwest has done
darker deeds than those which cost
King George his colonies.
How brief is the story of their infamy |!
Lands which should have been the
sacred heritage of the people were sold
to them on terms which insured Spe-
cles of slavery. The products of their
farms were taken from them at prices
which they could not control. If they
protested they were tainted with help
lessness. If one of their number, richer
than the rest, undertook to buy their
grain at prices nearer its worth. he was
driven from the business. He was
ruined. His town was ruined. The.
very neighborhoOd which had supported
him in his noble rebellion was compelled
to share in the general ruin. One hand
OF the monster monopoly was reaching
over the country, over tine world, cap
turing recruits for this army of victims !;
the other was extracting from slender
purses the hard-earned dollars of the
farmer. And out of the myriad forced
contributions the elevator monopolists
have heaped up fortunes beyond the
dream OF any avarice save their own.
The mill owners of Minneapolis have
been partners in the lnfamy, because
they have held stock in the elevator
companies. The railroad men have
been necessary partners in the plumber
ing. The farmer alone against these
three has been as helpless as lamb in
the jungleS of India.
No more shameful indictment has
ever been read against Americans.
Credulity is taxed to believe that men
who owe every advancement in life to
the rural labor of that Northwest Sec
ton sho uld SO grievously Cypress it. 80
bitterly pursue their unnatural domina-
ton. But the record cannot be doubted.
The network of chains in which the
farmers were held is uncovered and
bare to the eyes of the world. The
open boast of monopoly's infamy APP
pears in its letters to foreign investors.
The day of its doom should be read in
the ballot of every farmer from st. Paul
to Portland.
But it is more than question of buy
ing wheat at fixed starvation price.
The thralldom of the Northwestern
farmer is the thralldom inflicted by the
Republican party. 1t is an outcome of
the theory that some men are born to
poverty and others to affluence. 1t
comes of the doctrine that the MANY
should contribute to the enrichment of
the few. Americans have been crowded
from the shops where trades are fol-
lowed. The best and most Independent
of the foreign population which has
reached our shores has followed the
farmers and the dispossessed mechanics
to the waiting fields of the Northwest.
They have labored through the weary
months to swell the volume of an I'M
protected product, have sold it 10 men
who have made their money under the
wing of protection, and sold at prices
these same men choseto give them, and
then they have purchased with the
meager returns a thousand articles
whose price was swelled by protection.
The picture would be incomplete
without that villainouS touch of taunt-
ing. When under stress of great suf-
fering the farmers complained they
were told the option traders of Chicago
were to blame for the general Oppres-
sion. Two of the chief offenders have
struggled with well-pretended earnest
ness through one session of congress to
pass law closing the boards of trade.
The farmers have believed them, and
have wished them well in the enter
prise. 1t is needless to say the effort
will not be repeated.
The elevator owners and the millers
and the railroad men have worked"
the farmer to their temporal profit and
their everlasting shame. If in the light
of the record this day published the
scales do not fall from the eyes of the
farmers then proof will be complete
that American monopoly can crush
from the breasts of its victims all YES
tiges of manhood.