The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-02-09
CONCENTRATION OF CAPITAL
INEVITABLE HOW 1T CAN
BE CONTROLLED.
Tariff Reform the Huge Fraud of the
Age--A Challenge, Who Will Meet
It2--The Farmers Can be the
Most Independent People in
the United States.

the United States.
The concentration of capital and
labor cheapens production and the con
sumner can buy mora for his money.
This cheapening will continue as the
wealth of the country is concentrated.
The concentration of capital and men
is c. operation. This concentration
eco Operation) is based on we'll known
economical principles. Any party
opposing concentration of capital will
meet with a waterloo. AS the cOncen-
tration of capital Is a fOregOne conclu-
sion, it follows some power must run
It must be run by corporation or by
the State. This is a self-evident prOpO
sition. The absorption of the larger
share Of the output of capital andlabor
is not detrimental to labor as long as
this is re-invested in reproduction. II
a Gould had control OF all the railroads
in the United States, and out of the
earnings he took three hundred million
dollars and built unnecessary railroad
made improvements, he would commit
no wrong against labor any more than
if the government owned the railroads
and received the same sum for the
same purpose. The fact that cOnCen
tratiOn of capital cheapens production
will forever forbid our return to the
era of small concerns.
In the near future the wealth Of the
country will be under the control of
huge corporations, such as the world
never saw before, and the present Q
pOratiOn will be as babes by the side of
a giant.
The general distribution of the sur
plus wealth among the labOring class
18th v,,OcC,E %.yD DtntiNnC 70 CnoNo9 II
for that which is more than useless or
had been thrown away, would retard
industrial emancipation. AS poorly
as labor is paid, they now spend six
hundred million dollars in the saloons.
If this six hundred millions was held
by corporations aud re-invested in new
industries. giving employment to labor,
it would add immensely to the wealth
of the country. Until the saloon is
abolished, with its concomit the
gambling bells, the condition of the
labOring class cannot be greatly i'm
proved. Have national prohibition,
aud labor will build homes and save
hundreds Of millions of rent now paid
to capital! invest his earnings in those
huge corporations and become limited
partners, and the day Of strikes would
be at an end.
The philanthrOpic student of pOliti-
cal economy sees environments thrown
around labor that were six hundred
millions more distributed among them.
The larger half would be dissipated.
As long as corporations absorb the
lions share, and this is re-invested in
developing the resources of the cOun-
try, no one is wrOnged, and it will
hasten the day when Industrial slavery
will be abolished. 1t is quite different
when a Gould or a Vanderbilt apprO-
PIRATES the earnings of n or ten thou
sand labOring men, and spends it for
private display. In the near future
the managers of all corporations will
appropriations of the result of labor.
Though l control millions of wealth, ]
did not produce it. 1t is all the products
of labor. My capital is accumulated
labor. l hold it in trust to be managed
for the general welfare of all concerned.
When I appropriate hundreds of thou
sands of dollars of the earnings of labor
for private display, l betray my trust,
and it is the duty of the State to step
in and manage the corporation for the
interest of all. This would etfectually
put a check to Interpretations of
the earnings of labor. The people can
not long maintain their liberties or the
State prosper when the few live in
palaces and rend in luxuries they never
earned, while the masses live in pow
erty. No nation of ancient times ever
survived such inequalities. A system
that makes the rich richer and the
poor poorer, that widens the gap be-
tween the rich and poor, that makes
classes, will be overthrOwn by the peo-
pie. The annual taking Of hundreds
of millions from the field of industry
and appropriating it to unnecessary
private display, will end in increased
withdrawal of capital and increased
ostentatiOn. Labor will be robbed of
all but q bare subsistence that others
may crafty an abnormal desire for
unnecessary display. All such appro-
priations are evidently unjust and re-
tards the development of the country, |
i~mpoverishes the wealth producers.
This course has been preceded by every
nation that has persisted. just as GER
INTEL tgence of this country, the moral
and spiritual forces will never permit |
this nation to be destroyed. They will
organize and see that justice is done to |
all. All exercising control of large
capital. take heed, and be warned in
time, for thus far thou shall go and
no further. If ever the State takes
control, it will be because of the greed
and injustice of those controlling these
great trusts.
In a government Of the people, by
the people and for the people, injustice
cannot exist. That this Republic will
in time fill this ideal, we firmly believe.
Every wrong act has within itself the
seed that will lead to its destruction.
All of the republics Of the past have
persisted, and the seed Of iniquity re-
graves. This Republic viii live because