Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1895-12-26

The evil, Mr.. President, the second
to which l adVerted as threatening the
safety, IL it does not endanger the ex-
istence Of the Republic, is the tyranny
of combined, concentrated, centralized
and incorporated capital. And the peo-
pie are considering this great problem
now. The conscience Of the nation is
shocked at the injustice Of modern So
ciety, The moral sentiment Of man
kind has been aroused at the unequal
distribution Of wealth, at the unequal
diffusion Of burdens, the benefits and
the privileges Of society. At the begin
ming of our second century the Ameri-
can people have become profoundly
conscious that the ballot is not the
panacea for all the evils that af-
flict humanity; that it has not abolished
poverty, nor prevented injustice. They
have discovered that political equality
does not result in social fraternity;
that under a democracy the concen-
tration Of greater political power In
fewer hands, the accumulation and ag-
gregation Of greater amounts OF wealth
in individuals Is more possible than un-
der monarchy, and that there Is
tyranny which is more fatal than the
tyranny of kings.
The people are beginning to inquire
whether, under "a government OF the
people, by the people, and for the peo-
ple," under system in which the
bounty Of nature is supplemented by
the labor of all, any citizen can show
mOral--yes, or a legal-title to $2OO,-
100000.
Some have the temerity to ask
whether or not any man can show
clear title to $1OO,OOO,O0O. There have
been men rash enough to doubt whether
under a system so constituted, by spec
ulatlon or otherwise, any citizen can
show fair title to $10,0O0,OO0, when
the distribution per capita would be
less than $1,000. If I were put upon
my voir dire, I should hesitate before
admitting that, in the sense of giving
just compensation or equivalent, any
man in this country or any other coun-
try ever absolutely earned a million
dollars do not believe he ever did
What is the condition, today, Mr.
President, by the statistics? repeat
that the people are not anarchists;
they are not socialists; they are not
communists; but they have suddenly
walked to the conception Of the fact
that the bulk Of the property Of this
country is passing into the hands Of
what the senator from Ohio, by a
euphemism, calls the spectators" Of
the world.
Mr.. President, 1t is the most appal-
ling statement thai ever fell upon
mortal ears. It is, so far as the results
Of democracy as a social and political
experiment are concerned, the most
terrible commentary that was ever
recorded in the books of time-and
Nero fiddles while Rome burns. 1t is
"as the froth upon the beer" Of our
political and social system. AS said,
the assessed valuation recorded in the
great national ledger standing to our
credit, is about S65,000,000,0O0. Our
population is 62,500,000, and by some
means, by some device, by some machi-
nation, by some incarnation, honest or
otherwise, by some process that cannot
be defined, less than a twO-thOusandth
part of our population have obtained
slr Of
penitentiary in spite of the means they
adopted to acquire it Of more than
one-half Of the entire accumulated
wealth Of the country.
That is not the worst, Mr.. President
It has been largely acquired by men
who have contributed little to the
material welfare of the country, and by
processes that do not care in appro-
pirate terms to describe-by the wreck
ing of the fortunes Of innocent men,
women and children; by jugglery, by
bookkeeping, by financiering, by what
the senator from Ohio calls "specula-
tion"-and this process is going on
with frightful and constantly accel-
Grating rapidity. The entire industry
Of this country is passing under the
control of organized and confederated
capital. More than fifty of the neces-
saries of life today, without which the
cabin Of the farmer and the miner
cannot be lighted or his children fed
or clothed, have passed absolutely un
der the control Of syndicates and trusts
and corporations composed Of speculat-
ors, and by means Of these combinations
and considerations competition is de-
stroyed, small dealings are rendered
impossible, competence can no longer
be acquired; for it is superfuous and
unnecessary to say that If, under a sys-
tenn where the accumulations distrlb-
uted per capita would be less than
$1,000, $1,000 persons obtained posses
sion Of more than half Of the accumu-
lated wealth Of the country, 1t is i'm
possible that others should have a
competence or an independence. So it
happens, Mr.. President, that our So
ciety is becoming rapidly stratified, al
most hopelessly stratified, into a con-
dition of superhuously rich and hope
lessly poor. We are accustomed to