The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-06-18
1T IS THE MANY OF Us.


of solid millions to be found in all this
country who is not gold mOnometal-
list, not one. The slaves who were
driven afield under lash and curse, in
droveS of hundreds, they and their
children for weary years, counted as
nothing against any single interest Of
their owner in fee simple. That own
er'S hired overseer's slightest desire,
even though il meant the rayishing of
the soul Of chastity, was more than all
the protest of the thousands whom he
drove and goaded as cattle. But
silence istelf, when enforced, in time
becomes vehment and finally over
whelming. And so the miserable Me-
hitable greedy Greens and grasping
MOrgans and the spider ennetted trusts
may flourish their whips with stalks
Of gold over the heads of the many of
u.s." who in being robbed of half the
value of all we possess are at the same
time denied q chance to live. But Il
weak place will be found in the letters
that bind, sooner or later, in which
event it would have been better for the
binders had the letters never been
forged.
1t is declared that these gold trusts,
whiskey trusts, sugar trusts. oil trusts,
transportation trusts, and all the other
combines cannot be reached by law and
the courts. They must be reached,
and they will be reached as sure as
that the cry of the slave reached
heaven from the cotton field in spite of
the crack Of the oyerseer's brutal lash.
In the absence of the power transmit
ted by the laws Of incorpora ton no
Trusts Of any character could sur
vive. Such an eXigency occurred once
in the reign of an English queen. The
soullesS corporation once throttled and
individuality rises supreme. The in
dividual, however, greatly endowed,
standing alone, cannot Cypress his fell
lows. Its the combination of powerful
and far reaching interests protected by
Incorporation laws. that commands con-
gress, buys legislatures, owns entire
governments and Expresses 1.-The many
of US" in the interest of the few.
All the laws of the times tend 10 re-
press individuality and to hamper per-
sonal freedom. That has always been
true of the history of every nation
that grew in wealth and power. The
individual in becoming nothing the
state became verything,-the state
simply q combine of ruling
interests. Even in Kansas, state
born Of the very inspiration of free
dom, the tendency-the strong ten
dency, is to rule the conscience and
save the individual by statutory law
and at the same time to empower cor
porationS to Cypress the people with
out limitation as whole. 1t is legally
possible in Kansas, for the sum of =
dollar or SO, to incorporate a company
to take from the hands Of the Almighty
his prerOgatiye Of sending rain
upon the just and the unjust, or for
the purpose of cornering all the eggs
laid by Kansas hens.
Strikes are wrong. because being
against the interests OF legally pro-
tected corporations the striker loses in
the end and thereby suffers; but strikes
are logical There is but one strike
that remains TO 1.-The many Of us" and
that is the strike for freedom through
the ballot box. The higher courts no
longer hear or know 1.-The many Of u.s."
They interpret the laws in consonance
with the spirit Of the times, which
spirit is but the inspiration Of the COM
bine of corporate power in aggregate
trusts. An income tx law whose
was enforced by national
needs, to be paid mostly by persons
whose incomes are through corpora
tons, is declared unconstitutional by
the supreme court Of the United States.
Still the ultimateS of both courts and
their sole power inheres in
the box which receives the ballot that
as vet remains in the hands Of The
many of u.s.
There are seventy millions Of "the
many OF u.s. in this land of ours, which
land belongs not TO the plutocratic
of a gigantic trust, nor to his
lawmaker in congress, or his law-in-
terpreter of the higher courts, but be-
longs to the many OF US" who have
and brains, who have hopes
and aspirations. But ''the many OF US"
are no longer heard. The representa-
tives that we elect prove not our repre-
but the prechosen Of trust
The writers and takers
are not for 1.-The many of US" but for
him who is enabled to bid higher.
1t is high time for a new Declaration
Of Independence America must not
only reasSert her independence Of Eng
land and her Lombard street, but 1.-The
many of u.s. must declare our indie
pendence and superiority 10 Wall street
and it's mono-ismS of monopoly. mono
metal and mono-maney mania and all
its single selfishnesS. The many of
us" have only To obtain our own con-
sent TO our own freedom TO again be
free indeed and in the possession OF the
right to life, liberty and