The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-05-13
WHO ARE ANARCHISTS?

Anarchy means absence of government.
The opposite Of anarchy is government con-
troll. Those who defy the laws expressive
of the will of the people represent the one
extreme; and those who would place indus
try and trade under government control
represent the other extreme. We have both
Of these classes in this country. The one
class are anarchists and the other are So
cialists.
The Peoples Party resists the first in de-
handing the enforcement OF the laws rep
democratic government-governmen for
and by the people. The Peoples Party is
socialistic to the extent that it believes in
the government ownership of natural mo-
nopolies, or rather, in the people keeping
within their own hands the public fran
chises for the performance Of public func-
tions-as the public schools, public post
offices and telegraph, municipal lighting,
water, and street cleaning, the bridges and
highways, the national currency and means
Of ransportation-public functions which
in large measure are already assumed by
national, state, and municipal governments.
The government propr:etorship Of these
public functions, it has been found by prac-
tical experience, is necessary to govern
ment for and by the people. The custom
of donating them to private corporations
we have found to be productive OF corpo-
rate oligarchy, or plutocracy, and that Is
in measure our situation under the present
system of private ownership Of public func-
tions True democracy requires greater
greater degree of control by the people over
public functions.
Anarchy opposes government for and by
gether. There are two general classes of
anarchists: One that has nothing, and the
other that has everything. The latter are
by far the most dangerous, and they pro-
duce the former. Among the great anar-
chists of the United States the following
may be enumerated:
First, the great industrialt rusts-like
the sugar trust, the whisky trust, the lum-
Der trust, the flour trust, the steel trust,
the iron ore trust, the coal trust, the nail
trust, the tobacco trust, the Enseed oil
trust, the cottonseed oil trust, the binding
Irvine trust, and scores of others too nu-
merous to mention-trusts which are run
IN violation of the statutes of the United
States, in violation of the laws of compe-
tit:on and fair trade, and are conspiracies
against trade and the interests of the peo-
pie. They are anarchists because they de-
fy the law. They are deliberate and habit
ual anarchists. They conspire both against
the government. against industry and
trade, and against the people. They have
set up their own government, to which the
government of the United States bows in
helpless submission. Even the attorney
general Of the United States has refused to
enforce the antitrust laws of the United
States relative to these defiant anarchists
In comparison to these powerful anarchists
which put to defiance government for and
by the people, all the bomb-throwers and
street mobs of two hemispheres are insig-
nificant pigmes.
Second, the great railway pools and traf-
fic combinations and those railways which
defy the laws of the states and the nationi
relative to rate Determinations. These
big anarchists defy the interstate commerce
commission and the statutes governing
railway traffic, own state railway commits
sions and judges and defy state laws, own
United States senators and congressman
| and federal judges and defy both the laws
and interests of the people, substitute for
| the laws of the people the injunctions of
their judicial creatures, and even In some
cases are able to command government
| troops and United States marshals to en-
force their tyrann:cal commands. The
railway company which pretends to re-
spect and obey the laws of the paople is
rare-which means that the railway COM
pany which is not an anarchist Is rare.
Railway companies, 1t is safe to say, expend
| ten times as much energy in corruptng
| and controlling lawmakers, judges and law
administrators in the attempt to overcome
the will of the people, as in seeking to sup
port the will of the people as expressed in
! law. In this, they may be said to be ten
| parts anarchist to one part patriot. And
yet no interests IN the United States have
been so favored by the people, with gifts of
lands and loans and bonuses and valuabls
franchises, and with tax exemptions and
other favors, as the railways of America
They too often have rewarded the gener-
osity of the people by defying the people at
every turn, and in attempting to take by
force or fraud whatever else they could lay
| hands upon. They in altogether too many
cases have proved to be anarchists of the
| h:ghwayman order.
| Another prominent class of anarchists are
the municipal anarchists. There are two
| main classes of these, and both classes defy
the people and repudiate the laws with the
| greatest success and impunity. One class
represents the favored corporations which