The age-herald., 1897-12-16
TECHNICS FROM
 CURRENT TOPICS,


 owners of the country is laying the founda-
 tion for a dangerous revolution.
 Even the men of limited moral courage
 are rapidly becoming brave under the irri-
 tating insolence of the money powers,
 which grind the poor and helpless under the
 wheels of the trust 1uggernaut and say
 with Pharasaical unction: "Why complain,
 ye; there is plenty in the land for him
 who labors'
 Men toll in the fields, from morning until
 night, in order to clothe and feed their | little ones, and when the harvest season | comes find their cotton. corn and wheat
 have barely been sold for the amount re-
 quired to grow them. These disheartened | tillers of the soil go from the city markets l back to their desolate homes poorer than l they were the year previous, while the
 fruits of their toll are carried to the great marts of trade and there manipulated &C., l cording to the decrees of the speculators,
 who have grown rich with questionable
 methods.
 | It has been truly said by a present-day philosopher that nearly all the great revo- lutions in the worlds history have been the result of the cry of starving humanity for bread.
 | prosperous people are content and pa- l tient even under the infiction of fragrant injustice from those high in authority. l But a race with any amount of manhood l left eventually asserts it's rights, when | goaded by hopeless poverty and suffering the bangs of hunger No mans appetite | was ever satisfied with glimpses of other mems loaded tables, was his nakedness less apparent or humiating because of
 other mems well-fitting garments. The enormous wealth of the very few plays no fortunate part in the widespread poverty that now like pail hovers over every sec- | tion of the union.
 The specious reasoning of men who talk 'prosperity' while gaunt poverty stands like an awful shadow in the great majority of American homes today has become but as "sounding brass' to every man and woman who have eyes see for themselves the real condition of the masses of the people. All over Alabama honest men cannot meet their obligations, because of the low price of farm products and the impertinent suggestion of outsiders that these hard working economical farmers should re-double their energies, and de- crease their expenses. but adds to the dis tress of men who have labored in season and out of season for bread for their chil- dren, and who for the past twelve months have not purchased single luxury and nothing but the most absolute necessities. Because a few more residences are built in the cities; because a financial panic does not hold the people by the throat, it is less to attempt to shut ones eyes to the degrading poverty of the great masses of the people of the country.
 A few individuals are rich, but the people are suffering for food and clothes in every part of the country. McKinleys political methods and McKinleys financial policy have been utter, absolute failures, as far as the great body of the American people Is concerned. In the same ratio that comparatively few men grow enormously rich, the vast majority of Americans are growing poorer and poorer, and their dis tress and suffering cannot be explained by any hackneyed phrase of "over-produc- tion" unwillingness to labor. The im- pregnable trusts have possession of the business interests of America, and dare to | dictate the political and financial policy | of the country regardless of everything | save the enriching of the men connected | herewith.
 This has been pointed out from time to | time, with more or less force, by the press 1 as well politicians, and the people of l the cities have grown accustomed to the warnings, and are almost unconscious of l the growth of that public opinion which is preparing to rectify the wrongs perpe- l trated by monopolies and trusts. The limit | of patience is being reached; the classes l cannot much longer dominate the masses.
 
 The insolence of money power is it's most l obnoxious feature. The manipulators of | nearly every monopoly expect to control | the people with iron hand, and arro- l gantly defy investigation.
 l A man who can claim certain rights | from the management of money or mon- l eyed interests, too often expects to close | the mouths of dissatisfied people with the power of gold. He intimidates the moral coward with his bravado, and denies all l the rights of the people, except to con- 1 tribute their part towards enriching his especial monopoly. Nearly very city, how ever small, has its trusts, which oppress | and aff1ict, and the time has come when 1 they should be broken by the force of pub-
 lie opinion. Citizens have the privilege of | inquiring into every business which they support by their patronage, and when any monopoly becomes arrogant to deny l the people this right and to ask, like Boss I Tweed, just before his memorable politi. | cal fall, What are you going to do about | it?" it is high time that the people should
 do something that will show to the mo- nopoly that they in their moral right, are l stronger, more invincible than any trust l that was ever organized.
 moral coward Is a miserable blot upon | the face of nature. A man who, seeing and
 recognizing the oppression of people, by | a monopoly, yet fears to assist in the de-
 struction of the power of that monopoly, except to whisper his opinions, at safe dis l tances, is even a greater evil than the | trust whose methods he condemns. Birmingham has her monopoly, which
 has grown rich upon the necessities of the