The Advocate and news., 1898-02-09

tiles, are levying unjust tribute for private
ton.
Special privileges or protection granted
by legislation are another s0urce OF gain,
from which, with the aid OF those who
control natures stores and the utilities
made valuable by society, the few have
been enabled to form vast trusts and mo.
nOpolies. Thus, In the one Item Of sugar
It was made possible for one great trust
by leVying an additional tax on every
spoonful OF sugar eaten. All the corpora
ttons are linked together by the band Of
community Of interest. There are periods
when there Ii local warfare for a short
time while the greater corporations are
absorbing or crushing their smaller rivals,
but these are merely Incidents In the march
of corporate power, and the fact remains
lie veal. The corporation exists for the
purpose of acquiring wealth for the few
from the nation or the units that make up
the nation; and corporate power, having
no ethics, and indeed no conscience or
soul Is the most formidable and essentially
demoraliZlng influence In the republic,
power which cOrrupts and subverts govern
ment while II organizes oppression, and
in whose atmosphere neither justice nor
liberty can long survive. Its influence
is as o moral miasma In public life, while
II impoVerishes, enslaves and debases the
people. From the national government,
corporate power to prevent exposures, have
come such glaring and revolving swindles
as the Credit M0bllier, the whisky ring,
the secret bond deal, and the armor plate
examples OK the debauching influence OF
the corporations In public life. The Tweed
ring and the exposures OF the LeXOw COM
mittee were startling Illustrations OF the
corrupt conditions in municipal life which
were rendered possible by the influence OF
corporate power seeking franchises and
special privileges.
But the less open and less bra1en infiu-
ence Of the corporations is something even
more alarming than their bOlder and more
direct methods, Such are the purchase
Of large interests In great oplnlon-form-
ing journals and the silencing OF voices
which would soon awaken the conscience
OF the nation were they allowed to expose
the corrupt and immoral practices OF the
corporations; the union Of great advertis-
Ing interests In practical boycott by with
drawing their patronage from papers ad-
Vocating measures beneficial TO the people
but offensive to the mlllonaires, such as
the income tax; the pressure brought by
bankers and insurance companies upon the
advertising patrons Of the press, az we'll
as upon the press which advocates meas
ures opposing the money-lending interest
These are a few OF the influences which
have long been actively at work, and
which, owing to the rapidly increasing
power of the corporations and their Ma
chiavelllan methods, are becoming more
and more successful
The real conflict Of the present, tho
struggle upon which the issue OF free
government Is hanging to-day, Is between
corporate power and the public veal. It
Is lfe-and-death conflict between inter-
ests organized In bands and conducted for
the benefit Of the few at the expense Of the
many, on the one hand, and the genius OF
free government and the well-being OF the
millions, on the other II Is Of first linz
p0rtance to keep ever In the foreground
the fundamental fact that the real Issue
is and must be the commonwealth against
the corporations; that is, the freedom,
happiness and prosperity Of all the people
against the aggresslons Of organized greed.
1t matters not whether we consider the
question from the standpoint OF economics,
from that Of public morality and national
integrity, or from that OF private, virtue
and self-respecting manhood; whether we
view 1t In It's relation to the liberty OF the
people and that sound morality upon which
enduring free government alone can rest
whether we view 1t merely as question or
business relating to the interests OK the
people; or whether we consider the higher
and more important aspects which relate
to the fundamentals upon which lasting
civilization Tests-thlS Issue becomes one
Of first Importance to every right thinking
man, whether he be statesman or educator,
farmer or artisan.
And what is more, in the presence OF this
mortal struggle between the forces OF
progress and those Of oppression an awful
duty devoves upon every man, o RESPONSE
bility which no one, care not how insig-
nlfcant his influence may seem, can evade
without committing a moral crime for
which, somewhere and in some way, he
will suffer as surely as there are moral
laws running trough the universe, and as
certainly as the infractlon OF law brings
evil consequences. This question there
fore, is one that concerns In vital way
every man and woman In the nation. What
more glorious work can one engage in than
that OF resculng freedom from oppression,
reinstating Justice on the throne Of law,
and bringing hope, happiness and pros
perity once more into the lives OF the pe0-
pie?
On. ON and on the millions pressl