The labor world., 1899-04-01
Superior {.


In his sermon at the Mission March
10Th, Rev. J. H. Mason, among other
things said:
eve put down the Shareholders re-
bellion, but the money power of the
world attacked us in flank and rear,
and we are suffering from it's oppres-
sive burdens today. Thirty-fve years
ago we gave away valuable privileges
to some railway corporation. We
boasted of cheap and swift transporta-
ton and of the new western fields it
opened up to commerce. That corpor-
alton may have been at first blessing
to the country in spite of much dis
honesty in its management. Years
have passed. That corporation has
become immensely rich, charges ex-
horbitant prices for the service it
gives us, discriminates in its rates in
favor of the large city and big manu-
facturers as against the inland village
and small shipper. That corporation
which now buys legislatures, and de-
feats laws needed for the protection
of the people, has become an insuffer-
able oppressor. We ride at three
cents mile, one third the old stage
coach price, and at forty miles an
hour, five times as fast as we used to
ride, but we are the slaves of the cor
poration. This railroad is but sample
Of the unrighteousness and oppression
that lurk in great improvements,
which we imagine when they were
first inauguratcd to be ushering in the
millennium.
'T cannot stop in this brief talk to
discuss the vast inroads upon our liber>
ties, the enormous expressions that
are being laid upon the people, in con-
sequence of great improvements so
called in the hands of powerful COR
porations. We have been sadly blind
ed in respect to the awful perils con-
nected with these enormous CONNER
cal and industrial changes that are
sweeping our civilization like Kan
sas cyclone. Monstrous injustices
must inevitably be the outcome of our
corporations, syndicates, monopolies,
trusts, if they are allowed without
check to be controlled by rich, selfish,
men. The greatest con-
flict that the world has ever seen is up
on us, the conflict with unrighteous
banking systems and outrageous mo-
nopolies, with the rich mans control
of our legislatures and courts, and
with the demagogues manipulation of
our city, county, state and federal gov
ernment,.I am reminding you this
morning that it is not all gold that
glitters, that the snake that charms
may have a poisonous fang, that dazzl-;
ing commercial successes may prove
our ruin, that our great monied COR
porations may enslave the nation.
''To put my thought into positive
form; we are enslaved already and do
not realize it. The heel of CONNER
cial despotism is upon the neol<s of the
people, while the crowd is shouting,
"Great is the Diana of American pros
perity." Are we not. verify boasting
of our enslavement, while our fran
chises and trusts are debating the
prices of everything we eat and wear,
the roofs that we sleep under and the
carriages that we ride in; while they
are fast robbing us of the dearest treas
ures of home and citizenship? If the
crowd must Boast, let all Thoughtful
citizens give themselves to fasting and
prayer and the careful study of the
problems that are now confronting
us.
"Let us come nearer home and look
at our duties as citizens of Superior
and of Douglas county. The evils that
I have spoken of are not all far away.
They are many of them right here at
our doors and they give ample scope
for the energy of our citizens that be-
lieve in righting the wrongs OF society,
in defending the weak against the
strong, in the honest handling of pub
lie funds, and in electing officers that
will faithfully administer the laws.
From year to year caucuses and con-
ventions have been packed in the in
terests Of unworthy candidates, the
creatures of an inscriptions cabal;
citizens have wickedly surrendered
their private convictions to the domin-
alton of party; the intrigues of poll
tical managers have been winked at;
and infamous stealings from the pub
lie treasury have often gone unrebuk-
ed in our courts. All this while our
business men, and the better class of
citizens generally have been preoccu-
pied with their immediate personal