The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1899-03-01
MONOPOLY.
PROPHECY FULFILLED.
An Inquairy Into the Causes Of Present
Social Conditi0ns-RemedieS Con-
sidered-Lincoln's Prophecy
and Its Pulfillnent.

| ! see IN the near future a crisis ap-
preaching that unnerves me and causes
mo to trembls for the safety OF my
country. AS result of the war, cor
porations have been enthroned, and an
era OF corruption in high places will
follow, and the money power of the
country will endeavor to prolong its
reign by working upon the prejudices Of
the people, until all wealth is aggregated
IN few hands, and the republic is de-
stroyed. l feel at this moment more
anxiety for the safety of the country
than ever before, even in the midst OF
the war. ."-Abraham Lincoln in 1865.
To thoughtful observer the present
condition Of society must be subject of
the. deepest concern Each succeeding
day the toilers of the world find it
harder to live. Tho wages they receive
IN employment, the products of their
shops and farms, scarce purchase the
means Of life. Their homes and farms
are under mortgage, and they are in
debted for money borrowed, and for the
commonest necessaries. Thus living a
hand-to-mouth existence, unable to
make any provision for the future, they
are, upon the occurrence of the least
misfortune, sickness, the loss of employ
ment, or the action of their creditors,
driven to want compelled to tramp the
streets for work and for bread, hunted
as vagrants from the common highways,
their misfortune reproach, and even a
crime.
This Is the prospect that haunts even
the more fortunate at all times; and
how many are brought face to face with
it, let the millions of unemployed, the
ruined business men, and farmers of the
country answer. The tramp and pauper
of society are but the victims of this
common misfortune, their spirits broken
by their wrongs. Nor is any toiler Sc
cure; in the uncertainty of business, and
with labor ranks everywhere overcrowd-
only in too much danger of joining the
numbers of this vagrant throng.
Meanwhile wealth is piling up with a
| rapidity before unknown. A half CEN
tury ago, we had but two or three mil
lionaires. Now they number 35,ooo;
| many OF them are, besides, multi-mil-
lionaires, their fortunes mounting into
the hundreds Of millions. Corporations
too, with capitals reaching into the bill
lions, are in control of all enterprises,
public and private, and are the masters
of labor They have long had charge
of public franchises, such as light and
water supply, street railways, tele-
graphs and railroads, amassng their
millions therefrom. And now, in the
shape OF the trust, they are securing
control, one after another, of all the
products Of labor and supplies OF life,
with the power yet more absolute to die
tate terms. One hundred and fifty Of
them now exist, and new one is form
ing almost daily, until we can no longer
doubt that before the Twentieth century
shall have fairly begun, every toiler in
the world must enter their employ, or be
subject to their dictation, and every hu-
man being living in it must come to
them for all the supplies of life.
Can we, then, wonder that society IS
running to extremes? The so-called
middle classes, the inde pendent toilers
and ordinarily wel-to-do, are becoming
extinct; and in their stead, we have but
the enormously rich and the beggarly
poor. With the trust and corporation in
control Of every field of employment,
the toilers of the world are driven into
their employ. and helpless, are COM
PEELED to accept the lowest wages; hence,
we see labor everywhere necessitous,
while its great corporate employers
amass their millions from the wealth
created In control also of the markets,
the farmer or other producer must like
wise come to them with his products,
and, equally helpless as the laborer be-
fore them, must accept the lowest prices.
And to them must go every citizen for
his supplies, and upon the same terms
of helplessness, contributing each his
share to their extorted millions.
Thus it is that we find society more
and more divided into two classes, COM
pared with which, all former class dis
tinctions were merciful Between the
| lord and his serf, between the master and
his slave, there was room for the feel
ings of pity, of kindness and even of re-
gard. But no such feeling is there to
soften the relation between the owners
of the great corporation and the toilers
in its employ, or the public who con-
tribute to its gains. Between them
stands the soulless monster Itself, deaf
to all appeals, and to every considera-
ton of humanity; and we see labor re-
duced to the lowest extremity, and
worse, turned out Of employment, as ma
chinery does more and more the work.
Almost the first step taken by the trust
upon its formation Is to shut down a
number of plants, and turn the laborers
adrift, reducing, at the same time, the
step, if, indeed, not its first, is to crush
out all competition, driving independent
competitors into the already overcrowd-
ed ranks OF labor Then turning its At
tention to the public, 1t reduces the price
of the farmers and other labor products,
and raises the price of all supplies, un-
til. like the laborer reduced to the
worst straits, these, one after the other,
lose their farms and places Of business,
and join the army Of the unemployed.
Four million tramps we have already,
and we can surely expect their numbers
to increase.
Politics is infected with these condi-
tions: wealth and corporate influence
control legislation. If laws are under
taken against them. it is but to satisfy
popular clamor, and such laws are not
nor intended to be, effective; while. on
the other hand, the most vicious legis--
lation in their interests can be had
| whenever desired The courts. having
dissolved the railroad trust, the most
iniquitous of them all, its promoters
make their open boast that they are
waiting for legislation. And well they
know they can procure it; their hench-
men fill the halls of legislation. many of
them in their service as paid counsel,
their pockets filled with railroad passes,
and not hesitating at more open bribes.