Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1899-06-02
SEEDS OF Discomfort.

The popular fury against trusts, as ex.
hibited in the recent legislation of many
States, is a striking sign Of the times. Such
enactments as the Texas antitrust law are
really to be regarded in the light of symp-
toms, rather than remedies. Nevertheless,
it is plain enough that public opinion is
profoundly stirred, and we stand at the
threshold of an era which may bring great
political, social and economic changes in
its train. 1t is easy to ascribe the prevailing
frenzy to the Vaccinations Of demagogues,
but the results are out of all proportion to so
paltry cause. History leads up TO the be.
lief that there must be some great under.
lying lact-that the seeds o! discomfort must
be deeply imbedded in the daily life of the
American people.
A brief consideration of the history Of the
Standard Oil Company, the prototype of all
the overshadowing trusts, will serve to set
forth the realities OF the situation in the
strongest possible relief This monster con.
Germ, which now reckons its wealth by the
hundreds of millions, was founded in Cleve.
land, Ohio, less than thirty years ago, its
capital stock being placed at the modest
figure Of 100000. In the beginning, its
existence was struggle against the compe.
tition Of more than forty rivals. To-day,
il holds the monopoly Of the oil trade, with
an iron grip. AT the outset, the ROckelel-
lers, the moving spirits Of the corporation,
We're poor men, both in the absolute and
the relative sense Two or three years ago
one of these mighty capitalists swore, in
open court, that his accumu lations amount
to the fabulous sum OF $275000,000. Com.
mon sense will tell us that no such amount
of money can be anassed by normal methods
of business.
Ii is small wonder that there should be
ominous mutterings on every side, and that
legislative bodies should clutch at desperate
remedies, 10 the blindness of their rage.
Equality OF opportunity is the corner stone
of this government, and il has been destroy
ID by methods which have always been the
forerunners of dscord and anarchy. Deep
in the heart of every human being-and,
especially, of every American-lies the love
of justice which is the moving voice Of God.
No man, nor any body OF men, may deny
the reasonable demands of their fellows, ut.
tered in that behalf. Spain has fallen from
the zenith OF glory To the nadir OF degrade
ton because her colonial rule was simply
organized injustice Let no man delude
himself with the idea that the present sys-
TEN can last. Great events are in the air
the nature and import OF which no mortal
eye can ioresee, but the humblest intelli-
gence is sufficient to discern the fact that ex
isting conditions must be radically changed
accord with the ideals of the founders Under
meath these great phenomena there lie laws
no less mpcrious than those which govern
the ceaseless ebb and flow of the oceans
tides. From the beginning of time, man
has sought to bend the eternal verties OF
his narrow and selfish purpose, and history
is one long record of the failures which are,
in truth, but the luminous exposition of the
eternal fitness of things In looking about
him at the present time, the burning words
Of Milton must rise to the lips of the phi
losopher and the patriot: "Methinks, see
in my mind noble and pussant nation
ronsing herself like strong man after sleep
and shaking her invincible locks: Methinks
| see her as an eagle mewing her mighty
youth, and kndling her undazzled eyes a,
the full midday beam"