The labor world., 1899-06-10
Great..,.
Organizers. h i
The Coming Comm onwealtl.
being Prepared for the Peo-

pie
We have some wonderful or
ganizers and financiers in the indus
trial world, and among these the
Standard Oil people are certainly the
greatest and most wonderful. Not
only do they possess an absolute mo-
Enopoly in oil production, but their
holdings in sugar, tobacco, whiskey,
copper, glucose, lead, bricks, iron and
steel and many other industries are
so large that they practically control
them, and their investments in steam
railroad stocks and bonds, mining
property, valuable land, waterway
shipping, hotels, ETC., are also SO ex-
tensive that they WELD a powerful in
fuence in these rticular activities.
Very seldom do the bears on the
stock exchanges assault Standard Sc
curities. They are usually regarded
gilt-edged. !.
1t. is difficult matter to secure
authentic informal ion of all the indus
tries that are cont olled by the Stand
lard people. They work quietly often
secretly, but the unseen power is
felt through ali famif ations Of
our Industrial zsyss snlys as many an OPP
J, posing capt. talist an e testify. In dis
cussing the trankfer Of the Chicago
street railways, tf,r s. nstance, q daily
paper in that eli remarks that it is
an open secret that the Standard oil
magnates are heavily interested in
many, If not mos sc the street rail-
ways which the syndicate has ac-
,quired ana are ead1y y to furnish mil
lions Tor s. ter may suggest,
and that 4, s l,ers of the syndi-
cate stand real hackers
and aass. q bands
Of the oil ma mates many disagree
able funct tions which are incident to
dealing with the public and public
|foffi icials. IN other words, it is not
always those who are. credited with
l#5being at the head Of trusts and COM
bines that are the real power, but they.
are really only the employees Of the
Standard and Il affff iliat ted interest the
genuine king bees Of the industrial
hive. SIS
The same brain that made the Stand
ard Oil company the model for all
latter-day combina ations of capital IS
seen guiding with careful thorough
ness the syndicate that is acquiring
q complete nopoly Of all branches
Of motive power and transpo tation
i!n mnnic alities }and covering all
possible weak points. The automobile
is the nstrument with which the mag
mates are mplishing their work.
In New York, p Philadel lphia and Chi
scago the Whitney Widener Elkins
syndicat or the Standards practi-
cally complete master. n the latter
city the syndicate is said to control
$1,000 900 capital; in Philadelp lphia,
$3.50, ,OOO, 900, and last weeks papers an
nounced that its capitalizat ton will be
$500, ,OOO, 900 in New York, while more
recent5reports gives a list Of nineteen
other cities in which a strong foothold
has been secured by this same com
bine:,B Besides acquiring longtime or
4 perpetual franchises, and thus pre-
venting competition upon 1.-THE one
side, the syndicate reaches out for
lighting and power plants and is SO
closely allied with manufacturing
Icombines that it's advantages can by
no possibility be overcome. With the
ownership of franchises, street cars,
automobile rights, power and lighting
plants, manufacturing plants, includ-
ing the rubber trust and large carriage
and wagon works, mines, ETC., as well
as possessing storage battery patents
and bringing compressed air within
their grasp, it is readily to be seen
that there is no loop-hole left open
for the entrance of competing capi-
tai. It is likewise difficult to under
stand how such compact organization,
protected by law and having unlimited
capital, and hence economic and poll
tical power, can be disrupted and
Suppressed. The revolution that will
be accomplished by the automobile
cannot well be imagined. That there
will be a saving of immense labor-pow-
er, no one will question, and if those
who are affected thereby cannot see
that they should be benefited rather
than injured by the new innovation
it simply means they do not under
Estand their rights as human beings.
The socialist movement is teaching
the workers that the trust instead OF
being . curse, viii prove a blessing