Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-06-13

did in jumping from the populist plat
form with one bound. 1 have not at
tempted to picture the dark side to you:
l am speaking from actual experience
with the methods of the Standard Oil
company at Wardner. Idaho, where it
has paid $3.50 per day less wages thar
any other mine in the Occur d'Alenes.
1t now appeals to the public for SYM !
pathy through the subsidized press over
the destruction of it's concentrator which
1t values at $500 600, while the manager
appeared before the board of equalization
less than one year ago and under oath
valued it at $50. 900, and refused to pay
taxes on a higher valuation. This cor
poration has done everything in it's power
to disrupt organized labor in the state.
In this it has the unqualified support of
the entire state government which is
composed of democrats and silver repub-
licans.
Governor Stuenenburg and Attorney
General Hayes are it's plant tools and
are well paid for carrying out it's instruc-
tions. They should go down in history
as the Benedict Arnolds who sold their
honor for Standard Oil Doodle. Some
people will say hat such a condition of
affairs will not prevail while the presi-
dent of the copper trust is a western
man. Grant that it be true. How long
is a western man liable to be president
of the trust? He may at any time sell
his interest, resign or die, then the hopes
of these people are dashed to earth and
they are placed in the category as
millions of others whose life depends up
on the will of the trusts.
Inside of two years the Standard Oil
trust, the lead trust and copper trust
will be merged into one great trust or
syndicate under one management with
headquarters on Wall street. In the
hands of such an enormous syndicate the
people will be as putty. unable to help
themselves because the syndicate will
have the support of every department of
the government backed by the strong
military arm of the law to enforce the
! execution of it's claims: for such pur-
poses the standing army has been in
creased.
Upon all sides we can see the wealth
of the nation passing into the hands of
a rich money obligarchy whose avaric-
| ious greed is never satisfied; nothing less
= than the complete subjugatiOn Of the
( American people will ever satisfy it.
: Today less than a quarter of a million
persons own more than eighty per cent
5 Of all our wealth: the middle class is be-
7 ing rapidly eliminated. The business
man twenty years ago who found profit
able fields for his energy, now finds him
Z self bankrupt BY the operations Of the
, department store where the wage slaves
/ of the large corporations are compelled
to trade on seek employment elsewhere.
The average business man in the large
l cities has found it utterly impossible TO
do business under such conditions, con-
Sequently he has been forced With his
I family to enter the ranks Of labor and
4 with millions Of others depend entirely
) on the large combines Of organized CAPT
: talists for a living.
! When | view the rapid accumulation Of
wealth in the hands Of a few dangerous
millionaires whose grips are on the
throat of the people through various
i forms of national, state, municipal t2l--
+ graph and railroad debts created by spec
, ial legislation and supported by a venal
? press. then turn to the other side and be-
: hold the woIkingnlen bowling in meek sub
: mission to this legalized robbery. their
q independence and manhoo vanishing like
: a fleeing shadow before the sacred right
S of property 1 am reminded Of the words
of Goldsmith:
t III fares the land to Fastening ills a
prey.
t Where wealth accumulates and men de-
: Princes and lords may flourish or may
c fade:
: A breath can make them as a breath has
made.
t But a bold peasantry. their country's
+ When once destroyed. can never be sup
$ Piled"
:, Should a patriot appear upon the
scene with enough courage to attack our
: present slave system and enough brains
; to offer a remedy by opening the eyes of
8 those who have been blinded by party
!. prejudice, all the power of plutocracy is
, directed against him, the hireling press,
the paid lackeys. will hound him at every
step. The debased creatures that he is
trying to help will crawl out of their mis-
> 800, II, l-~,,. AVID ;,;p Il, tho n,.1- af + hoiy
c masters that he is an anarchist, a social
list or an agltatOr opposed to the sacred
!, rights of private property; if this will not
suffice he is denounced as a foreigner who
does not understand the benefits of Amer
= lean institutions. Today the Cry of pa
!, triotism is taken up by every corporation
Il hireling in the lane and every person who
dares to Withhold his assent is branded as
=. a traitor: the cry of treason is hurled at
= him by the agents of plutocracy. The
> words of Thomas jefferson are very ap-
> lplicable to our over jealous patriots when
( he declared that patriotism is the last
> refuge of a scoundlel.' They might
pause in the midst of their folly and turn
1 their patriotism into a desire to better
( the conditions of their country before the
fury of revolution spreads from ocean to
ocean.
U A revolution similar to tina described
by General JOIN A. Logan in his speech
: March Il. 1874. Capital rests upon labor
Z Hut when it attempts to press too heavily
{ Upon that which supports it in a free re-
/, public. the -slumbering volcano. whose
| mutterings are beginning already to be
. heard. will burst forth with a fury that
, no legislation will quell.' When Genera
: Logan saw the awful danger that threat
I. ened his country 25 years ago what would
. he say today If he could see the oppres
cinp If tho CORPORA fiOnc who have less 70.