The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-06-04

Mass, was a blacksmith, as ironworkers
were called in those days.
On the hearth in my library in Atchi-
son, as the most valued of my ancestral
heirlo0mS, stands the old anvil upon
which he used to fashion and temper
the Scythe blades, the hoes and spades,
the horseshoes and plough points for his
rustic neighbors, when Thomas Jefferson
was President. He was a man of in
| iiuence and position, an active leader
Of the local democracy, and died possess
ed of a comfortable fortune.
Today there is not one of the things
which he made in his forge that is not
manufactured by machinery controlled
by trusts, at prices which render individ-
ual competition impossible, and the Oc-
cupatiOn of the blacksmith is gone.
My Grandfather Chase. OF Ha rerhill,
Mass, about the same time, was Il pio-
neer i'll the wholesale manufacture of
boots and shoes The SOleS and upperS
We're cut by hand and taken home in
sets of sixty pairs by the neighboring
farmers, where the women stitched and
bound them, and the men pegged or
seWed them, in the intervals of toll
in the field or the forest. Within the
life of the man of middle age all the
boots and shoes in the world were made
by manual labor.
Ny father invented the first machine
for emitting s0les from leather and for
furnishing and finishing the edges and
Shanks This has been followed by Il
multitude of inventions, 50 that now,
with the exception of q few cObblerS
here and there, no man makes shoes.
They are all made in factories by ma
chinery requiring 1876 different operations
for every shoe, so that the man who
makes the heel never sees the toe, and
the avocation of the shoemaker is gone;
and when by caprice or Over-productiOn,
or under consumption, the factory shuts
down. the operatives, having no indepen
dent handicraft. is thrown out of employ
ment. his wages stop, and he becomes
mendicant or a tramp In the same way
the tailor, the carpenter the compost
tor, the weaver, the farm hand have
gradually become dislocated. Population
is constantly increasing and the avenues
of employment are continually diminish
ing.
| remember a story in my boyhoOd of
captive confined in vast apartment
from which there was no escape, who
was startled at midnight by the clang
of the hell in his prison tower. Waking
in the morning, he discovered that there
was one less window in his room. The
following morning there was another
missing, and thus he became aware that
day by day the walls of his cell were
closing in upon him, and that sooner or
later the discordant bell would toll the
hour Of his doom.
Labor thus having lost its indepen-
dence is becoming degraded and diScred-
tied and losing its self-reSpect as well.
Society is stratified. Its nobility is dis
appearing. The relations between the
rich and the poor are not cordial. The
prosperous are tolerant or patronlzng.
The dependent are sullen. They feel that
under existing conditions they do not
have equal opportunities. They are
right The race is no longer to the
swift, nor the battle to the strong.
Not long since in a Western State /
encountered gentleman who described
himself as an agent of the American
Biscuit Trust. He said his duties We're
to see that no other biscuits or crackers
than those made by his employers We're
sold in the territory in his charge. Dur
ne our conversation, in response to my
curiosity, he mentioned that two Ger
mans who had been bakers in Berlin,
having made Il few thousand dollars
keeping a saloon i'll Illinois, had con-
Guided to abandon that business and
make crackers again. AS soon as he
heard of their intention he mentioned
to them that it would be n losing ven
ture and advised them to desist. But
they kept on, supposing they had as
much right to sell biscuits as to sell necr,
and commenced business; whereupOn the
agent of the trust hired an adjacent
store. stocked it with their goods, cut
the price 10 per cent, and when TINS
was met, cut again. | asked the result.
and was told with a cOmplacent smile
that in three months the capital Of the
unsophistcated Germans was gone. anu
they were financially strangled to death.
This was not competition. 1T was crime.
1t was worse than robbery on the high
way. because it lacked the courage of
| the footpad In the dominion OF the
Sultan or the Gar there rs no more
| execrable tyranny, no more abomlla-
bic violation of the fundamental rights
| of man.
| At the time this trust was formed
| there were several bakeries IN st.
Joseph, Atchison and other towns along
the Missouri River. They We're com
pelled to close. The wOrkman were
discharged, and one of the proprletors
now has large salary for visiting ne
| grocery stores i'll order to guard against
| free trade among American citizens i'll
ginger snaps and to prevent smuggling
! of illicit food into the stomachs OF The
people.
Formerly flax culture was an eX-
ceedinly profitable industry in East
ern Kansas. The fibre was valuable
| for fabrics, and the seed for linseed
oil. Mills were set up at many towns
| in the valley, providing market for
| the farmers and yielding good re-
| turns to the owners. When the Lin
seed Oil Trust was formed, these es-
| tablishments, either by purchase or
strangulation, were suppressed, and
| flax culture has disappeared as abso-
! lutely as though the earth had be-
| come incapable of its support.
! That the hostility to these comblna-
| tions is not selfish is shown by the
| fact that in many cases they have
cheapened and bettered products. and
| thus helped consumers in the sfrug-
| gle for life The Standard Gil Com
pany has undoubtedly diminished the
cost of 1i0ht for the poor and aided