Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1899-11-17

Heretofore certain men with Offices
in Wall street have controlled the
finances of this country, and the
money supply of the people. Certain
other men with offices in Wall street
have controlled the railroads of the
country. Other men with offices in
Wall street control most of the fac
tories of the country.
The thought has heretofore occurred
to many, and the question has been
asked What if these Wall street
gentlemen should pool their interests
and form one universal money, rail-
road and factory trust?" What will
then be the condition of the rest of US?
The Rockefellers Especially John d.
Rockefeller) have for years controlled
the oil business of the country, and
have been reaching after an absolute
monopoly of many other branches OF
production. Now it appears that John
ID. Rockefeller has leaped into the
saddle as a general railroad boss, from
which position he can easily dictate
terms to all of the trusts and make
himself the head of the looked for and
quickly coming universal trust.
When Cornelius Vanderbilt died a
few weeks ago many guesses were made
as to who would take his place in the
management of his great railroad prop
critics, and it was generally expected
that his son. Cornelius, Jr., would fill
his shoes as far as able. But to the
great surprise of those on the outside,
the great Standard Oil magnate, John
d. Rockefeller, took up the reins where
the head of the Vanderbilts left OH,
and was elected to the directorate OF
the New York Central.
On the heels of this comes the news
of a great railroad combine that in
cludes the Vanderbilt systems, the
Rockefeller interests, and the roads
controlled by Coils P. Huntington.
The combine, which is said to be well
on toward the point of success, will
include all lines of railway leading to
the Pacifc-the Great Northern, owned
by the Rockefellers, from Tacoma,
Wash, to Duluth; the Northern Pa
cifc, under the same control, from
Portland, Ore, to ST. Paul; the Central
Pacific. from San Francisco to Denver,
where it connects with the Union Pa
cific, owned respectively by the Hunt
ington syndicate and the Vanderbilts,
and reaching to New York City; and
finally, the Southern Pacific, the con-
troll of which has recently been &C
qured by Huntington, from San Fran
cisco to St. Louis, Mo-, where it con-
meets with Vanderbilt and Rockefeller
lines.
There is not single industry in the
United States not at the mercy of SUCH
a trust as this one of railroads. The
great grain belt of the central Yves ,ern
prairies, the mines of the Rocky noun
tains, the cattle raising district of the
Southwest, the cotton plantations or
the South, the iron and copper mines
of the North, the tobacco trade OF the
central Southern states-all exist only
at the pleasure of the members OF THIS
giant syndicate.
Even now the Rockefellers are in
undisputed possession of the oil and to-
bacco industries of America through
the Standard Oil and Tobacco trusts;
they dominate the iron trade through
their control of the Northern mines
and a great fleet of lake carriers,
which bring their ore to Pittsburg to
be manufactured by the steel trust in
which the same capitalists are the
dominating force. With Others they
now own the whisky trade Of the
country, and the coal mines of Penn
sylvania, Ohio and Indiana are also in
the grasp of the Vanderbilts and
ROckefellers.
No man can say where the autocratic
power Of such trust will end. If 1t is
allowed to remain under private con-
troll. The government of nation
could be paralyzed by its influence and
the people might be starved at their
whim. should they object to the trust
method of operation. Work or idle
ness would be for them to give or
withhold as best suited their interests,
and every penny invested in industry
might be drawn into their Golfers
whenever they chose to pull the string.
Hurt His Head Thinking
One day a Caddy sat in the Long