The labor world., 1899-10-14
HUGE OCTOPUS.
The Tentacles of the Trusts Spreading
Out in Every Direction.

4 NEW YORK daily paper, in re-
~ cent issue published a map
which was wonderful revelation
of the growing power Of capitalism.
Like a huge octopus it's tentacles are
shooting ou in every direction and
seizing the wealth Of the nation pro-
duced by labor, and at the same time
Tightening the coils Of slavery.
The map shows some of the princi-
pal railroad lines to be controlled by
the new Vanderbilt Rockefeller combi-
nation together with the centers of IN
dustry dominated by the associated
trusts. The railroad trust is the back
bone Of the octopus. The industrial
combinations are the tentacles that ac-
cumulate the wealth that feeds the
head, which represents a few score
millionaire magnates, like the Rookie
fellers, Goulds and Armours.
The railway trust covers the entire
United States. 1t gridirons the East
ern States, throws it's arms across the
deserts and mountains, along the routes
of the four great transcontinental lines
to the western coast, and up and down
the entire slope, and throughout the
entire Southland. 1t binds together
the Atlantic and Pacific, the Great
Lakes, and the Gulf of Mexico; it par
allels the internal waterways and
in the union.
Thus the current of nations life
can be swung from one section to an
other by little group of capitalists.
as a similar group swings the shop
ping and theatre traffic on a city's
street car lines, and communities will
flourish or wither as their masters
speak the word. They have the power
to squeeze and strangle the wealth.
producers Of whole sections at will.
It is shown that at Buffalo, GEN.
trail point of the great railway trust,
the elevators controlled by the Rookie
fellers and Vanderbilts in turn control
the Eastern wheat market. In CleVe-
land converge the Rockefeller iron ore
and part of the oil interests. In Yves:
tern PENNSYLVANIA are oil wells con-
trolled by the Standard trust, gigantic
iron and steel industries ruled by vari-
Gus affiliated interests, and coal mines
and coke ovens in the possession of the
I mighty union Of capitalism. In West
-
touched more oil wells, and in the
Southwest cotton fields and the South
west cattle ranches fall within the
clutches of the, octopus. In Florida are
the winter resorts owned by the Stan
dard trust magnates. In Cincinnati ano
Louisville are. distilleries, breweries
and tobacco warehouses belonging to
the trusts in which the Rockefellers
are interested. in Chicago and Kansas
City aitss hacking houses and grain ele:
'vasors plesIdsd over ~ the Armour
branch Of the capitalist federation.
In Michigan and Minnesota are the
Rockefeller iron mines,a and in Montana
Idaho, Colorado and Nevada his cop
per and 81 yer mines.
These are by no means all of the
fortresses Of commerce controlled by
the dictators of America. Almost ev-
cry stratgetic point in the Union con-
tains a Rockefeller-Vand garri-
son.
The middlemen, the countless horde
of little profit-mongers who few
years. ago boasted of their indepen-
dence, and the small manufacturers,
brokers and statesmen are being swal-
lowed or driven out of business in
great numbers. Take the iron busi-
ness for instance: Formerly score or
more of Independent companies sup
piled and handled a given product, be-
ginning with the raw material until
it was finished. Now the trust goes
into steel manufacturing and makes it
from it's own iron, brought from it's
own mines over it's own railroads or
in it's own ships. The ships themselves
are built in it's own yards, the railroad
cars in it's own shops, and the rails
over which they run in it's own mills
It sends it's products to it's customers
over it's own transportation lines and
handles their drafts in it's own banks
The Independent producer is COM
PEELED to buy everything, pay trans
portation and then depend upon an un-
certain market at every step. The
trust has set out to control the market
and is succeeding wonderfully we'll.
To talk of individual initiative and
industrial independence under these
circumstances is absurd.
To talk of disrupting this gigantic
fabric of trusts, when the octopus con-
trolls the law making power, the courts
and the finest legal talent, is ridicu-
lous.
To advocate taxing the trusts, as Mr..
Bryan. is now doing, when the trusts
have the undisputed power 70 compel
the people to bear that tax, is a stu
pid piece of demagoguery.