St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-07-01
A NATIONS DANGERS.
Dr. Talmage Eloquently Poruays
the Count:y's Destiny.
Monopoly the Overwhelming Curse
Of Our Iansl-SIhf1fsm nm evil
Pow cr--In6delity a Source
OF Weakness.

"Thy land shall be married.
As the greater includes the less, &c
| does the circle Of future Joy around our
| entire world include the epicycle of ouE
own republic Bold. exhiiarant, unique
Divine imagery of the text. At the close
| of a week in which for four days our
| national capital WAS q pageant and all
that grand review and hammered process
sion and national anthems could do
celebrated peace, it may not be inapt to
| anticipate the time when the Prince OF
Peace and the heir of universal domin'
ion shall take possession of this nation,
and thy land shall be married"
In discussing the final destiny of this
| nation it makes all the difference in the
world whether we are on the way to a
funeral or wedding. The Bible leaves
no doubt on this subject. In pulpits
and on platforms and in places of pub
lie concourse 1 hear so many Of the
muffied drums of evil prophecy sound
ed. as though we were on the way to ma
tional interment, and besides Thebes
and Babylo and Tyre in the cemetery
of dead nations our republic was to be
entombed, that 1 wish YOU to under
stand it is not to be obsequies, but nup-
tials: not mausoleums, but carpeted
altar: not cypress, but orange bios
SONS; not requiem. but wedding march;
for THY land shall be married"
propose 10 name some of the suitors
who are claiming the hand of this re-
public. This land is so fair, so beaun-
full. SO affiuent that it has many suitors,
and it will depend much upon your adj
vice whether this or that shall be ac-
ccpted or rejected. In the first place, |
remark: There is greedy, all-grasp-
ing monster who comes in as sutton
seeking thc~hand of this republic, and
that monster is known by the name OF
monopoly. His scepter is made cut OF
the rail track and the wire of teleg-
raphy. He does everything for his own
advantage and for the robbery of the
people. Things went On from bad to
worse until in the three legislatures OF
New York, New Jersey and Pennsyl-
vania for long time monopoly decided
everything. If monopoly favor law.
it passes; if monopoly oppose law. it
is rejected. Monopoly stands in the
railroad depot putting into his pockets
in one year S20O,oOO,oco in excess of all
reasonable charges for services. Monop-
oily holds in his one hand the steam
power of locomotion and in the other
the electricity of swift communication.
Monopoly has the republican party in
one pocket and the democratic party
In the other pocket. Monopoly decides
nominations and elections-city cleo
tions, state elections. national cleo
tons With brides he secures the votes
of legislators, giving them free passes.
giving appointments to needy rela
tives to lucrative positions, employing
them as attorneys if they are lawyers.
carrying their goods IS per cent. less if
they are merchants. and if he find case
very stubborn as well as very important
puts down before him the hard cash Of
bribery.
But monopoly is not so easily caught
now rs when during the term of Mr..
buchanan the legislative committee in
one of our states explored and exposed
the manner in which n certain railway
company had obtained donation of
public land. 1t was found that Is of
the senators of that state received $175,-
600 among them, 60 members of the
lower house of that state received be-
tween $1,000 and $4,000 each, the gov
ernor Of that state received s5o,OcO, his
clerk received $1,000, the lieutenant
governor received $4,000, all the clerks
of the legislature received $500 each,
while $4,000 was divided among the
lobby agents. That thing on larger
or smaller scale is all the time going on
in some of the states of the union, but
it is not so laundering as it used to be,
and therefore not so easily exposed or
/ tell you that the overshad-
owing curse of the United States to-
day is monopoly. He puts his hand
upon every bushel of wheat, upon every
sack of salt, upon every ton of coal, and
every man, woman and child in the
United States feels the touch of that
despotism. 1 rejoice that in
"a states of the union already anti-mo-
nopoly leagues have been established.
God speed them in the work of liberia
ton.
1 have nothing to say against capt.
talists; man has a right to all the
money he can make honestly. / have
nothing to say against corporations as
such; without them no great enter
prise would be possible, but what do
say is that the same principles are to
be applied TO capitalists and to cor
porations that are applied to the poor
est man and the plainest laborer. What
IS wrong for me is wrong for great cor
porations. If / take from you your
property without any adequate COM
pensation l am thief, and if a railway
damages the property of the people
without making any adequate compen-
sation that is a gigantic theft. What
is wrong on small scale is wrong on
large scale. Monopoly in England
has ground hundreds of thousands of
her best people into semistarvation, and
in Ireland has driven multitudinous
tenants almost to madness, and in the
United States proposes to take the
wealth of 60.Go0,oo0 or 10000 600 Of peo-
Die and put it in few silken wallets.
Monopoly, brazen-faced, iron-fin-
yered. vulture-hearted monopoly, of |
ers his hand to this republic. He
stretches it out over the lakes and up
he great railroads and over the tele- |
.raph poles of the continent and says:
Here are my heart and hand. BE mine
orever." Let the millions of the people |
forth, south. east and west forbid the |
'anns of that marriage, forbiS them at |
he ballot box, forbid them on the plat |
orm, forbid them by great organiza-
ions, forbid them by the overwhelming
ointment of an outraged nation. forbid
hem by the protest of the church of
iod. forbid them by prayer to high
Ieaven- That Herod shall not have
his Abigail. 1t shall not be to Aide
curing monopoly that this land is to
'e married.
Another sutton claiming the hand of
his republic is nihilism.
He owns nothing but knife for uni
ersal cutthroatery and nitroglycerin
Onnh for ,,n;r0rSal o~Dlocior h 10 4