Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1899-01-12

uAScoNcr tndt you can scarcely
purchase In which the price Is not dic-
tated by a combination over which the
merchant you deal with has no controi;
Inc governor roasts the Associated
fress as combination OF the great dairy
newspapers to cheaper the cost or coll
lecting the news. He bemoans the pass
ing or the small retail merchants In our
cities and towns and the advent or the
gigantic department stores when SWAT
low them up. He then continues:
we are familiar with the arguments put
FORWARD 10 defend this system on It's sup
posed merits. We are told that II is an
inevitable tendency OF general conditions
over which there is no human power OF
control. We are told that the world Is
growing smaller as the means OF COM
munication and transportation are be-
coming more perfect, and the world re-
quires a less and less number OF persons
TO control affairs as independent men, and
that all the business OF the human race
can now be managed more efficiently from
few centers and by a few men. leaving
the rest OF the race nothing to do but to
act as hewers Of wood and drawers or
water. 1t is all in accordance with ire
ical economy informs us that 1t makes for
the cheapening OF all the necessaries or
life. The concentration OF capital, the
Capitalization of control, In the manufac.
ture and distribution of each or the great
staples, saves thousand elements OF
cost. end enables the manufacturing ana
distributing trust to lay the article DOWN
before the consumer at greatly reduced
price. We are also assured, on the au-
thority OF every one OF these trusts whlch
has. been brought into court. that THIS
saving OF expense enables the trust 10
spare. much larger portion of its earn
ings for the wages Of it's labor. But these
pretenses are hollow shams. While the
trusts have neither souls nor hearts, they
are ruled by men, not angels; men, 100,
who, in their greed toward the consumer
and their heartlessness toward the lab
orer, are freed altogether from the per-
sonal responsibility which, In spite or
himself. controls and modifies the selfish
ness of the individual manufacturer and
employer. No employer who does busi-
ness in his own name, dare stand before
the community in which he lives and in
which his reputation is part of his capital,
for such heartessness toward labor as the
very small man Will calmly and even con-
scienttously exercise toward his depend
ents when speaking and acting as the rep
resentatiNe of corporation toward which
he regards IL as his duty to grind the last
penny for the benefit of the stockholders
The humanity OF the manager of a corp
grafton Is lost in the mere machine when
he becomes as part of the greater ma
chine for which he acts When the pro-
cess Of concentration has worked itself
out to completion, the law which governs
both prices and wages will assert itself
with irresistible force. The consumer Will
be charged the highest price that can be
squeezed out of him; the laborer will be
paid the lowest wages upon which he can
keep life enough in his body to perform
his daily task. THIS result has not yet
been quite accomplished, but 1t is sure as
lnal nlBnl 1OllONS uay, as certain GS the
law of human selfishness.
There is no salvation for the consumer
except in free competition: there Is no
dignity. no manhood for the laborer ex-
cept in the comparative independence he
derives through the free competition OF
many employers who seek his services.
Revolution Not Improbable.
The governor solemnly declares that the
continuance of this state of affairs will
eventually bring us to the point where
there Will be one great monopoly which
will control the supplies of the nation; the
consumer and laborer will become slaves;
the soil of the country will be seized and
a new landed aristocracy VIII nave arisen,
France and England Will be duplicated
on American soil. The governor
points, out the $3OoOOo,@0 accumulated
by John ID. Rockefeller as an example
of what monopoly is doing. The
governor also sees another danger
from this great evil which attracts but
little attention, but which may well eX-
cite the alarm of every lover Of his coun-
try. The Capitalization of ownership and
control threatens new sectionalism
more dangerous than that which led to
the war of the rebellion. The insatiate
stomach which is deVouring all wealth is
located in the East. There all the great
heads OF syndicates. no matter where
they originated, sooner or later make
II cir homes. To that point is drawn all
the profits of these enormous concentrat
ed industries, and little by little the re-
wealth, with no hope of recovering il. To
the East all the profits of the industries
of the nation are poured in colossal and
oVerhowing stream, and there is thence
doled out again to the rest of the country
barely enough to pay for raw materials
and Keep life in an impoverished labor. 1t
Is only question OF time. and not so very
long time either, when the East shall
have sopped up, as with q sponge, the
whole surplus wealth of this nation.
not then eXDPCt in the hearts IF
the population Of the other sections, to
possibly precipitate another civil war.
Our readers, our press and our legisla-
tors have not yet fully realized what this
degrading process means to the future of
republic founded upon democratic prln-
ciples. A democratic republic cannot sur
we the disappearance of a democratic
population. When our hundreds Of thou
sands of free merchants have become the
mere hirelings of vast mercantile corpora
lions which have crushed them out OF
business: when the little shops. in which
our people trade with their neighbours
have disappeared in ruins before the
growth of a few enormous establishments
in each town which absorb all the trade
when all the great industries have been
concentrated in the hands of a few gigan-
tic corporations; when the yoemanry OF
the farms have lost their lands to great
proprietors, and have sunk to the condi-
ton OF the tenant and the serf; when the
great corporate employer in his own trade
and shall be utterly at the mercy Of that
one-Where shall the republic find the in
dependent voter, the free man, to govern
1t in peace, to defend ii In war? There
viii no longer be men in this country;
there VIII be only, on one side corpora
ton managers, and on the other a mass
or servile and dependent slaves.
There must be remedies. The law was
the law. We have done greater things
holder things, before Other peoples have
accomplished reforms which seemed quite
as difficult 20 the lawyers and the courts
If technical construction OF The constitu-
ton stands in our way, constitution can
be amended; or, more summary method
may be adopted by electing and appoint
ing judges who viii construe these instru-
ments according to the eternal law Of JUS
tice and humanity. One of the great polit-
ical parties of this coutry has already
made this latter suggestion in a national
platform, only 90 have " denounced by
the promoters CT the peoples degradation
as anarchy and revolution. There may be |
those who Will 30 dcnounce ne for inti- |
mating that there is no divlnity-hedging |
about judges which makes them superior |
TO their masters the sovereign people. / |
am content TO suffer this penalty, IL i |
must, but no penalty shall restrain me !
from raising my voice on Ill proper occa-
sions even against courts which foster |
what l believe to be a danger to the free |
dom an0 welfare of the people.
Legislation must address itself TO this |
supreme duty Of the hour, and find way |
through or over technicalitics. If IL does |
not, there will some day. in the not dis |
tant future, come frightful awakening, |
when courts and legislatures will be swept |
aside by "A power which has little respect |