The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-05-31

| anu cleanse the Diood IN eczema and other
torturing, disfguring humors, rasies, and
| irritations, while warm baths with CUTICURA
SOAP cleanse the surface of erusts and scales,
and gentle anointings with CUTICURA Oint-
ment soothe and heal itching, burning skim
Sold throughout the world. Porter DRrG AND CHEZ
Cor Sole Props. Boston All Abou. Babys SKIN free.
! dependent handicraft, is thrown out Of en-
! ployment, his wages stop, and he become.
! mendicant or a tramp. In the same wa!
| the tailor, the carpenter, the compassion
| the weaver, the farm hand have gradual!
| become dislocated. Population is constant
| ly increasingand the avenues of employ
! gnent are continually diminishing.
! remember a story in my boyhood of {
! captive, confined in a vast apartment from
which there was no escape, who wa:
startled at midnight by the clang of 1ht
! bell in his prison tower. Waking in the
! morning, ne discovered that there was ont
! less window in his room. The followin l
morning there was another missing ant
thus he became aware that day by day tn,
walls Of his cell were closing in upon him
and that sooner or later the discordant bel
would toll tn hour Of his doom.
Labor, thus having lost it's independence
is becoming degraded and discredited an(
losing its self respect as we'll Society is
stratifed. Its mobility is disappearing
| The relations between the rich and the
poor are not cordial. The prosperous arr
tolerant or patronizing. The dependent
are suIlen. They feel that under existing
conditions they do not have equal oppor-
| tunities. They are right. The race is nc
longer to the swift, nor the battle to the
strong.
Not long since IN a western state I en-
countered a gentleman who described him.
self as an agent of the American Biscuit
Trust. He said his duties were to see that
no other biscuits or crackers than those
made by his employers were sold in the
territory in his charge. During our con-
versauon, in response to my curiosity, he
mentioned that two Germans who had been
bakers in Berlin, having made a few
thousand dollars keeping a saloon in Hi
nos, had concluded to abandon that bust
ness and make crackers again. As soon as
he heard Of their intention he mentioned to
them that it would be a losing venture and
advised them to desiSt. But they kept on,
supposing they had as much right to sell
business; whereupon the agent of the trust
hired an adjacent store, stocked it with
their goods, cut the price 10 per cent, and
when this was met, cut again. asked the
result, and was told with a comp.acent
smile that in three months the capital Of
the unsophisticated Germans was gone,
and they were financially strangled to
death. This was not competition. 1t was
crime. 1t was worse than robbery on the
highway, because it lacked the courage of
the footpad. In the dominion of the Sui
tan or the Car there is no more abomin-
able violation of the fundamental rights of
man.
AT the time this trust was formed there
was several bakeries in st. Joseph, Atchi-
son and other towns along the Missouri
river. They were compelled to close. The
workmen were discharged, and one of the
proprietors now has a large salary for Wis
iting the grocery stores in order to guard
against free trade among American citi-
zens in ginger snaps and to prevent snug
Cling of Illicit food into the stomachs Of
the people.
Formerly fax culture was an exceedingly
profitable industry in Eastern Kansas.
The fibre was valuable for fabrics, and the
seed for Hnseed oil. Mills were set up at
many towns in the valley, providing a
market for the farmers and yielding good
returns TO the owners. When the Linseed
Oil Trust was formed these establishments,
either by purchase or strangulation, were
suppressed, and fax culture has disap-
peared as absolutely as though the earth
had become incapable of it's support.
That the hostility TO these combinations
is not selfish is Shown by the fact that in
many cases they have cheapened and bet
tered products, and thus helped consumers
in the struggle for life. The Standard Oil
Company has undoubtedly diminished the
cost of light for the poor and added i'm
measurably to the comforts Of existence
And yet it stands as the most odious rep
resentative of intOlerable monopoly in pub
tic estimation, because more ruthlessly
than any other Il has absorbed the agen-
c:es of production and rendered COMPETE
ton impossible
The chief reason why the great mass Of
evil things, bad conditions, cruelties, cor
ruptionsand tyrannies exist IS because the
people do not care to abolish them.
Either through cowardice, inertia, or
completely, they submit The good are
spasmodic. Thy appear in practical affairs
TO be capable only of reverie or mysteries.
The bad are persistent They are wiser in
their day and generation than the children
OF light
1t would be puerile TO classify all the or
ganizers of these great combinations as
criminals engaged in premeditated con-
spiracy against the rights of the common
peop.e- Department stores are not wicked.
They are ineXpedient, because they cen
traI.ze activities that ought to be d,nueed
over vast areas which are steril,zed by
their withdrawal. Some Of the trusts may
be benedcent, but The tendency IS des-
trEctive. AL the agencies Of civilization
are being drawn within the influence % a
caDtrjpetal force. as the planets and their
satellites might fan into the Ia
Public opinion. when aroused. IS irras's
ibla. Its DEGREES VII ne formulated IN 1919.
II 50 far as trusts and mOnopoIes inter-
fere with iudiv dualisu and the equality OF
rights and opportunities, they viii be re-
strained The remedy Is simple. The
power Of congress 10 tax has been he'd 10
bee Jle power 70 destroy. K was invoked
against state banks. II Is the most form
liable weapon that can be welded by an
exasperaled people.