Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1900-10-19
Advent of the BilliOnaire.


The following editorial appeared in the Kan
sas City Star of the 9TH inst:
There are many men and women living in
the United States of America to-day who can
recall the time when million dollars was rated
a colossal fortune. To be millionaire was to
attain the summit of opuence, and fifty years
ago, the persons who were that rich we1e COM
paratively rare. In those days, the man who
would have assumed to foretell the fortunes of
the Rockefelers, the Astors, the Vandefbilts
and the Carnegies OF to-day would have been
houted as an idle dreamer or prophet of evil,
forecasting ruin and decay to the republic
A million dollars is, even now, great deal
of money for one man to own. 1t has often
been said that it is more than one man can
earn. But, in comparison with the vastly
greater sums that are possessed by many multi
millionaires, it no longer appears the colossal
fortune which it once did.
There is talk now of the advent of the bill
lionaire. The annual income of John D. Rock
efeller the Standard Oil magnate, is estimated
at seventy-fve million dollars-a sum greater
than Jay Gould, the "wizard of Wall street,"
made in forty years Estimating the fortune
of Mr.. Rockefeller by his revenue, he is already
Millionaire. 1t is, of course, easy to exagger-
ate the possessions of man as rich as Rookie
feller, but his income is known to be wellnigh
fabulous, and the concentration of capital in
the hands of men of his class has been so tre-
mendous within recent years that the billion
aire does not suggest itself to the public as an
imposlbility.
1t will be interesting to contemplate the ef-
feet on the people of this country of the ap-
pearance of man worth one thousand million
dollars. 1t must not be forgotten that the man
who is said to possess this mammoth fortune
amassed it through monopoly which CONTROLS
a natural product stored away in the earth for
the use of man. There is no process of logic,
there is no employment of sophistry, which
can justify to the mind of the thoughtful man
the right of any corporation to buy up and
hedge in the gifts of Providence. On this ar
raignnent alone, Mr.. Rockefeller and his fellow
monopolists stand condemned of greed which
trespasses upon the rights of his fellow crea-
lures.
Nothing can be palmer than the moral in
Justice of fortune of billion dollars. If
man cannot fairly earn million dollars, how
illicit must be his title to thousand tim IS that
amount! 1t disturbs and endangers the equi-
librlum of society. 1t places in the hands OF
single individual a degree of power that is
dangerous in the highest degree. 1t inAames
popular resentment against the political system
which makes such an injustice possible. 1t is
an affront to honest toll and the grossest insult
to poverty. 1t enthrones greed and cupdity
and mocks industry and frugaity. 1t Houts all
of the simple virtues which give to the nation
its true nobility. 1t vitiates with envy and dis
content the people who gain their livelihood
with the toll of their hands. Its whole inhu-
ence is corrupting and demoralizng, and is to
be regarded with righteous adherence by the
true friends of the republic.
If William ]. Bryan shall be elected presi-
dent of the United States in November, it will
not be because the people are afraid OF Inilitar-
ism, or Imperialism or for the reason that they
desire change in the monetary system to con-
form with the ideas of the Chicago platform.
1t will be because the country realizes the men-
ace of the enormous and unreasonable accumu
lation of wealth in the hands of the few, and
regards it necessary to fix metes and bounds to
the rapacity of the rich hog.