The Negro world., 1900-03-17
THE MONEY TRUST.
pbsters the Monopoiies which Are
TnkInE the Life Out of Lee
Ritimate Trade.

lFuSis toHCeHIFdIe# wealth. ana pow
ar into few hands. Imperial govern
ments do likewise. A republic fosters
the diffusion of both wealth and
power among the many and is the
urganized foe of monopoly An EN-
pire distributes the honors. alvan-
tages and perquisites of official sta
tion among the few who stand near
the throne.. Trusts seek to install
their friends and advocates in official
position and to close the avenues of
advancement against all except their
Known apologists. To all intents and
purposes an empire is a governmental
trust, and a kindred financial system
land all empires have such-is the
most efficient instrument in its equip
ment of tyranny. The philosophy of
republics is expressed in the maxim:
Equal rights to all, special privileges
70 none" If our republic is to live
II must have Il money system not
copied from empires, but equal to the
broad and generous character of its
fundamental laws. Trusts concen-
trate into a few hands not alone the
profits of industry and trade, but
sinews of war and political power fall
into their keeping sequent TO heart
less commercial conquest. 1t is the
natural connection of consequent to
anteeedent. Having excluded the
many from profitable employment
they find it an easy task to advance
and wrench political power from the
excluded classes.
In their origin and throughout their
development trusts, great and small
are essentially imperialistic. Their
fruit, however, alluring and tempting.
ripens only in the deadly shade of
despotism. They are simply intoler-
able in a country whose settled policy
Ii that of freedom. A republic whose
Industries are dominated by trusts is
already stricken with fatal malady
--a deadly paralysis-and can only be
rescued by united and heroic action.
Where the leading industries are dom
mated by trusts the government may
be republican in form, but it will be
found to be monarchial in spirit and
In administration. The trust. in its
last analysis and best definition, is
simply organized criminal aggression
In business.
Conscience and the golden rule,
those divine restraints which should
qualify and temper all human trans
actions, are excluded from its bust
ness code. Its law is force 1t holds
no parley with its victims. 1t looks TO
q large military establishment and
not to the affection and support of
The people for safety. 1t demands
that the plundered classes shall be
held in subsection. The trust is full
brother to militarism. The twain are
of one blood and both are black with
the guilt of gain, Each in its sphere
Destroys human life and lays desolate
human habitations. The skull and
eross-bones, or crouching panther,
Ahould be blazoned as trademark
across the door of the council cham
Der where trust magnates and bene-
ficiaries meet to plot the plunder OF
mankind.
.,'He takes my house who takes the
prop that doth sustain my house. He
takes my life who takes the means
whereby | live"
The East India company was the
first great chartered monopoly known
among English speaking people. II
was organized solely for the criminal
exploitations of the defenseless in.
habitants of India. 1t has spawned
its voracious progeny over all chris
tendom. Edmund Burke says the
company was state disguised as q
merchant" 1t gradually absorbed
and exercised all attributes of sover'
eighty belonging to the British EN-
pire.
Although mere corporation, yet by
act of parliament il was clothed with
authority to levy war and conclude
peace. Our trusts exercise similar
power. They use the government al
their policeman. From the days OF
the East India company to the birth
of its last lineal descendant in New
Jersey, in this year of Our Lord. the
growth of the whole trust family ha!
been one unbroken evolution in crime
1t is simply a highly developed spe
cies of amphibious piracy made per
feet by methodieal selection and stim
ulated to development which enables
it to act with like efficiency upon ses
or land. Piracy was regarded as le
gitimate industry for centuries, JUS
as trust and trust depredations ar,
now regarded in the opinion of many
The pirate and the promoter of trusts
are related in blood and blood viii
tell. Their mission is the same
plunder. The bloody rover of the sei
cleared from no port He represent
ed no state or sovereign. His swort
and cutlass constituted his commits
sion. Finally all nations rose ant
drove these freebooters from the seas
They were forced to do so or sur
render the common highway of ma
tions TO cut-throats and the dominion
of the black flag But the trust pirat'
of to-day carries letters of marque is
sued by states which are members o
the federal union. and in some In
stances By the federal goyernmen
itself Wherever they exist they ar
always managed by the conservative
glasses of society who constantly
dote on ..law and order" They de
light TO have people accept withou
inur1nar "the station to which provi
dence has assigned them" II wa
ever so with their prototypes. Moth
ing 50 delighted the pirate as TO Sc
The merchantmen he was PURSUING
haul down its flag and come unde
one management without struggle.