Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1900-09-28

one of the most pathetic passages of the
Old Testament. The fact that the son
was in rebellion against civil as well as
parental authority did not shake the IA
Tiers affection, and the anxious query,
rs the young man, Absalom, safe.
fingers in the memory of all who STUDY
the life of the great Hebrew King. And,
yet, the interest which David felt In MS
son, Absalom, has its parallel in the more
than 100000 families which make up
the American people.
No language can describe mothers
love, or overstate the abiding interest
which the father feels in the welfare or
his child. From the time when the moth
er's life hangs I'm the Balance at the boys
birth until the death of the parents there
Is scarcely a waking hour when the son
is not present In their thoughts ana pans
1t ia to this parental devotion, so UNI
versally recognized, that l desire to ap-
peal on this occasion.
Appeal to PLesnt.
would call the attention of every IA
Their and mother to present political ana
Industrial conditions. ] would ask theih
to analyze these conditions, investigate
their causes and their tendencies.
would press upon them this question: is
the young man. Absalom, safer Are
you satisfied with the possibilities ana the
probabilities which now open before your
son?
Is he safe when foreign or domestic
financiers are allowed to determine the
monetary system under which he lives!
Is he safe when national banks control
the volume of money with which he does
business?
Is he safe when the bond holding class
determines the size of the national debt
upon which he must help to pay inter-
est?
Tc ha fa hx,p Of laid
almost entirely upon consumption he Is
compelled to contribute according 10 MS
wants rather than according to his pos
sessions?
Is he safe when corporate interests In
nuence as they do today the selection
OF those who are to represent him In the
Senate of the United States?
If he is a wage-earner, and you 90 not
know how soon he may be, even II ne Is
not now, Is he safe when he is liable
to be deprived of trial by jury, through
the system known as government by in
junction?
Is he safe, If laborng man, when he
Is denied the protection of arbitration anu
compelled to submit to such hours ana
terms as q corporate employer may pro-
pose?
The Reign of Monopoly.
But desire to call special attention to
the growth of the trusts, and to ask you
whether your son Is safe under the reign
Of private monopoly? If you cannot leave
him fortune, you can leave him some
thing more valuable than money, viz:
the freedom to employ his own brain
and his own hands for the advancement
of his own welfare. When there is in
dustrial independence, each citizen Is
stimulated to earnest endeavor by the
hope of being able to profit by his own
genius, his own energy, his own industry
and his own virtue. But when private
monopoly reaches its full development
each branch of industry will be controlled
by one, or a few men, and the fruits of
monopoly, like the divine right of rule
will be kept within the possession of
few from generation to generation, While
the real producers of wealth will be con-
demned to perpetual clerksh!p or servi-
tUde. When private monopoly reaches its
full development, your son will buy the
finished product at the price which mon
opoly fixes; he will sell raw material at
the price which monopoly fixes: and, If
he works for wages, he will work for
such compensation and upon such con-
ditions as monopoly may determine.
Charles r. Flint of the Rubber Goods
Manufacturing Co. In speech delivered
in Boston on the 25th of May, 1899. out
lined the trust program with great frank
ness. In speaking of the advantages to
be derived from the trust system he SAID:
Outline of Trust Program.
RAW material bought in large guam
titles Is secured at lower prices" When,
for instance one man buys all the wool,
the price of wool will be lowered and all
who produce wool will sell at the price
fixed by the trust. A large proportion
of our people are engaged in the produce
ton of various kinds of raw material and
they are thus placed at the mercy of the
combinations.
The second advantage is that chose
plants which are best equipped and most
advantaeeously situated are run continu-
ously and in preference to those less IA
vored."
This means that factories can be closed
I'm the smaller towns and business con-
centrated in the large centers. 1t means,
also, that whenever there is surplus on
hand, part of the factories can be closed
and the burden of maintaining prices
thrown upon the wage workers. There
are already scattered throughout the
land idle plants, which stand silent
monuments to the evils of the trust sys-
tenn.
The next advantage mentioned Is that
"In case of local strikes and fires. the
work goes on elsewhere, thus preventing
serious loss"
This means that a monopoly can abso-
lutely control it's workingmen, for If a
strike occurs IN a factory In one state,
the factory can be closed down indefinite
ly while the employees are starved into
submission, and as the trust can do the
work in some other factory without seri-
Gus loss 1t is quite independent of the
employees, and can absolutely prescribe the
terms and conditions upon which they
shall live. The more complete the mon
opoly the more opposed the managers
will be to arbitration, because. in case
of any .contest between the trust and its
employees, the trust will have every ad-
vantage and the employees will be per-
fectly poweress.
Another advantage cited by Mr.. Flint
ia that There is no multiplication of the
means of distribution and a better force
of statesmen will take the place of a large
number"
Drummers Dispensed With.
This is an intimation that under the
trust system the travelling salesman will
not be needed. When every retail mer-
chant must buy all goods of one class
from a single company, the work can be
done by samples, and no travelling men
will be needed. There will be no COM
petition between different factories be-
cause all are under one management.
The first man to feel this will be the
salesman, who will lose his occupation.
The next man to feel it will be the hotel
man, who will miss the trade of the