The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-25

T pi as were az iopted in Cbica.qo, >,
both Mr. George and Mr.. Simpson see,,, 10
oeneVe that the dem iocracy was oai,,i,,,,
Strength and could OF lily be robbed of W.
rory by tunfdity and the fear of being roo
radical. VI "e"lS 700
think fair study of the headlines a,,a
editorial columns of the Cbicae ,iii.les ana
pers during the las ten DAYS win -
vince any one that they at least ir,ta,a
elther 10 take up tf,A defense of tbe tr,1sts
OF 20 stlhe any attack upon them nv tbe
'e'iious Oh general conspiracy of silence.
Some features of the ouarrel be tr,,o.,,
Helry g Frick and Carnegie are ~. con
eraI interest to the public. To b.aei,1 FL
II Is apparent that the profits of the CO.
negle company were such that tha die
pursements of its president for lih,a,io-
ana art galleries amo United to bur a ,lro,,
OUT OF the enormous bucket which his
steel trust had filled with gold Tic 70.
mesle company has been, in all ihs essen.
tldls, a trust employing trust met hods II
mas VIGOROUSLY enjoyed railroad Jiscri,,
uetlohs' II mas VIGOROUSLY been. uniust
oppressive and even murderous in rh1
treatment of its employees Mr. Carna0
sle shrewdly planned liberality as tend
ed IN late years to obscure the n1eroorias
OF the massacre at Homestead So too
MI Rockefeller's wide benefactioos ,.c,1l6
nave undoubtedly stilied expression az
CONDEMNATION for the many crimes IN
"Hlch ms enormous fortune was built nm
except that FOR some reason or other the
press OF the country still has kept the
Standard Oil Company for its farovite, tor
get. Mr.. Rockefellers generosity nae
failed of its probable purpose in sor ne de-
gree because of the fact that his re venues
derived from the Standard Oil C onnanv
We're known to be so enormous that even
his perennial gifts of a million or two
were obviously no more to him than a
contribution or 50 to a man o ordinary
means Nobody imagined Ca .negie was
in like state
1t is really both ethical ard sensible n
judge the merit of a gift upon three
grounds-irst its purpose; second. the
proportion 1t bears to the means of the
giver, and third, the manner in which
those means have been ptained don't
think there will be any very strong con-
tention that the latter two questions win
be answered very favor5 bly, by either Car
negie or Rockefeller, nd l rather douht
whether any one of the three, strongly
pressed, would redoun q to the creole %.
the Standard Oil man.
But there is another thing. The profits
of the Carnegie cor lpany for one wear
were shown to be $21OOO. coo: those Of the
Standard Oil Company L have seen esfi-
mated at $5l,0O0,OOO The men who make
up the Standard Oh crowd are interesleJ
in gas companies, big and little electric
lighting companies railroads. iron mines
street railroads. ships-everything which
in any possible way can be turned into n
monopoly There is a group of men in
this country, if we include with the Car
negies, the Standard Oil, the Pferpont
Morgan and the Drexel combinations. who
take out of the pockets of the people wear
of
personal profit that almost battles c0mpu-
tauon AS ii stands now, most Of them
reinVesL this money in the United States
and get more interest and more money
each year. If they chose, as Mr. Waldorf
Astor does, to live abroad and to invest
their surplus income there they womb
draw our of this country such an enor-
nous volume of money every year that no
favorable balance of trade prOcee1ing
from the ardous labors of our farmers
and stock raisers could by any possibility
offset IL. 1t is really but little additional
advantage TO have them remain here. be-
cause they are not in effect stimulators of
industry. Industry exists and is expend-
ed because there is a demand for its pro-
ducts, and the giants of finance are only a.
load upon it,
IT does not seem to me that there can
be any intelligent, and patriotic, and SEN
SlbIe OppOSltlOh " inc BtHeTdl proposition
that this enormous concentration of
wealth in few hands is dangerous alike
to the people and to the very stability of
the nation Itself. Nor does 1t seem to
me Intelligent to hold that 1t can be cured
by any merely palliative laws, like the in
come tax or the succession tax Every
one OF these great fortunes results frcan
some sort of monopoly. and every mon0p-
oily enjoys protection by law. The way TO
strike the monopoly is to do away with
its protection Willis j. Abboq.
Copyright, 1907