The representative., 1901-05-16
HAVE WE A GOVERNMENT9

II the Morgans, Hills, Rockefellers,
Vanderhilts and a half dozen other multi
millionaires own and control all our lines
Of transportation, and all our mines, and
all our staple industries, besides controll
ing all our banks, what is there left for
the people?" asks John F. Finerty, in the
Chicago Citizen. II, by a stroke of the
pen, these financial magnates can make or
break the prosperity of any one section of
a country, can take from this town and add
to that, can ruin one district to build up
another; If they name the prices
must pay for every article we consume, can
establish rate at which we must sell our
products, if, indeed they leave us the
privilege of producing anything we can call
our own; and II they can make a schedule
of rates of transportation to all points, for
freight and passengers, which we must pay,
we may fairly ask what functions are left
to the government of the country? A gov
ernment is supposed to be organized for
the purpose of securing the greatest good
to the greatest number Of those under its
Jurisdiction. But IL every avenue once
open to individual effort is now closed by
the combination of those who by question
able means have accumulated enormous
sums Of money; if competition is killed,
and willingly or unwillingly, we are forced
b; our necessities to buy from and sell
to the same syndicate, then liberty Is
throttled; an enemy has grown up in our
laundering at our gates and demanding
surrender. If this state of affairs is to
continue, il these financial magnates are
to own the earth, and all the fruits thereof,
the rest of us had better get off the planet
and let them run the world themselves.
A government that cannot regulate the
commerce of the country, that cannot con-
troll the lines Of transportation to points
within it's jurisdiction, that cannot secure
t. every man in business a fair field and
porations directed by men whose avarice
has made them practically insane, is no
government at all.
Men like Morgan and Rockefeller are
practically insane. The instinct of ac-
quisitiveness, the salient characteristic of
the hog has got possession of them, body
and soul, and notwithstanding that they
now possess wealth that almost bafaes COM
putatiOn. they are scheming, plotting and
toiling to accumulate more and to sweep
into financial ruin all and every one that
stands in the way of their greed. Do these
men ever think that tomorrow or next day
they will stand before the judgment seat
of God while their bodies will be food for
worms? Their names will pass into OBJ
livion, or be recalled only as examples of
human vanity pushed to the limit of alb
surdity. Fools they are in very truth But
what must be said of a government which
permits these financial madmen to domi-
nate the commerce and control the public
utilities of the country? What kind of a
government Is that which, within the limits
OF it's jurisdiction, permits the existence
of ar Emporium in imperio" that threatens
the stability of every individual industry,
that discourages the investment of money
in individual enterprise, that makes it's own
interests superior to the interests Of the
nation at home and abroad? It Is no gov
ernment, it is farce if it is not fraud
Irish Standard.
We are with our brother editor of
the Irish Standard in all his foregoing
statements of facts and his reasoning
and conclusi ions up to his closing SEN
tence.
When he concludes that this is mo
government, It is farce If it is not
fraud" we are compelled to dissent.
Morgan, Hill, Rockefeller, Wander
hilts are the government. There is no
up against the real thing. When these
few men want laws they get them.
When they want industry suspended she
suspends. They may be insane as the
Standard alleges but to us there seems
method in their madness. When they
want a foreign war to extend markets
for the fruits Of their extortion we
have war. When they want troops to
shoot down home labor or confine the
workers IN a bull pen, these things are
also theirs.
Yes, these men are the government.
and like all centralized power we have
the strongest kind of government.
Under cur representative system we
cast our ballots for whom we please.
but after election our powers cease.
These men cease to represent us. They
serve the government. They do the
will OF tie Morgans, Hills, Rockefel-.
lers and vanderbilts. They become our
masters instead of our servants. They
rob us to enrich the favored few. Is
the remedy in turning the Republicans
out and letting in the Democrats ?rHave
we seen any appreciable difference be-
tween Republican and Democratic ad-
ministrations since 1884? a,,s
Do the people Of this country fare
any better In the hands Of fsthe Have
alsx "a III S