Hutchinson gazette., 1901-06-13
CURRENT COMMENT.

New York Evening Post: The com.
munity Of interest that was to produce
such harmony in the industrial and
financial world has led to a battle OF
giants, The field is strewn with dead
and wounded, and the question rises
involuntarily:
Can such things be,
And overcome us like a summer cloud,
Without our special wonder?
The country, prosperous though II
be, is full Of discomfort with the AFRO.
gance Of men who control millions.
and who combiHe today and fight to-.
morrow, regardless of the rights and
interests of the masses. There is a
substratum of socialism in every com.
munity which demands municipal
ownership of public utilities" 1t
wants street railroads and gas and
electric lighting works and telephones
to be owned by the cities and admins.
tered in the interest Of the consumer,
1t will very likely want country trolley
lines to be owned by the state and
operated in competition with the steam
railroads. 1t may demand the taking
Of coal and iron mines and oil wells
under the law Of eminent domain. II
may impose killing taxes on what 1t
conceives to be dangerous monopoies,
1t may meet the community Of inter
est" idea Of railroad management with
more stringent legislation by congress
and the legislatures than any we have
yet had, 1t is only rumbling force
now, but is capable Of doing vast mis-
chief, both to itself and to those
whom 1t eonceives to be inimical to 1t,
Nothing is better calculated to awaken
this slumbering giant than such spec
tacles as we have had in Wall street
the past few days.
San Francisco Star: A despised con.
temporary says that Tom L. Johnson,
the newly elected mayor of Cleveland
Is said to have one eye on seat In
the United States senate and the other
on the governorship, so 1t would seem
he will have to go 1t blind so far as the
city is concerned" Mayor Tom L.,
Johnson has already saved the city Of
Cleveland millions of dollars by stop
ping a water front grab Of the Pennsyl-
vania railroad by his promptness in
taking Office, and he Is now vigorously
overhauling assessments, by which
course he will reach the taX-shirkers
and relieve those who are now bear
ing double burdens. He has also taken
the first step toward three-cent street
car fares and municipal ownership.
That does not look much like going
it blind"
Springfield Republican: A reputed
trust salary Of 100000 ought to make
the recipient jealous defender Of
trusts, and Charles M. Schwab Of the
United States Steel corporation is no
disappointment in that respect. He
admitted to the federal industrial COM
mission that the trusts made lower
prices on the export trade and used
the tariff to hold up the home price
but while claiming that great econo-
mics in production were effected by
the trusts, still he held the steel trust
needed tariff protection on account Of
differences In labor cost. He was op-
posed to labor consolidation and in
favor of the highest degree of capi-
tai consolidation. And he was
also opposed to enforced publicity
in the accounts Of such monopoles as
he is now running. In a word Mr..
Schwab believes fully in public mon
opoly conducted by private individuals
for unregulated private profit. Under
the circumstances this is not remark
able.