Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1901-05-17
AT THE COST OF THE TOILLHG
MILLIONS

from wickedly conceived and theughtlessly
executed schemes which aim at the sggre
CATION Of wealth among the few and the
imposition Of poverty on the many. The
high carnival Of the millionaires for the past
three or four months has witnessed an al.
most fabulous rise in the value Of stocks
and other securities, exceeding, II is openly
claimed, 81, 900, 100000.
Happily for the people, but few Of them,
comparatively speaking, have shared in the
fiction which has seemingly produced this
immense increase In values. In reality
there has been no actual increase, save that
which is normal. A filmsy craze has pos
session Of the many millionaire traders and
spectators, and an unparalleled boost has
been given almost every class OF securities,
yet the miles Of railroads have not in.
creased-their stocks and bonds are no more
valuable than they were on the first day OF
January, 1901. The dividends which they
earned and paid on that date have not in
creased in the most trifiing sense Of the
word II is known that hundreds Of mil
lions of stocks and bonds To day are not
paying, and have not for years paid, one
cent Of dividends, nor one penny Of interest.
Years will elapse before this class Of securi-
ties will become revenue producers. The
millionaires, trusts and others, who are ma
nipulating the operations, have not put a
cent Of money into these transactions. In
changing the character Of an industry solidi
fcation Of plants has been made, but the
organizers Of the trust" have not handled
cash equal to the actual value Of the plants
which were secured. The owners OF them
parted with them at prices two hundred,
three hundred and even as high as five hun.
dred per cent above their cash value, taking
twenty or twenty-five per cent of cash, and
the balance Of their preposterous valuation
is in the bonds Of the new combine"
The world lie not without examples which
prove that crazes similar to that which now
has possession OF the great Stock Exchange
have been inaugurated among financiers Of
accredited ability and the most sterling
honesty. The great "South Sea Bubble"
was not less promising than that feverish
and wild spirit of speculation which is now
30 dominant in Wall Street. Plausible res
sons were given for the certain triumph OF
that chimerical venture, which by Its glitter
dazzed the intelects and obscured the men,
tai vision OF so many. By thousands they
were lured into the whrl OF the South Sea
maelstrom. When the bubble burst there
was no safety machinery at hand out OF
which a raft could be shaped wherewith
there might be possibility OF escape. The
current was too strong, and the leading
minds Of the financial world had TO go down
with the common herd of gamblers who
claimed wealth beside which the crimson
spendnrs of Solomon grew tame
President Mckinley, on his pleasant trip,
has taken more than one occasion to advise
the people to frugality, that they may not
become immediate sufferers when the storm
comes which will wreck not merely pros.
perity, but daily employment. Does the
Handwriting on the wall" loom along the
prismatic upholstering of his travels, greet
him in his luxurious outing. 1t is more prob
able that he speaks from experience, and he
knows what has been and what will be again,
and as he witnesses masses OF laboring men,
happy in employment, and who, perhaps,
look upon him as the author OF their pros
perity, a scene rises tn his view where men
who not only begged for employment, but
To- h.aaA aod hat thar ,ra uora fall IN deaf
ears. 1t will not hurt the people to be re
minded of the possibility Of a condition
from the misery Of which so great a states
man as William Mckinley will not be able
to succOr them.
Scipio was reminded in the glad hour of
his great triumphal march-"remember
thou art but a man." William McKin
ley is but one of his fellow men. He must
hear-he does hear even whilst wading
through and over a wilderness Of flowers,
the maddening shouts of the combine"
millionaires at the BelshaZZar feasts-those
who have garnered immense wealth at the
expense Of the people and gamble on the
very life blood Of the nation.
His Eminence, Cardinal Gibbons, in an in
terview just before his departure for Europe.
which has been widely published in the
columns Of the leading press of the country,
mildly, modestly. briefly, but almost pro-
phetically says, that which we have been en-
deavoring to say: These causes were two:
"The overeagerness OF men to acquire
ha NJ
Americans to allow the consolidation OF
capital in few hands-in other words, the
quick growth Of the trust system.
"Those who make too much haste to be
rich must not wonder If they suffer. Nor do
they seem to me to deserve much sympathy.
"The trust system is gradually destroying
the responsibility of individuals for the bene
At OF few. Can this tend to the general
betterment OF the nationf
"But the American people seem to try all
things and to hold fast by that which is good
"Some day, perhaps, they will abandon
what they now prize and go back To more
reasonable system"
We have to day In this great and growing
country Q moned despotism as complete
for industries as any political despotism ever
was for matters political. It's not an alb
soute despotlsm. Such q condition as alb
soute despotsm is impossible either polite
ally or industrially. The fact that the Gar
of Russia has the power To exterminate all
his subjects or enslave them does not follow
that he would dare 10 exercise that power
But the Gar is a despot none the less, and
30 is this great combination of wealth that is
rioting at the cost Of the toiling millions
What Legislature, what management can re
slst its Establishments
Now that the United States has captured
the numerous steamers Of the Leyland
Glaa rnahin ina and MANY mora alaa m hi ne