The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1901-02-28
SERFDOM OF TOILERs.
What the Autocracy of a Few
Millionaires Portends.
POISON FROM GOLDEN VESSELS.

Significance of the Proposed Union
of the Great Concerns which Con-
troll the Iron Industry - Freedom
Cannot Live when the Few Control
the Many.
According to the Latin proverb, Eve
nenum in auro bibitur"-"Poison is
drunk from golden vessels" The truth
Of the adage finds supreme illustra-
ton in the colossal mergers of corpo-
rate interests which have set the COS
sips of the stock market agog and filled
patriot thinkers of every shade of po-
litical belief with a profound sense of
alarm. The public mind was first dis
turbed by the huge amalgamations
which could have but one ultimate OBJ.
pect, the control of the national high
ways of transportation by few mas
terful men. One needs no insight at all
to perceive that such course of events
implies the autocracy of little coterie
Of multimillionaires and the serfdom of
the millions of toilers. In the civiliZa-
ton of today the despotic arbiter of
railway rates holds the "coign of van
tage" which the lords of the impregna-
BILE castles held in the feudal times. 1t
is, moreover, too plain for argument
that this fearful power will be immeas-
urably extended and re-enforced If the
control Of the railways and the owner
ship of the Industrial monopolies be
vested in the same ambitious and re-
lentless hands. From this standpoint
it Is quite impossible to eXaggerate the
significance of the proposed union Of
all the giant concerns which have to do
with the conversion Of iron into the
countless implements Of everyday life.
In this matter. as in all others. it is the
first step that costs. and it is thus in
disputable that the near future will
usher in condition of things amid
which the man of small means but
boundless patriotism will disappear
from the stage of our political and So
cial life to return no more until the
whirligig of time shall have brought in
his revenges.
1t must never be forgotten that this
| government of ours Is based on the in
dividuality and independence of the
| average American. The splendor of
the few and the squalor of the many
are the warp and woof of all aristo-
cratic politics. But republic is to be
held together by 10 such ropes of sand.
| Freedom cannot live in an atmosphere
SO full of ell kinds of miasma. AS
well might mountaineer think to
! keep his physical and moral vigor in
the swamps and jungles of a tropical
land. Nature has from the very be-
ginning placed veto upon all such
violations of the higher hygiene.
The destructive tendencies of the ex-
listing order are for the moment hidden
from the general view. because the
country is in enjoyment Of a large
measure Of prosperity which had its
origin In transitory conditions. That
adversely will return on the heels of
the present well being Is as sure as
that the ebb will succeed the flow of
the tide. The plutocrats, having their
capital invested In the certninties of
life. will then be in a position TO profit
by the vicissitudes Of their less fortu-
nate fellows. and the accumulations of
the present time will be swollen to an
incredible extent through the pitiless
operation of the principle of compound
interest. The imagination recoils from
the effort to grasp the meaning Of a
fortune of thousand millions invested
and reinvested at A per cent through
a period of 80 years.
Although no precise precedent is to
be found In all history. the annals of
the race furnish innumerable examples
which differ only In degree. When the
Roman mobiles began to cultivate their
great estates Qatifundaj with the labor
of slaves who were the living fruits of
worldwide conquest, the breed of little
farmers who had borne the eagles to
victory became extinct. To the repub-
lican iegionary there succeeded the I'M
perial pretorian. and the ancient forms
Of administration became the garb of
one e.of the most remorselesa despQ tIspa