Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1902-11-27


80 free and just that every individual
be he laborer, farmer, mechanic,
business or professional man, will
receive the just rewards of his SER
vice rendered society without the in
tervention of commercial trust or
labor union. 1t should be made
impossible for either to exist in a
country established for its freedom
to all, by the people and for the peo-
pie. In other words, we long for
time when every man, like the pro-
verbal tub, must stand on his own
bottom. This we regard to be emf
nently just and what is, in fact
sought by the vast majority of the
people, and after all the rank and
file Of men do not seek special advan-
tages over their neighbors, but in
tuitively feel that all have a right to
ask that which is their own.
The Railroad corporations 10 per
cent advance in wages to the over
worked employees was proceeded by
an advance in freight rates and it Is
now in keeping with the fitness Of
things to follow it by similar in
crease. How strange it is that God
didn't make some of Americas mil
lionairs in the beginning so that
their ambitions could have been full
ly realized.
The hearing lately in progress before
the anthracite strike commission
would be laughable if the subject
matter were not so serious. 1t is
strange beyond comprehension that
a body Of intelligent men such as
make up the commission, should
spend any wasteful time in listening
to the questions propounded to the
witnesses by the attorneys for the
coal companies. Unless the COM
mission will recognize what every
impartial student of the coal problem
realizes that the real conflict is not
between labor and true capital, as
is commonly supposed, but between
labor and vicious monopoly, it might
Just as well have adjourned perman-
emily. Ifgrants are conceded to the
miners the public must suffer an un-
reasonable advance in the coal they
must buy. If not this, the miners
will be soft-soaped and let down easy
while the operators in either case
will be none the worse for the ex-
perience. The inquiry, unless all
present signs fail, will turn out as
previous inquiries have, complete
farce. President RoOsevelt's honest
efforts will be futile when rebutfed
by his powerful adversaries.
The strike will never bring justice
to the laborer and community. Ar
bitration will never bring about a
similar result, because the monopoly
can extort rs much toll from the pub
lie as it so designs. Its strength is
that of a Sampson and until 1t will
be shorn Of the secret of its power,
like Sampson Of old, it will hold at
bay and smite the mightiest army
arrayed against it, no matter how
skillfully generated. They have late
ly demonstrated that they are fear
less in insulting Governors and Sen
ators and even defy the President Of
the United States. They have grown
to be 1T, our government is O!
The public ownership Of our
country's iron highways is now re-
ceiving the public's serious attention
and we'll it is so. Monopoly of pub
lie necessities. has never been sup
posed to be part of the bargain in
private ownership of anything. Can
the public intolerate indefinitely a
dependence upon monopolized nat
ural resources in commodities of
prime necessity? The coal barons
own the railroad over which their
products are sent to market, herein
seems the secret of their power.
The general belief now spreading
throughout the country is that pub
/ lie ownership of shipping highways
would place the operators and man.
ufacturers of trust products under
governmental restrictions as they
would b. dependent upon the govern
ment for means of getting their pro-
duct to market. Under these con-
ditions, it is contended, the taxing
power, if necessary, could be applied
in dead earnest and what now ap-