The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1902-11-20

industry attains daily increasing
power, social, industrial and politi-
cal, and becomes the ranking order III
vast series of gradations. The state
becomes stronger in its relations to
the prcpertyless citizen, weaker in its
relations to the man of capital.
The result is a renascent feudallsm,
which, though it differs in many forms
from that of the time OF Edward l., Is
yet based upon the same status or lord,
agent. and underling. 1t, is feudal-
ism somewhat graced by sense OF
ethics and somewhat restrained py
fear of democracy" .-
CHAPTER H., Combination and
Coalescence," treats of the enormous
growth of industrial, commercial, and
financial combinations. A thorough
ANALYSIS is made of Census Bulletin
No. 122 (trusts), and some starting
| facts stated. For example, the yearly
net profits of the steel trust are dou-
BILE the amount of the total net revenue
of the United States government In
the year Lincoln was elected. lts
| wage-roll carries on an average or the
round wear over $4,000 names-an
army of employees larger by 45,vVV thah
serves the national government in ev-
cry branch of it's civil service, classl-
fed and unclassified, except only 1ourth
class postmasters." Its wage payments
f$113, 3,O00000) are thirteen mllllons
greater than the annual city budget OF
Greater New York. 1t produces 6f per
cent of the total steel production or
the country and pays 81 millions
wear in freight alone. Mr.. Ghent
quotes from Moody's Manual OF Cor
poration Securities for 1902 to the Ell
| feet that there are about $50 dlf1erent-
going combinations with capitaliza-
| ton of nine billions, and, including
| railroad consultations, an aggregate
of over $15,OO0,00O,O 900. Interstate
| Commerce Commissioner J. A. Prouty
| believes that five men control all the
| railroads of the country John W.
Gates believes that two men are real
ly in control And Professor FRANCIS
l. Patton, form .rly at the head~AoI
Princeton university, believes the time
is not far distant when there Will
not be thing that we eat, drink, or
wear that will not be made by trust
sIn pennsylvania" says Mr.. Ghent,
| s'coal is mined and railroads operated
| by practically the same companies
and in Colorado and West virginia
nearly as complete an identity Is dis-
covered. The steel corporation owns
coal lands, limestone quarries, rail-
roads. and docks; it is allied with the
great Atlantic shipping trust; it is
related not distantly to the Standard
Oil company; and the beginnings OF
| nublic opinion trust are indicated, TOT
already it's chief magnate has acquired
several newspapers and a prominent
magazine"
Granting that there is a counter
tendency toward the persistence ol
small-unit farming and OF small-snop
production, Mr.. Ghent points out the
growth of farm tenancy and or salar-
| led MANAGEMENT of large estates as
nroof that farming is not an exception
to I general trend toward comblna-
tion but simply differs in degree. OWN
ers operated 74,5 per cent OF all farms
| in 1890: 71.6 per cent in 1890; but only
CAT per cent in 1900. Since 1880 ten
| antrY mas luCIed0cu
ery state and territory except Arizona
Florida and New Hampshire, and IN
these the relative decrease is only
| fraction of l per cent.
CHAPTER III. deals with our Mag
mates" and here the authors powers
of sarcastic utterance are given 1uli
nlav, "Frequently his (the mag
nate's) benefactions increase" says
Mr.. Ghent, "and always he takes on
more Jovian air, and views with
more providential outlook the phenom-
ena passing before and about him. lie
is a part not only, as Tennyson makes
ULYSSES say, of all that he has met put
of the primary causes of things. he
| is at once the loaf-giver to the needy
the regulator of temporal affairs, the
lord protector of church and society;
and he holds his title directly from
the Creator . A flattering unction
that all Law to their souls is the dictum
that success in business is matter Oh
honesty, intelligence and energy
quoting Carnegie, Sage, Dodd' and
Rockefeller.
Chapter w., "Our Farmers and
Wgae-E Farmers" is equally instructive
and interesting ''In most ages. says