Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1903-12-23
OKOLONA, MISS, WEDNESDAY, DEC. %, 1908.


number, is the important question Of Wages
On all sides you hear tO-day--frOm the mouth Of
trust brigands-that the American Workingman is
to blame.
The man who actually works, who lays the bricks
digs the COAL fashions the red hot iron, is dragged
before jury Of trust swindlers and unanimously
declared guilty.
"LabOris too high, !" says the trusts. 'The Amer
lean workman is exorbitant. His demands threat
en- American prosperity. His wages must be cut
down."
AS matter Of fact Who is to buy the products Of
the mills and the farms il you discharge or cut down
the pay of the million who WOrkf Who shall
bring prosperity to the small tradesman II you cut
off, cut down, the income Of His customersi
What becomes Of the money paid by enterprtsing
business men for capable American laborf Is not
that money instantly put into circulation
The Pennsylvania railroad employs 100, 900 men.
1t sets noble example by voluntarily increasing
not less than $780, 900 per day, about ten million per
year. ~.
Was not that contribution OF ten millions to It's
workmen a contribution Of ten millions to the gen.
era prosperity Of the cOuntryi Was it not all spent
usuallyi Did not every dollar promote industrial
activity
IT, is q fact that industries and stores. big and
little suffer when labor is idle under paid, does
it not prove that the effort Of American working
men to better themselves by organization is fnnda
mentally effort 10 increase National prosperity
Contrast the conduct of the Pennsylvania railroad
with that OF the Steel Trust and contrast those two
cOncernsi
The Pennsylvania railroad, a Legitimate Ameri.
can enterprise, has proceeded for years on honest
lines giving the best Of SERVICE paying good divi-
dends regularly, treating it's men fairly.
Il finds itself legitimately prosperous and vOlun-
tarily increases wages
The Steel Trust, a piratical scheme, blooms out
with one thousand millions Of waste paper for sale.
It cuts its common stock dividend in two. It shifts
Ia per cent stock into per cent bonds-the manipu'
latOrs prOftng in the process.
It cOncocts scheme to swndle it's employees into
buying trust stOck-knOwing that it s worthless.
It rObs all OF its customers with exOrbitant
charges.
And finally it announces a cutting Of wages all
along the line in order that it may pay dividend on
a fraudulent capitalization.
Should the men who actually work, who handle
the Ore toll and sweat in the rolling mills, be made
to suffer permaDtly Tor the trusts thievlng enter
prisei Should they becOmpeled to pay the divi-
dendi
The trust pirates rob the public, and everybody
knows 1t. They iniure the country By stealing the
savings of thrifty men aud women In every city.
And now they summon the actual wOrkingman
before them and say to him
"YOu are guilty. You must pay the dividends
our OF your pocket"
This is the unanimous verdict OF the jury OF pre-
datOry trust to day. But higher court viii over
rule with the decision Of the ballot box this decision
Of the trusts.
The dominant issue in American lire to-day is
the issue of the Dishonest Trust the reckless prati-
cal trust fnancier.
The people are learning at last what the laWdeiy-
ing trust really is. They paying big price for
the knowledgeloss Of savings, loss in wages, loss
in general prosperity.
But even the price that the people have to pay
III. Fsa
at the next election from national domination by the
trusts-the enevitabIe enemies Of prosperity, the
manipulatOrs Of the accumulation and the distribu'
tion Of wealth