The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-08-25

the ilar~burEs - SIZE thus announcing us al
he-iun T. the past. thc french people Withdrew
their support and when banded kings aZain
pressed nirD, he fell. The army restored hlm ~
l-l5 but the people were no longer with hlT
and nc fell again never u rise. In $50 n lei'
ana ~ lotJ tie French people again and a-alh
returned 10 their Republican faith. till now
neither army nor banded -overe.gn- dispute the
popular will.
In England in I2l5 tia MOBILES wen from the
sovereign the right 70 share in the product q the
toIllnr masses. Near the Close ~ the reign oI
Elizabetf. the middle classes, FESTIVE under the
e~Aactions OF monopolies granted by the cT3Hi.
demanded their abolition. The wise old qaeen
knew when To WELD. she Welded and died With
her crown On her head. 4 struggle between the
upper middle classes on one side and tile crown
ard nobility on the other broke ont half a
century later and Charles the FIRST not knowing
how u Weld lost his head. Twelve years later
lis son making the concessions his father should
fave made was restored but his brother. James
not k@ping fdlth. again lost the kingd ~
which Was henceforth ruled ~ the upper c'Tes.
Jointly with the nobility and the king. That
was the purport II the glorious Revolution Of
l6o~. In l77G. wc resolved to abolish all 1pc-
cal privileges and al government in the inter.
est Of the few. to do away with king. notles,
privileged classes AMI put the government III tile
hands Of the whole people. cur example moved
the French leaders Of thought and accelerated
the French Revolution. The e.cce9es and afro
cities Of that Revolution. aided by centuries of
national hostility . the French kept back the
popular feeling which had been created IN
England by our success. In ISL. the form ri
the English monarchy was saved By the mon
archy, the nobilita. ana the gentry ahdicatiHg
their rule in favor Of a government ~ the Pce-
pie. Since then England has been. in all but
name, a Republic. Its government is by a com
mlttee Of the majority party in the lower House
If Parliament. The King is name only, with a
Liz SALARY, and the House Of Lords is a mere
survival from other times. without practical
power. Throughout the civilized world all kings
now hold their positions only BY suffeTancc, save
III Russia. where the government is a machine
a bureaucracy, held in place by the army with
a goverless Car and a restless people.
This brief recital Of facts, known to YOU All,
Will serve, to show that history has been a long
economic struggle by the wealth producers and
that civilization has been exactly measured by
the successive rise OF the different strata of
society to power. First the king was absolute,
then the nobility forced him to admit them to
a share in the enjoyment of the "ealth created
by the toilers, then the upper middle class. and
then the lower middle class forced admission,
and then nominally the whole people were ad
United to a partnership III government. say
nolninally. for nowhere have the real wealth pro
duccrs, the toilcrS. actually asserted their fun
weight, for had they done so they would have
been the government. being more numerous than
all other classes. The labor unions. the boy
colts, the strikes, in this country, the casting
by the Socialists in Germany at the June cleo
ton this year Of more than 3 .Oo0. 600 votes being
more than a third of the whole vote cast, demon
state that the creators Of wealth are deter
mined now TO have a larger share Of the wealth
created b. their labor.
SIMULTANEOUSLY VII tliS ilDNtIne1l, we see lIe
rcactionary movement to aggregate all wealth
into the hands of a few multi millionaircs. These
as Of old give themselves aliases. Formerly their
aliases were Duke of SO and SO, Marquis, Earl.
mummcry is played out. Now one takes the
alias Of standard Oil Company another 1.-THE
American Steel and Iron Company" the pa
cific Railway The american Tobacco Com
pany,' and SO on.
Which force will win? These cold foes with
new faces these new claimants to appropriate
the wealth of the nation to their own uses;
these successors OF those who have been repu-
dated by every nation in turn-or will the new
forces of organized labor win? The conflict is
on and is irrepressible. The vast mass of the
nation outside of the two opposing lines look
with doubt and distrust upon the labor organiza-
tions for they do not know Yet how far they
will go. This intermediate mass Of the nation
is opposed to the Trusts, and to all rule by cor
porationS. If convinced that organized labor
meditates no attack upon the rights Of private
property and no control of government in their
own special interests but that each man shall
be free to own and enjoy that which he has
honestly earned, then labor and the great bulk
Of the people, the farmers, the merchants, the
professions (outside of those employed by the
TIusts) may unite and terminate the predomin-
ance which Is given in practice. though not in
our form of government TO aggregated, CONSOLE
Gated wealth. Napoleon said that an army
went on its belly" meaning that the first prob
lem in var was the feeding of the fighters. So
whatever power controls the distribution of
wealth, and decides the comfort, the sustenance,
the material welfare to be allotted to the masses
is the real government. That power is not at
Washington, nor at your State capitals. All leg
islation against the power Of Trusts has proved
nugatory. The real government of this country
today in this res.ect is in the hands of these
last who have shown themselves stronger than
the law. SO in Rome. the standards and the
coins bore the suncrscription, The Senate and
the Roman People, and there were Consuls and
a Senate and other republican forms, unimpair-
ed, long centuries after all real government had
been centred in the Pretorian Cohort and its
chief.
BY reason of the vast improvements in ma
chinery, a lahorer can now often produce 20
times as much as formerly, sometimes 80 times
as much. in some cases 200 times as much or
even ZOO times. The skilled laborer is entitled
to a fair share of this increased product. As a
rule, he Is not getting it. The consumer, too,
is entitled to ID fair share III the reduction OF the
cost Of production. He is not getting it. The
vast bulk OF profit caused by the Introduction of
machinery and of modern improvements is con
ftscatcd to the benefit of a bare handful Of men,
by the combination of capital into trusts and
great corporations. The chief boneficlarlcs. the
multi-millionaires. number less than 10000. Their
dependents, their families, their hirelln9S, may
possibly foot up to a total of half a million.
There are 50 millions on the other side. How
long will this state of things last? 1t only exists
best way to DESTROY the system without injury
TO the established rights OF property and to our
other constitutional guarantees.
The earnings of the United States Steel Com
Ila1N, the NtdntidGu VII COMPANY, II TWO IT
three other trusts last year as reported by them
selves were 11.20 of the total increase of wealth
in the whole country, and there are 200 smaller
trusts to satisfy before the consumers and pro
daccrs, the great body OF the people can share
in the annual increase of wealth. Every man is
entitled to the advantages given him by his
| superior diligence, and ability, but every one
| knows that Carncgie's 5000, 900, 900, RockefelIer's
500, 900, 600, Morgan's 500, 600, 0G0 have not been
obtained in that way. but by methods which
have stripped countless thousands OF their fair
share in the vast annual lnCrcaS" of wealth.
owing to machinery VIC far surpass all proceed
ing ages in the creation of wealth. In the just
distribution OF this increase our methods are
defective to the last degree, and nowhere more 50
than in this country. We are suffering from
economic Indigestion in its most aggravated
form. In all history, whenever the body polite
las suffered from such ills, if other relief did
not come political Commissions and revolution
have followed.
BY the statutes of the United States and of
! probably every State in tn" Union, Trusts are
| illegal ard their officers indictablc. In not a
single instance has a trust been broken up by
the enforcement of 4 statute. This shows that
while the popular will has forced its expression
by Congress and the State Legislatures, there is
a power greater than the law. Plain as is the
Federal statute, this part OF the country has
known Of but one attempt to cntarce it. Then