The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1904-10-25
~ o. LuMD,
State Committeeman, Socialist Nom
inee for Presidential Elector.

- w. ~S~~S
State Committeeman, Socialist Nom
inee for Presidential Elector.
When. in 1896 and 1900, the Social
lists stated that the Bryan democracy
represented small capitalistic inter-
ests and offered no hope for the work.
ing class, the followers of the silver
tongued orator of the Platte denoun-
ced them as vile slanderers. Bryan
was hailed as the special exponent Of
high ideals in politics, the champion
of the downtrodden, the valiant knight
of the common people" and the
peerless leader" who alone could
defeat those who sought to cruelty
labor upon cross of gold"
The Socialists met this rant and
rhetoric with calm reason. They
showed how free silver, trust-burst-
ing and anti-imperialism were all de-
ridden parasites who were unable to
compete with the great trusts in the
worldwide imperialistic markets.
Four years have passed away. Once
more a presidential campaign is here.
Meanwhile important changes have
occurred in the industrial life of
America. classification has gone on
even faster than the Socialists pre-
dicted. The millionaire has grown
into the Millionaire. The mighty rail-
road system of America,the veins and
arteries through which the social life
blood .throbs and flows, has been
seized upon by half dozen men, who
draw from it the red corpuscles of
surplus value, leaving the remainder
of the social organs to grow weak
and anaemic. The great basic indus
try of steel, with which today the
very social skeleton is built, forms
the foundation of the mightiest ag-
gregation of capital ever created
Around and upon these and other
trusts the mines and mills and factor
les and stores of this country have
been bound in gigantic agglomera-
tions of capitalized exploitation, until
the sum total staggers the imagina-
ton.
John Moody. the best authority on
Wall street matters. himself bound by
all the ties of business interests to
the barons dwelling upon the cliffs
that line that famous thoroughfare
tells us that at the present time the
total classification of the industr
of America requires the unthinkable
figure of $4,000, 00O,o to express it's
value. Twenty-seven billion dollars
means no more TO the finite mind
than do those dazzling rows of fig
ures with which astronomers seek to
tell us of the metes and bounds of
endless space. 1t is more than twen-
ty times the value of all the gold and
silver coin and all the paper currency
in circulation in the United States to-
day. If all the gold and silver that
have been mined in all the world
since the day when Columbus discov-
cred America were all gathered into
a single pile, it would still fall far
short of the trustified W ealtiiof Amer
lea, and all of this, we are informed,
is practically controlled by one group
of men-the Rockefeller Morgan
group'-the Standard Oil influence,
whose 'frenzied finance" shows that
its owners are the very incarnation
of cool, fiendish greed.
We gain a little idea of the i'm
mensity of this sum when we remem-
Der that the value of the whole United
States-lands, mines, mills factories,
ships on the sea and manufactured
products in the stores and ware
houses, cattle, sheep and swine and
horses, together with all the crops
on all the farms-amounted to but
9,616,000 in the year 1860. In
other words, these few men could have
purchased this entire country, with
all that is in, upon or under it, less
than forty years ago, and had enough
small change left in their pockets to
buy few little European Kingdoms
to take home as playthings for their
children.
But. enough Of comparisons. It
must at least be evident that the
trust movement has proceeded long
past the point where the puny blows
OF envious little capitalists can en-
No"sSi SithcI ltc pIcsSHt cAlSIeUce OF
Its future progress. The class of
small capitalists is not going to dis
appear; 1t is not even In process of
disappearance. IT HAS ALREADY
DISAPPEARED, 80 far as being of
any importance in the industrial
structure is concerned. Its few re-
naming members cling on in pro-
hidden retreats Of the social organiza-
ton, like barnacles and clans about a
rotting hulk.
For all essential purposes there are
but two classes in American society
the capitalists. who own the indus