The San Francisco call., 1904-10-10
RAPACITY OF THE TRUSTS.
Republic Pictured as Helpless in Their
Mighty Grasp.

Mighty Grasp.
Another example of class legislation is found
in study Of our transportation system.
We have given to the various corporations
which control our telegraph. telephone, express
ana railroad business such enormous powers
that the Government itself is dwarf among
these giants. Their revenues are greater than
those of the Government. Their power to tax
Ialis not only upon the public, but upon the
Government itself. In the late conflict with
Spain the manner in which they preyed upon
the Government was something frightful in its
rapacity. And the constant practice they have
of charging the Government for the annual
use of postal car greater sum than the cost
fact that the Government dares not deny them
anything. They almost openly the ''frank'
man matter during that annual period when
the mail is weighed to adjust the average
Hundreds of tons Of junk is thus handled dur
ing those few days, and upon this fraudulent
mail matter the average for the entire year is
based. The taxpayers have to pay. The Con-
gressmen who lend themselves to this swindle
get free passes and other good things. In ex-
press charges. freight rates, telephone and tele-
graphic tariffs the pubic $ plundered every day
in the year. and the manner in which they
submit to it is of the marvels of the age.
No other people among civilized nations are
cursed with corporation tyranny ourselves
and we never seem to think that any remedy
Is possible. Half dozen corporation kings
meet in the office of J. P. Morgan and
can tax the life out of any town or city In the
United States By a squirt of the pen they can
add hundreds of millions of dollars to the bur-
dens of the people. They enable the trusts to
slay their rivals by granting rebates or spe-
cal rates. which make competition impossible
They debauch public morals by their methods
of gaining what they want from Governors
Legislatures, Judges, editors, politicians and
members of Congress.
est tables with the remark when 1 consid-
the deadly principle which lies hidden in
Voured the human race That deadly prin-
ciple Is precisely what has devoured so great
a part Of the human race every year. That
deadly principle does devour portion Of the
human race every year. The big fortune,
by the law of its nature. tends to grow big
ger. Each colossal accumulation represents
what one victor gained and ten thousand.
victims lost For. in fortune Of hun
fair reward for productive labor. Such for
tune, anything like it, represents, as a
rule, the spoil Of the successful marauder in
a is a freebooter and his hoard often
costs the losers more lives. more tears. more
When those Standard OIL knaves robbed the
entitled to the admiration Of the business
world. On the same day. perhaps hungry
women stole bread for hungry children and
went to prison for 1t. ]. p Morgan, Andrew
Carnegie. Charles Schwab and other conspic-
uous captains of industry increased their
which other less conspicuous persons confded
to the steel trust. No one punished, and
at one Of those libraries which Carnegie has
been establishing all over the country admis-
sion was denied to one of the best books OF
one of the best Russian authors because It
the peasantry in Russia. Himself mon
strous product of governmental favoritism and
nounces class legislation can be satisfactory
to this man who has in his Golfers so many
millions which should have been left in the
pockets of those whose honest industry pro-
duced them.
With a Standard OIL accumulation, Carne-
gle accumulation and other similar accumula-
tions reprasented by such men as j. p Nor
gan. August Belmont and Arthur German.
Ornr interest wit
ing results in this country? BY the law of
their nature those monster fortunes will grow
larger and larger. AS the owners of this huge
wealth have taken more than their share of
the common stock of the nations wealth so
there must be increasing millions of men who
get less than their share. What will be the
end of it? No student believes 1t can go on
That a rising tide of angry discomfort is pour
ing over the country cannot be disputed. The
evidences Of it are visible everywhere. If
H. II. Rogers J. P. Morgan. August Belmont
and men of that type think there is mo- act of
spoliation to which the people will not sub
nit they are making for themselves fools
sugar trust crowd think that the American
people going to stand idly acquiescent
while they gobble up all the wealth Of the
republic they are playing with fire. 1t will
not be permitted. Already more than half
by less than a dozen trusts. Already we have
men SO rich that they could buy up the en-
If the ''deadly principle of compound inter-
est continues to work for the Standard Oil
that group of plunderers will soon own the
whole of the United States. They and their
confederate kings will have such a grip upon
our entire system commercial. financial and
political that the Government will amount to
iittIa more than a piece of necessary me-
chanisrn TO the Standards system. The Fed
eral administration will take orders from some
future Rogers Just as boards of directors of
dozens of huge corporations now do. The
very life Of the republic demands the curb
ing of these gigantic combinations and every
aggressive step they take. from henceforth
will hasten the day when imperative public
opinion will compel the constituted authori-
ties to protect the public from ruthless spoli-
alton Of this kind.