Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1904-03-24
Who Shall Rule?

era in the political life of states and
nation. The names democratic
party" and Republican party" are
still employed, but the forces that
constituted each Of these parties are
divided into hostile camps. We are
engaged In that contest foreseen by
James A. Garfield on the 10th day of
| December, 1867, when from his seat
in the national house Of representa-
tives, he gave this solemn warning
to hio countrymen:
"Ncw that the great question Of
| human slavery is removed from the
arena OF American politics, / am
| persuaded that the next great ques-
| tion to be confronted will be that of
| our corporations, and their relations
to the interests Of the people and to
| the national life. The fear is now
| entertained by many OF our best
men. that the national and state leg
islatures Of the union, in creating
these vast corporations, have evoked
spirit which may escape and defy
their control and which may WELD "a
| power greater than legislatures
| themselves
The power Of corporations in states
and nation is now recognized If not
fully realized. Corporations do not
work through any single political
party. They seek the control Of all
political parties that possess power.
Forty years ago it was confidently
asserted that knowledge is power"
Today with some honorable excep.
tions the power of knowledge bows
down to and worships tho power of
wealth.
Just look ut our situation. One
man, John ID. Rockefeller, controls
light for millions of people. He fixes
the price of crude petroleum when
he buys and fixes the price of refined
petroleum when he sells. Then there
is the gigantic corporation which
controls the coal mines, and at the
same time the railroads necessarily
called upon to haul the coal from
the mines to the market The un-
reasonably high price OF this pro-
all members Of the human family,
which has prevailed throughout the
long. cold winter from which we
have just emerged, is another strong
evidence of the nan dship and suffer
ing forced upon the people in general
because of the existence of unlawful
trusts and public service corpor-
ations. The price of beef cattle is no
longer the subject of competition in
the market The beef trust has eff
fectually put an end to that, and it
fixes the price that the consumer
must pay for his steaks and stew
meats at the trust butcher shops. The
trusts and public service corpora
Ni'io iihN' b'b'iiI' o' ltilN ~ vic GA
peuse Of the people, that they can
buy newspapers, and hire editors to
write the things they want written;
tn misrepresent and malign those
whom they cannot use or control. 1t
Is stated by men VINO were in posi-
tiOn to know that not less than one
hundred thousand dollars were eX-
pended two years ago by corpora
tions to prevent the nomination of
Gov. La Toilette, aud the same cor
porations will spend as much this
year To prevent his denomination or
to secure his defeat at the polls if
they fail in the first instance. Gov
ernor La Toilette cannot be CON
trolled by the corporations and for
that reason their newspapers Will la
Dor in season and out of season to
poison the minds of the people
against him and in this way use the
people to prepare a halter for their
own necks. The question to be set
tied ~, Shall the people or the cor
poratious rule?