Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-11-04
THE BUCCANEERS.
(C. a. WindLe, in Iconoeldst

The old-tlme pirates were q crud,
and clumsy lot. Their descendant
the modern trust promoters-ar,
artists. The former sailed the high
seas. The latter infest the sea oI
commerce. The old-time pirates cuI
the throats of their victims, or scut
tied their ship, leaving them in mid
ocean TO perish. These crimes
brought downupon them the curses OF
mankind, and when taken they wers
thrust into hell without ceremony.
Their successors kill men finan.
cially and scuttle the ships Of bust
ness rivals who refuse to join the
trust fleet. They prey upon the pro
ducer by fixing the lowest possible
price on his products. They rob the
consumer at the other end by fixing
the highest possible price on the
necessaries of life. They plunder
the whole people by creating fcti,
tious values on which to collect
tribute. All this they do without
slipping their heads into a moose OF
endangering their standing as models
of Christian civilization. The mo-
tive which inspired Captain Kidd to
sweep the high seas with black
flag, led John ID. Rockefeller and
other trust bsrons to kill all compe-
tition in their respective lines,
Methods have changed.
These men could not find language
sufficiently denunciatory and vitri-
olic for Mr.. Bryan when he proposed
to have Uncle Sam make fifty cents
worth of silver dollar. Yet these
men take stock, worth less than
nothing, and coin it into millions.
They exchange their fictitious values
for real property, and convert "wind"
and "water" into the coin of the
realm. Millions of their victims
would be only too glad to exchange
worthless stocks for which they paid
100.cent dollars, for 5O-cent dollars.
Even 25-cent dollars would look like
cart wheels to some of them. Many
who paid 90 cents for Steel Common
sold it for less than 10 cents. Some
of them were "widows" and "or-
phans," for whom the Rockybilt-
fellers were so solicitous in 1896.
In his startling story of "Amal-
gamated," in Everybody's Magazine,
Thomas w. Lawson, the Boston
Copper King, lays bare the brutal
method by which money has gained
the mastery over men and the nation.
The industrial and political world
stands in awe before the revelations
he has made. If his story does not
produce a revolt and revolution
against trusts and trust methods,
there is absolutely no hope for the
American Republic. Lawson speaks
as one having authority. For years
he has been part of the system
he now arraigns at the bar of justice.
The story might be properly called
"The Confession of Reformed
Pirate" Lawson's conversion, how
ever, is sincere. 1t is much as his
life is worth to tear the mask from
the face of "Frenzied Finance" {"
Ne man knows this better than
Lawson. He tells of two men who
found graves in the deep because
they knew too much of Standard
Oil infamies, and these by no means
complete the list of deaths which
might be traced to the gilded den at
"26" Broadway. The flag law of
Massachusetts was invoked for the
suppression of Everybody's Magazine
containing the first installment of
Lawson's story. The cover con-
tained the figure of an eagle, and
the flag. The -oilsoaked patriotism
of Judge Emmons of Boston led him
to decide that the flag had been
"desecrated." The decision raised
such a storm that he finally per-
mitted the magazine to be sold minus
the cover. Sach patriotism is not
worth hell room. 1t was palpable
effort to throttle the press, by a
miserable tool of Standard Oil.
Below we give the meat in Law
sons story to date. In our next
it will be continaed.
STANDARD Oil" has one general
rule-"Every Standard Oil man must
wear the Standard Oil collar"
This is riveted on each one as he is
taken into the "band, "and can only be-
removed with the head of the wearer
Here is its code:
1. Keep your mouth closed, as
silence is gold, and gold is what we
exist for.
2. Collect our debts today. Paw
the other fellows debts tomorrow
Today is always here, tomorrow may
never come.
3. Conduct all our business sc
that the buyer and the seller must
come to US. Keep the seller waiting
the longer he waits the less he'll
take. Hurry the buyer, as his
money brings US interest.
4. Make all profitable bargains
in the name of STANDARD Oil,'
debatable ones in the names of dunn
mics. STANDARD Oil" never goes
back on a bargain.
8. Never put STANDARD Oil'
trades in writing, as your memory
and the other fellows forgetfulness
will always be REINFORCED with our
organization. Never forget oul
Legal Department is paid by the
year, and our land is full of courts
and judges.
6. As competition is the life oi
trade-our trade; and monopoly the
death of trade-our competitors
trade, employ both judiciously.
z. Never enter into "butting''
contest with the government. Our
government is by the people and for
the people, and we are the people,
and those people who are not us can
be hired by us.
A \