Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1904-12-06
md cargo. Railway corporations,

and cargo. Railway corporations,
the creatures of the state under
charters, deliberately rob the pro-
ducers and the consumers in the
nation 10 the utmost limit that
commercial trpfhc will bear. The
pirate of The high-seas aud the
chartered railway corporations OF
the United States are identical in
character. They differ only il
| degree of robbery and the form
of charters under which they pill
lage and plunder their unfortu-
nate victims. The pirate writes
his own charter, tor which be is
outlawed, while the railway cor
poration receives its charter from
the state under the authority of
which it deliberately robs and
plumbers the commercial interests
of every citizen of the nation.
1t may be the patriotic duty of
the citizen to submit to the gi-
gantic robbery of railway corpo-
ra,ions because they are the char
tered cormorants of the state. 1t
may be the duty of every citizen
to scorn to make complaint
against corporations which, if
justly dealt with, would forfeit
their charters and suffer the con-
hscatlon of their stolen wealth.
But is it?
The chartered railway fran
chises, municipal, state and ma
tional, have produced nine-tenths
of the unruly, defiant, insolent
and arrogant millionaires of this
country, commercial freebooters
who defy our Courts and who
but recently attempted to place
one of their chosen representa-
tives at the head of this govern
ment and are now recognizing
for the control of this government
in 1908.
There is not commercial
trust in the United States, that is
not composed, in large part, of
men interested in railway corpo-
rations which are perpetrating
their nefarious crimes under
charters issued by the grace of
the people from whom they flch
the last dollar possible in every
commercial transaction. The
chartered railway corporations
operating 1000 miles of rail-
road in the United States are
now perfecting the most gigantic
combination in the world. A
combination III violation of the
laws of the United States; a COM
b;nation III violation Of the laws
OF the several states of this Re-
public.
This defiant act OF combina-
t1ou is an unmista kable declara-
ton of war upon the rights aud
commercial freedom of eighty
millions of people. The magni-
tude of it is relied upon as suffi-
ciently powerful and able to over
awe and to defeat the Executive,
Legislative and Judicial depart
ments of the Federal Govern
ment, in every effort made to
! bring these offenders to justice.
! If the magnitude of this fell
ony, if the magnitude of this un-
PARALLEL commercial robbery of
the people can be relied upon to
secure immunity from our Courts
and the executive department OF
the Government of the United
States, then what peaceful RENE
dy is there left to which a long
suffering nation can appeal for re-
lief?
Have chartered combinations
renounced all sanctity Of state
and national government? Do
they owe no duties and obliga-
tions to the people? Is there no
law which corporate greed will
respect? Do the railway corpo-
rations seek to provoke eighty
millions of people to hurl wide
open their red-hot gates and
make defiant commercial lines
blaze with perpetual conflict,
spreading into a war for the sur
vival of the httest?
Railway corporations, more
than any other, have bred i'm
perious, domineering and agres-
Sive men clothed with Douerc