The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-03-04

zens, as is done openly by the lumber
barons of the north is anarchy.
"Organizing a ship building trust on
watered stock, and unloading it upon in
nocent suckers at fabulous price, en-
abling one man alone to net 100000
in less than six months, which resulted
in the robbing of thousands of small
stock holders, is not only anarchy on the
part of the trust bunco men and bunco
steerers, but on the part of the public
officials who permit such a proceedings
to occur without instituting criminal
proceedings against this high class of
criminals.
ct is our organizations that are charg-
ed most generally with being anarchis-
tic. and we are called anarchists. Am |
an anarchist when I demand my share
of that which l produce? Am l an an
archist when ask for liberty, life and
the pursuit of happiness? Am 1 an an
archist when I demand that my children
shall have the same rights, privileges and
opportunities as are enjoyed by my
neighbor?
''These three condensed demands prac-
tically represent the entire demands of
labor. This is what our enemies call
anarchy. This is what we call patriot
ism. If you think that it is anarchy
make the most of it.
'You will note that during this discus
sion / have made no attacks upon in
dividuals. 1t is unnecessary. What is
to be accomplished by abusing the Nor
gans, the Schwabs, the Rockefellers and
the Carnegies? They are nothing more
than men, whom fortune has looked
kindly upon. Possibly if some of us
were in their places we would fall in
to their methods. If they should all
die tomorrow, others probably more
selfish, would take their places. So long
as the present system exists there will
always be some very rich men. 1t is
not the mortal man we fear; it is the
corporate man. Should Rockefeller die
tomorrow the Standard Oil company
would still live and pursue its policy of
plumber. Morgan may pass to the be-
yond, but the United States Steel cor
poration would still have control of the
iron and steel production of America.
MIR. Hill could reap his harvest in the
fullness of his years, but the Great
Northern railway system would still be
secure So you see that these much
talked of men are not the most danger
GUS after all. 1t is folly to blame them
for their position. Blame yourselves.
You are responsible. You have continued
to elect men to your legislatures and to
congress who have given them privilege
after privilege, and when they returned
to you to report their stewardship, you
have said amen
"The apathy of the American people is
| responsible for the wholesale endow-
ment of special privileges by legislative
! bodies to private parties. Most of the
monopolies of this day have been faten-
ed on government subsidies. They have
now grown to such proportions that it
has become necessary to handle them
with kid gloves. They know their power,
and what control they have over the
country. Even if they would permit any
of the water to leak out of their stocks;
would give labor its full share of that
which it produces for them, and would
give the people the full benefit in prices
resulting from the decrease in the cost
of production, they would still be
dangerous fee to true democracy. The
question is not what they will do, but
rather what you have given them the
power to do. So long as they remain un-
der private control SO long will they be
dangerous.
"The trusts are solving the problem of
production. 1t is incumbent upon the
people to solve the problem of dis
tribution. There can be no righte-