The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-02-06
THE PEOPLE
VS.. THE STANDARD.


Continued from First Page.1
sumo. When such a state of affairs
exists from which there is no escape
except through government COMPETE
I ton, it becomes the duty of the gov
eminent to do anything that is de-
manded for the preservation of the
rights and best interests of its citizen
ship.
Our government is big enough and
strong enough and pure enough to do
anything that is necessary to protect its
people from any kind of oppression
whether political or commercial. have
always stood for a big government, a
strong government and a pure govern
ment- The masses of the people stand
for the same and they will continue so
to stand so long as necessity demands"
Same Old Greed.
Burlington Republican,: One of the
recommendations made by Governor
Hoch in his message, which has
aroused great interest and discussion in
the state, is that of the establishment
Of state oil refinery. The opponents
of the scheme are active and insistent.
They contend, and with much truth,
that for the state to build and operate
oil rehneries is to adopt the socialistic
theory Of government to that extent,
and that if it is justified in doing so
in the oil business it would be justified
in going into any other business that
was controlled by any other trust as
greedy and oppressive as the Standard.
Eventually, therefore, if this theory
were followed the state would be in the
business Of refining oil, managing pack
ing plants, manufacturing iron and
steel, mining salt and many other
things, and the dream of the socialists
would be realized
All this may be true, but the people
apparently do not care. The theory of
socialism does not seem to interest them
so much as the desire for some prac-
ticable plan to curb the power of the
Standard. They hate that infamous
trust with a hatred so intense that they
will welcome any proposition, that gives
the slightest reasonable promise of in
fiicting injury upon it and comforting
consequent benefits upon the public.
The process of strangulatiOn and ex-
tinction of the oil producing business
that is now going on in the Kansas
field Is but a repetition of that which
has taken place in Pennsylvania, Ohio
and Indiana. It is the same old story
of the Standards greed. In those states
every available scheme was tried in
the fight for existence except state re-
hneries. and the Standard won over all
and accomplished its purposes. There
is just one plan left for trial, and they
want that made in Kansas, which is
now the home of the greatest oil field
in the world They want the power of
the whole state invoked against this
greatest of legal robbers, and they don't
care if, in doing that successfully, the
state does endorse and actually practice
the theories advocated by the socialists
They want practical results rather than
exploitation and vindication of any the
cries Of government. 1t is commended
that the Standard Oil company is such
an outrageous and oppressive concern
that this case is an exceptional one, and
this action will not commit the state to
similar action in other cases, which can
be met in the same practical manner
when they arise Conservative men
everywhere are declaring that if it is
necessary to be socialists In order to
swat the Standard, they are socialists
and don't care who knows it. The
question of a state refinery is therefore
the big one in Kansas now, and a ma
jority of the people are evidently in
favor of it.