The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-02-17

lieve they could all be easily overcome.
These views, however, have not pre-
vailed; other counsels, and trust
wiser one, have had supremacy
1T is due to this state to say that
this movement has not been conceived,
as many suppose and some charge, in
the spirit OF socialism. 1t is not, in
deed a SOcia1iSt1c movement but the
very reverse of it. True, it has the
semblance of socialism, but it's soul is
that of competition Its garb is social
| istic, but its real person is competitive.
What is socialism? 1t is a heresy which
I have studied and. combatted for years
and of whose fallacy I am more than
ever convinced; a -heresy which has ex-
tensive literature, ancient and modern,
the fundamental tenet of which so FAR
as material matters is concerned is the
negation of property rights in indiVid-
uals, the denial of the right of individ-
uals to own property. Its profoundest
philosophers have all taught that per-
SOnal ownership of property is a crime.
Is this oil refinery movement tinctur-
ed at all with this heresy? I answer
right of the Standard OIL company to
own oil properties or to deal in oils
This company has invested vast sums
of money in Kansas and certainly no
one has objected to these investments;
they have been gladly welcomed as are
all legitimate investment, and are en-
titled to the protection accorded to all
other investments It is not the pos
-
rights, but the abuse of them to which
objection is made
This is not an attempt to drive the
Standard Oil company out of Kansas
to deprive it of legitimate profits, or to-
do it any injustice of any kind-it is
an attempt to compel it to treat the
people of this state fairly and to give
every man a square deal. If this state
monopolize the oil business of this
state-it has no such purpose in view.
1t is not an attempt to establish a
monopoly. but it is an attempt to COM
pei a monopoly already existing to be
decent. It will not discourage but en-
courage private investment in this line
of industry. 1t VIII welcome all such
investments. 1t is an attempt to make
competition possible and not to de-
stroy competition as Socialism does,
and when its purpose is achieved;
when private capital can come to
Kansas and find Investment in oil re-
tineries, with a fair chance of success;
when normal conditions have been
restored; when individual competition
shall again be possible; when these
good condidtions have been made per-
manent, then the state will not only
be willing but viii be glad to retire
from the refining of oil and leave that
business as well as the other lines OF
industry in the hands of private COM
petitors where it legitimately belongs,
but where it is now impossible on ac-i
count of the greatest Socialistic cor
poration now doing business on earth,
the Standard Oil company.
mo greater question confronts the
American people than the control of
these great aggregations of capital, all
of them socialistic in their character,
and which are antagonistic to the essen
tial element of all national progress,
the competitive system A timely and
significant illustration of the c0ercive
character of these modern combinations
of capital, and Of their menace to pri-
vate and public veal, was furnished in
the recent telegram Of the manager OF
the Standard Oil company, pftulantly
and arbitrarily Withdrawing it's patron
age from the producers in the oil fields.
Were that order maintained thousands
of good people would soon be bankrupt
and homeless. An economic condition
which makes it possible for one man
with a stroke of his pen to bankrupt
thousands of his fellow citizens is in
herently wrong and will not be per-
manently tolerated by a free and patri-
otic people, and it illustrates more forci-
bly than any recent event has done the
necessity of wise solution OF TINS
whole trust problem.
PLAYFUL resolutions have been intro
duced into this legislature for the con-
troll of other trusts, but the question is
a seriuos one and l nave the Ut
most faith that the intelligent, patriotic
and courag ageOus American people viii
find a solution for all of these prob
lens. We are all cropping IN the dark
but we will get out into the nght aIter
awhile This Kansas contribution to
the solution of this great problem may
or may not be a wise one, but 1t IS at
least an honest and courageous one a
free people had better fail in an at
tenpt to defend their rights than to
make no attempt in this direction at
all. -
in hearty sympathy with Ihe Pun t @ pos9S - -
proval, and will exert whatever power
may possess to the fullest extent to make
this undertaking a success, and can
IlDOn all patriOtic people OF the state, now
that their representatives have spoken. to
lay aside individual opinions ana per
sonal Dredilections and unite IN the sup /
port of a. common cause
Il wish to again call the atJentlon OF
the legislature to a suggestion formerly |
made that no undertaking of this kind
can succeed unless supplemented by ad-i
equate railroad legisla5don, Ior by by tpe the
STANDARD Oil company in its own self in /
terests to the detriment of Independent /
refinerfes is due largely the present u1-
a absolutely useless to spend a dollar of the /
peoples money in the manner provided |
bv This bill unless this legislation be sup |
plemented by law protecting TINS enler.-
five enterprises from the unjust discrini- /
nations and extortionS which have Grip |
Dled and crushed competitive efforts in
the past. . 4 -. -
isIatl1re that as this law imposes heavy /
additional duties upon the warden ana
directors of the penitentiary, the latter OF /
whom are already poorly pa1d, thaI add1-
fjonaI remuneration should be provided /
for them. F. W. HOCH, Governor
Robbed Four Times in Year.
Taaxey,vvorth Feb 17-Burglars broke /