The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-03-07

demanding relief. I do not advocate oil
legislation as a weapon of onense so
much as advocate it as q weapon OF
defense. The effort in Kansas is pro-
lection, not attack If such legislation
as we have enacted in Kansas becomes
an attack by confession of the Standard
Oil company the latter is defeated by
it's own argument The people of the
country want nothing but exact jus
tice and fair play and they are deter
mined to have both
I wish to enpha size and re- emphasize
that the state refinery method OF pro-
tecting state oil interests is not social
ism. 1t is not the spirit OF socialism.
but the very reverse of it. 1t may have
the semblance of socialism, but its soul
is that of competition. Socialism is a
heresy which 1 have studied and com
bated for years and of the faHacy of
which 1 am more than ever convinced.
1t is heresy of extensive literature,
both ancient and modern, the funda-
mental tenet of which, so far as mater
ial matters is concerned, is the negation
of property rights. Its profoundest
philosophers have all taught that per-
sonal ownership of property is a crime.
Certainly this state oil refinery move
ment is not tinctured with this hereSy.
All over this broad land no one denies
the right of the Standard Oil company
to own oil properties or to deal in oil.
All the states have welcomed the in
vestmentS of the Standard Oil company
as legitimate investments and have
given them the protection accorded to
all investments. II is not the possession
and exercise of property rights which
the people of this nation object to; it
IS the abuse of property rights to which
objection is made
IF the states which adopt state rehn-
cry laws do so with any other purpose
than to restore equality of opportunity
in the oil industry they make a mistake.
The establishment of a state refinery
should not be considered the establish
ment of a monopoly. 1t should be an at
tempt to make an already existing
monopoly be decent 1t should encour-
age private investment in this line. It
is an attempt to encourage competition,
not to destroy competition, as socialism
does. When its purpose is achieved
when private capital can find invest
ment in ref1neries with a fair chance
of success, when normal conditions are
restored. when individual competition
shall again be possible, when these good
conditions have been made permanent
then the states should not only be will
ing but be glad to retire from the rein
ing of oil and leave that business as well
as other lines of industry in the hands
of private competition, where it legiti-
mately belongs, but where it is now i'm
possible on account of the grea test
socialistic corporation now doing bust
ness on earth, the Standard Oil COM
pany.
IF we can force the Standard Oil
company to a basis of fair play what
an achievement for the intelligent
patriotism of the countryl No greater
question confronts the American people
than the control of the great aggrega-
tons of capital, all of them socialistic
in character, and which are anita gonistic
to the essential element of all national
progress, the competitive system. When
the recent order of Standard Oil went
out withdrawing the purchase of Kan
sas oil most timely and significant
Illustration of the coercive character of
these modern combinations of capital
was furnished the American people. If
that order had been maintained thou
sands of good people would have been
homeless and bankrupt in a short time.
An economic condition which makes it
possible for one man with stroke of
his pen to bankrupt thousands of his
fellow citizens is inherently wrong and
will not be tolerated permanently by a
free and patriotic people. 1t is a call
for the state individually and the states
to do some wise thing quick
~ for the solution of the whole trust
problem