Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1908-07-17
WATSON'S SPEECH.


said in part
zone of the most fearful statements
that was ever made is that history re-
peats ITSELF Take the words rightly
and you stand appalled,.
s'The establishment of the political
oligarchy, the use of legislative machi-
merry by one class to rob the others, the
exploitation of the unprivileged by the
ivileged-history is full of it; and
when history repeats itself we shall
again have the rule of the many by the
| few, the confscatiOn of the property of
the unprivileged under forms of law,
and the giving to systematized pillage
| the sacred name of Government.
"Why did the Roman aristocrats kill
julius Caesar? What had he done to
Rome that the Roman mobiles should
take his life? He had abolished i'm
prisonment for debt, and by this act
had deprived the Roman capitalist of
his power to keep his debtor in slavery.
Caesar revived the law against hoard
ing. Any capitalist who kept out of
circulation greater sum than $4,000
became criminal, subject to severe
penalties.
ooh, that we had had Caesar in the
White House last October, when those
Wall street rascals drew into New York
all the available cash of the country,
boarded it, and created the panic.
RAID OF THE CORPORATIONS.
"History repeats itself; and today
we have in our own Republic every
abuse against which the Roman Pop
ulares' made war. In all directions the
terrific energy of the corporation has
driven the public off the public domain.
Our streets have been seized by tele-
graph, telephOneland railroad cOmpan-
les. The iron horse mOnopolizes the
main line of public travel. The private
company must be chartered to hold the
light which enables the public to walk
the public streets.
"Suppose you compare the plutocracy
of Rome to that of these United States?
J. p. Morgan has more money invested
in art treasures alone than the richest
of all the Romans was worth. The
summer cottage of Cornelius Wander
bilt costs $4,000, 600, to say nothing of
the land and the furnishings. John d.
Rockefeller's yearly income is greater
than was the entire fortune of the rich
est Roman. From one little railroad,
the Central of Georgia, J. P. Morgan
and choice assortment of participant
ing thieves stole larger sum than
| The victorious Sylla astonished histo-
rians by levying fine of $25, 900, 600
upon the rich cities of Greece. The
Sugar Trust levied an annual fine of
| twice that amount upon this Republic
few years ago to recoup itself for a
contribution of $500, 600 which it had
made to the compaign fund of a polit-
ical party. By judiciously placing its
contributions the Steel Trust gets the
privilege to SO arrange our tariff sched-
ules as to extort net profits every year
ten times larger than the entire revenue
of the Roman Republic.
''The Vanderbilt family, through
franchise grabbing and stock watering
operations, have robbed the American
people of vaster sum than Alexander
the Great harvested by his conquest OF
the Persian empire
"Antiquity was shocked when Cleo
patra dissolved and drank pearl valu-
ed at 100000 Historians emphasize
the scandalous luxury of Lucullus, who
spent So, 500 on feast. When one of
our American millionaires throws open
the grand ballroom for a night of rev.
elry the floral decorations alone cost
more than the feast of Lucullus. And
when one of our CleOpatras is fascinat.
ed by some rowing Mare Antony, Eng.
fish duke, Italian prince, French count
or Hungarian Sneeze-weed, she thinks
nothing of spending from one to five
million dollars on the pearl In Cleo
patra's case the gem who merely a
casual product of nature In the mod
ern instance every dollar that goes
abroad to pay for foreign titles and
minister to the depraved appetites OF
aristocratic debauchees is the product
of the American labOrer's toll.
NEW YORK TRACTION PLUMBER.
"From the traction lines of New York
City Ryan and Belmont have taken
greater amounts of plumber than War.
rem Hastings wrung from the princes
of Hindustan. Hastings despoiled the
idle rich of Undergraduates who had
| themselves plundered their own peO-
pie. Ryan and Belmont did not plum
der the idle rich. No; they put their
greedy hands upon the scant earnings
of millions of workmen and workwO-
men of Greater New York and amassed
fortunes for themselves by robbing the
industrious poor.
"They talk to us of foreign foes, and
some of our statesmen wildly clamor
for billion dollar navy. But tell me
what greater harm foreign foe could
inf1ict upon us than we are suffering
| from the foe within our gates
The entire loss of France in the German
invasion of 1871 was not greater, either
in money or in human life, than our
losses every five years to our predatory
corporations.
"Count up the victims in mine, mill
and factory; count up the human
wrecks of the sweatshOps; count up the
victims that have strewn the lines of
our railroads; the victims of the stock
yards, the sugar refineries and the
smelling works; count up what you
have lost to those who exploit child
labor; count up all these for four years
and you will reach frightful total
which exceeds the losses of our civil
war.
"For several years a big Stick Presi-
dent has been engaged in the alleged
work of trust busting. Where's your
w
been put out of business? You cannot
name it. How can a President who
has been standing pat with the tariff
stand-patters do any effective trust
busting? You might as well try to
purge the Gulf of Mexico without di-
verting the Mississippi.
Gin mine; mill and shop, in field and
forest, the workman brings forth every
year the immense sum of four and a
half billions of dollars. Yet when we
come to examine the official reports
published by the Government, the ter
rible fact appears that the specially
privileged have taken practically the
entire amount.
"What brought about the panic of
1907? The volume of real money has
been so greatly lessened in comparison
with the country's need for money that