Amador ledger. (Jackson, Amador County, Calif.) 1875-19??, 1908-01-03
The Trust Buster.
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bystanders.
"Aln't goln' to vote at ALL" grunted
the old man.
What, not exercise your duty as
patriotic citizen2"
Patriotism be hangedl A mans
patriotism is really what he considers
his interest to be. You fellers know
that for years I've watched the trusts
reachln' out, legally, illegally, bribin',
corruptln', as the case required, to rob
people You know how when they
want Judge they buy him. when they
want legislature they buy It, They
was tryin' to buy the govment O. the
United States, but they run up agin
somepn' stronger'n they was their
selves. They got prosecuted under the
law.
"Then my patriotism was bollin'. l
seen a chance for honest men to get
their dues. 1 seen the time comm
when all the money a man could earn
needn't go into beef and oil I'D be
plenty as bad whisky, and we cud all
live on what we used to live on afore
the trusts sucked the life outer us.
II thought this was patriotism. 1t
wasn't. 1t was nothin' more'n kickin'
agin the other Teller gittln' the better
Of u.s. If anybody'd give me money to
pay for things 1 wanted and have
good sum left over wouldn't "a kick
ed. I'd kicked the Teller that tried to
interfere with the system. How did l
find that out? I'll tell y. My brother
Dan went to New York when he was a
boy to go into business. Now he's a
stockbroker.
"Waal, Dan he was allus writin' me
to come down to the city to see him,
an last summer l went He's got a
big house m lots O. hired help. l
asked him if there was much preju-
dice agin the trusts in New York. He
didn't say nothin' except, ooh, you're
trust buster, are yer 1 hadn't been
called by that name before, and /
didn't like it nor his way O. sayin' it.
Well he went on, If you stay here
long enough we'll take that out O. you
Never said. I'll never lose my rev.
erence for law, for equity, for justice
and above all the poor, who suffer
from havin' to pay exorbitant prices
for what they need
II used to loaf down in Dams office
durin' the daytime. There was allus
| lot Of fellerS there lookin' at a click
in machine they called ticker 1t
| told em what their stocks was a sellin
at. When their stocks went up they
larfed; when they went down they
looked sour as green apples. One day
John told me that a pool-whatever
that was-was a-goin' to put up Blood
sucker OH an if | wanted to make
some money he'd give me a chance.
All he wanted was some margin, as he
called it--that is, per cent O the cost
O. the stock-iust as q matter O form.
/ wrote a check on my bank for the
amount, and before the ink was dry
on the paper he told me the stock was
boughten.
"BloodsucSer Oil went up and up
and up, and my profits went up with
it. Then news come that the company
had been fined enough money to buy
must O. the farms in this yere state.
saw my profits wiped out, and then
most O. the money I'd give Dan for
that blamed margin was wiped out
too. All the fellers around the ticker
begun to howl that the gov'ment was
ruinin' the business O the country
And what dye think? When Dan told
me that if my stock went down few
more per cent he'd have to sell me out
an I'd lose all 1 put in jest riz UP
and cursed and swore.
"'Consarn q gov'ment that'll inter
fere with what it don't know nothin
about! These attorney generals and
Judges he'd better confine 'emselves to
punishin' men for boss stealin'. The
Bloodsucksr Oil company has been
cheapenin' kerrysene for years, an
now corrupt set O. men who want to
turn the country into an empire like
Roosia air tryin' to stop 'em. It's
conspiracy to rob the people and make
'em pay more
1.-THE men around the ticker didn'1
any of 'em pay any attention to wha'
was sayin'. They was all swearin
, at the administration themselves ex
cept one man, who says to me, he says
"'But, my friend, don't you wan
some power able and ready to SCI
J that the men who manage the compa
,, ny whose stock you own don't wrecl
i IL