The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1908-07-15

The victorious Sylla astonished
historians by levying a fine of $25.-
, 100000 upon the rich cities of
Greece. The sugar trust. Mr.. Wat
son said, levied an annual fine Of
twice that amount upon the United
states few years ago, to recoup
itself for contribution of 100000
which it had made to the campaign
fund of the democratic party. By
IJudlcIously placing its contributions
with both the old parties the steel
trust gets the privilege to so arrange
our tariff schedules as to ext0rt net
protts every year ten times larger
thah the entire revenue of the Ro-
man republic
Alexander and Cleopatra in the
Shade.
The Vanderbilt family. through
franchise grabbing and stock water
ing operations, have despoiled the
American people of a vaster sum
imam Alexander the Great harvested
by his conquest of the Persian En-
pire.
Antiquity was shocked when Gle
! opatra dissolved and drank a pearl
valued at 100000. Historians en-
PhaSlze the scandalous luxury of
Lucullus, who spent $500 on a
Ieast. When one of our American
mllllonaires throws open the grand
pail room for a night of revelrv the
moral decorations alone cost more
than the feast of Lucullus. And
when one of our CIeopatras is fasci-
mated by some Roman Mark Antony
Engllsh Duke, Italian Prince, French
count or Hungarian Sneeze-weed
she thinks nothing of spending from
$l'oOO,OOO to $5,0O0,000 on the
pearl In Cleopatra's case the
gem was merely casual product of
nature; in the modern instance every
dOlIar that goes abroad to p2y for
foreign titles and minister to the de-
PRAYED appetites of aristocratic de-
bauches is the product of the Ameri-
can laborer's toll
from the traction lines of New
York city Ryan and Belmont have
! taken more than Warren HASTINGS
Wrung from the princes of Hindus-
tan.
Ryan, Belmont and " arren Hastings
Ryan and Belmont did not rayage
a foreign state, nor plumber peOple
OF a different race, as Hastings did 3"
! Mr.. Watson charged that thev made
victims of the people of their own
| city, men and women of the same
! race as themselves, and no impeach-
meht for high crimes and misdemea-
hors mas brought them to the bar of
(ahy tribunal which has power to
| punish. The British government
threw its whole power against War
rem Hastings in the effort to punish
him for crimes committed against a
foreign people of an alien race and
creed. But who talks of indicting
Such men as Ryan and Belmont?"
ASKED watson. Who dreams of
Furnishing Morgan and Hartman?
Miserable towards that the are. we
crouch before the gigantic law-break-
ers and allow them to run our gov
eminent. All that we can do is to
let the miserable wretches. shivering
with wintry cold, steal something TO
feed the fire, and we can bounce
hercely upon these small criminals
ana punish them with a rigor shock
ing TO common humanity; but the
men who steal railroads. the trust
builders who violate every statute in
the penal code in their march
through monopoly and to millions.
these are the men before whom we
stand covering and helpless. There
IS not an intelligent, we'll informed
citizen of the country. who does not
know that through the machinery of
| 10Th ho old
ton law-breakers, who ought to be
Dehlnd the bars, dictate our legisla-
ton, shape our foreign and domestic
policy, and control our destiny.
Victims of Corporations.
They talk to us of foreign foes.
and some of our statesmen wildly
clamor for billion dollar navy.
But tell me what greater harm a
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
i've years to our predatory corpora
tiOns.
Our own civil war was fierce and
oLoouy ana IL lasted four years. Yet
We buried fewer dead and carried
to the hospitals fewer wounded than
we have lost during the last four
years to the remorseless greed of
capitalism. Count up the victims in
mine, mill and factory; count up the
human wrecks of the sweat-shops.
count up the victims that have
strewn the lines of our railroads; the
victims of the stock yard, the sugar
rehneries 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 frightfml total which axcaads