The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1909-04-07
MENACINC MILLIONS.


eminent is ''that all men were Great
ed free and equal, and. further, that
each should have the untrammelled
right to "life, liberty and the pur-
suit of happiness.
interest. prejudice and self
preservation have combined to force
modification of these chief tenets
of the republic when they have been
put into practice.
ALL men were created free and
equal; but the new arrival on our
shores is met at the gateway by a
government official, he is subjected
to rigid medical examination and
inquiry is made as to his finances.
his plans and his general competency
to become q useful citizen.
This is all we'll and good.
The scale of living is 81 different
with oriental races that there seems
to be justice in the demand that all
Monaghan labor shall be excluded.
This is another modification of our
lofty sentiment. but again. experience
teaches that it is we'll and good.
A man has the small pox. He has
done no wrong. He is entitled to
life. liberty and the pursuit of happi
ness. Nevertheless we shut him up,
place him under the ban of the quar-
antine and forbid his following his
ordinary pursuits. The public health
demands it and we acquiesce that it
is we'll and good.
Every mans home is his castle.
but if railroad or a public highway
is located through your very house
the law steps in and says that you
must yield your personal rights.
Any man may 60 to the store and
~pur base gunpowder. He may use it
in small quantities. but although it
is his powder and he has paid for it,
he cannot store ton of it where he
pleases without taking proper pre-
caution against explosion. The law
steps in and tramples upon his in
dividual rights and ruthlessly asserts
that the general public has prior
right.
1t has come to pass that the coun-
try has no greater menace than its
multi-millionaires.
No man should be allowed to have
hundred million dollars under bis
control any more than an individual
should be allowed to own q feet Of
battle ships. to play with dynamite
on crowded thoroughfares or, to race
an automobile down busy streets.
1t is not a question of how the
millions were obtained although it ii
a fact that no man ever earned ter
million dollars honestly. but it is thu
fact that the concentration of sucl
enormous wealth is public menace
and should be abated as public nui
sance and public danger.
It would be no worse for the gov
eminent to confscate the surplus mil
lions than it is to turn the foreigne
from our doors because he has YEA
eyes. TO deprive the Chinese coolie 9
his right to labor, to incarcera at
the small pox victim. to condemn
mans home or to prevent him doin
as he pleases with his own dynamite
1t is time to stop monkeying wit
the Rockefellers and the Hartman
and the Morgans. Their millior
should simply to be taken from then
It is not a question Of law. perhal
it is not a question Of justice, it is
question Of self-preservatioH.
For our part we do not care VIII
becomes of the millions. They q
better thrown into the sea than il II
hands of such man as Harl ma
Let them revert to the nation for Il
benefit of the people who in ia
created them, let them be di i'd
among the individuals who labor f
the great corporations these meI co
troll. What becomes Of them is Il
least of our troubles. The wrong
that one man possesses them. Tn
should be taken from him just as
bomb should be taken from an anarc
ist.
It is said that such action won
destroy the incentive for meu to wol
When one hog tries to drive all t
other pigs from the trough the farm
goes out with sharp stick anh q
troys that hogs incentive if he c.
and thinks he has done good job
he is successful.
The limiting of private fortunes
just as judicious, just as kindly. ju
as far from anarchy. as law reguls
ing the speed Of automobiles or I
carrying of concealed weapons or
amount of dynamite one may sto
upon his premises.
1t is just as we'll. once in VIII
to stop philandering as to statutes a
constitutions and the divine rights