The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-09-26
Ohio Manufacturer Agrees on
Roosevelt Dictatorship.
Thinks WattersOn's Prophecy
May Have Fulfillment.
PEOPLE ARETHINKING
Looking Upon Situation in
Country as Critical.
Halt of Railroads Declared Only
Way Now in Sight.

Akron, Ohio. Sept. 26.-"Unless the
railroads and kindred interests aban-
oon their predatory, grasping policies
and unless congress comes decisiveIy
to the relief of the people, revolution
IS inevitable and Henry Watterson's
prophecy of Roosevelt's dictatorship is
not unlikely of fuIfillment,'' declares
OHIO c. Barber, president of the Dia-
mond Match company.
Mr.. Barber is ready to welcome
Roosevelt as dictator, too.
Right now the situation with the
country is critical" said Mr.. Barber.
we are crowding closely upon an
abyss which can have but one end
revolution. That we will have it I'M
less there is a quick and decisive
Velopments bespeak the growing I'M
rest. One of these days the flood will
break.
People Beginning to Think
Little by little the people are be-
ginning to think. Most of us make the
mistake of believing that the people
really think, really consider and ana
lyze conditions. They do not. They
follow this leader or that, until a con-
dition comes which pinches their
pocketbook. Then they stop and con-
slider, and then. if ever. comes the
WhlrlWlnd. Several parts of the
country have been feeling the incip-
lent breezes of the coming storm.
Business conditions right now are
FAR from what they should be. Anv
business man will tell you that. Not
all will dare to tell you what he thinks
is wrong.
The secret of it is the insatiate
greed of the big interests. the pirates
of pelf, of which the railroads are
head and shoulders.
II they continue their policy of re-
cent years there can be only one con-
G ;.l3 me longer congress remains
inactive and under the railroad thumb
the quicker the day will come.
Putting Up the Rates."
To-day the railroads are putting m
rates to the point where in many lines
of business there no longer is a Iegiti-
mate profit.
I am in touch with a sufficiently
Sl class of investments to
know that this is positively true.
The attitude Of the railroads in the
interstate commerce commission hear
ings in Chicago is emphatic enough to
satisfy the most unsophisticated that
they do not propose to relinouish one
iota. of their power
Congress made a fine pretense at
reform in the passage of the HEPBURN
bill Before that the sum involved in
rebates and passes reached into the
HuHuTeQS OF nllIlOnS annually. Under
the reform plan the railroads were per-
mitted to pocket all this. and were
given even greater authority in fixing
exorbitant rates. Not until recently
was that power curbed by extending
the authority Of the interstate COM
merce commission, and the half dozen
railroad magnates who have long die
tated the fixing of rates are not going
to surrender to the commission tamely
The Chicago hearings indicate that.
Says WorIingman Feels 1t.
Now the working man and the
small dealer is feeling the effect His
pOcketbook isn't nearly so heavy as it
used to be. He is growing FESTIVE. He
is beginning to think and to speak his
mind. After a time, unless relief comes,
he will act, and once he is started,
there will be big trouble stopping him.
81 read with interest the forecast of
Henry Watterson. There is much truth
in it. If it comes to dictatorship, I will
be satisfied with Roosevelt. I believe
he is honest, that he is sincere and has
the interest of the patient, long suffer-
ing common, everyday fellow at
heart
"And I cannot but wonder how long
the interests are going to blunder in
sistently along, greedily grasping for
every Ia ST drOp"