The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1911-11-14
FROM A SoClALIsTIc VIEWPOINT,
Editor Daily News:

t is as you say. 1t is a fight between {
he people and the plutocrats, and the
people are going to win. l am in
hopes we will win peaceably, but win
we will if we have to open up the red
nell of revolution.
The principal means of life are
owned and controlled by great aggre-
cations of capital, commonly called
trusts These giant combinations, by
forcing the wages of labor down to
the very minimum of subsistence and
for charging for their products all
that the traffic will bear, have become
a serious menace to the well being OF
the American people, and all sorts of
remedies are advocated against the |
evils of monopoly.
A large portion of the Republican
party has declared itself in favor of
regulation. This, we are told, is to
be brought about through the federal
government. But if we grant to the
private business of it's citizens, we
seriously doubt it's ability to do so, for
those who own the principal wealth of
nation invariably own the govern
ment too. If there is one thing surer
than death and taxes it is that this be-
loved government of ours belongs hair
and hide, body and soul, to the trusts.
We don't expect our own bull pup
to bite us in the hind leg, but we ex-
pect him to bite the other fellow; and
when thrifty gentlemen like Rocky,
/ Morgan, Carnegie and others, spend
/ their hard-earned cash to acquire a
government after their own heart,
this institution cannot be utilized
against its rightful owners.
The fact is. we have two govern
ments in this country, a little one
with headquarters in Washington and
a big one with headquarters in Wall
street and its headquarters all over
the country. This government owns
B
railroads factories, colleges, banks
and insurance companies. 1t deter
mines what sort of clothes we wear
what sort of houses we live in, what
kind of grub we eat, whether the chill
dren so to school or to the factory and
= whether little Mary plays the piano OF
5 sings dishes in a hash joint.
The little affair in Washington is
only the errand boy, or at most the
? policeman of the real thing in Wal
street. We cannot CONTROL the maste
with his servant, and a government
f belonging to the trusts has neither thu
G power nor the inclination to regulate
+. the trusts. All attempts in this lin
have been miserable failures. Tha
the advocates of regulation are still
= takened seriously by the America
v people is a sure sign that we have los
our sense off humor.
The Democrats, on the other hant
g propose that the trusts be busted, an
T. they invite us to return to competitio
IS and the good old days of Jefferson an
Jackson. There is but one objectio
:" to this plan. Somehow mankind has
lie habit of travelling forward instead
ID backward and wherever a people hay
n needed the advice of democracy an
Il. returned to the ways of their gran
daddys, their posterity has to hire
=, professor to decipher the inscrtptic
= on their tombstones.
The trusts, after all, are not the
vention of the devil, as some state
men" believe, but are the natural pr
duct of industrial evolution. Comp
tition may be the life of trade, but
is also the mother of monopoly.
the competitive struggle only the
survive. The fit in this case are tho
who get the most for the least eXper
iture. This is usually accomplish
through the reduction of wages, m
representation, adulteration, emplt
ment Of children and the installati
of bigger and better machinery tn
his competitor is able to buy.
The trust was horned when Brown
Smith got sick of hammering ca
other and formed a partnership
protect profits and hammer the dc
public. No one should blame them
trying to make money. Soon Bro
e. Smith came in competition with
firm of Black and Jones and forthw
consolidated for mutual DEMENT'S l
TO Brown-Black Company soon discov
'n ed that Harry, Dick & Co. were 81
IT. ing the very same articles in the sa
en- market for a smaller price. Cons
ot dation followed as the only means
I" nrotect nrnfits Thus partnershl