Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1913-09-04
"Let Us Have Pc ce"

"Vote No on the Charter Question.
Give US a rest. Let US have peace"
So said all Cincinnati monopJlies anf
their agents during the recent can
paign in that city.
Of course. Let the Traction Con-
pany continue to collect in peace five.
cent fares for three-cent rides. Let
the other public service monopolies
orbitant charges for miserable service
Let them continue to force Cincinnati
workers into crowded tenements that
Cincinnati ladIords may draw big rents
hi peace. To be sure that is not Civ
! ing peace to the workers who must
give so much Of their hard-earned
wages to the support of monopoly. II
is not giving peace to their families
who are never sure one week whethe
next weeks grocery bills can be paid
It Is not giving peace to the babies in
the tenement districts, or to their par
ents who must look to charity to give
their children week of fresh air in
the country. 1t does not give peace
to the small home owner sweating to
pay interest on his mortgage, taxes on
| his home, furniture, business and
everything he needs and forced to pay
trust inflated prices for everything he
buys. 1t does not bring peace to the
man hunting job or to the business
man desperately trying to avoid bank
ruptcy. But none of these count
They are not included in Gus. ~ Ell
US have peace" refers only to the
Tafts, Forakers, Sehoepfs, and Others
Of the kind whose living depends or
legaIized power to take earnings Of
others. They are the ones who wan
peace. But they won't get it. AS long
as they hold on to the legalized power
to- extract the earnings of others
they will have to fight continually fol
possession Of their predatory priv
leges. Nothing short of surrender Of
these privileges can bring them peace
however much they may cry for it
The campaign resulted, in spite of the
cry for peace, In vote in favor Of .
new charter. The Commissioners elect
ed are the choice Of the privileged
monopolies, but they lack power tc
bring about peace. The candidates
who would have laid the foundation
for permanent peace, who would have
taken the first necessary steps to de-
stroy the predatory privileges that are
causing turmoil and trouble, were de-
feated. Defeated through lavish ex-
penditure Of money against them.
The corporations thought that peace
could be bought with money. They
will soon learn otherwise To those
who fight for justice the loss Of an
election 10 merely an incident. An
other campaign will be forced on the
privileged interests and If lost, still
another. Having spent money to win
one election the predatory monopoIies
must spend more to win the second.
They ca hope for no aid but from
hired mercenaries and these hired
mercenaries, seeing thep light of the
privileged ones, will not be modest in
their demands. Nor will they become
any more modest as campaign follows
campaign, and they will find their SER
vices in greater and greater demand.
No rest for the wicked" is a saying
that applies not only to individuals,
but to the wicked institution of Privi-
lege. The way for privileged interests
to most speedily obtain peace is to
stop hiring mercenaries in electoral
campaigns and let propositions be dis
cussed on their merits. In the end
that is what they must do. It will
surely result in the destruction of
privilege. for that too. is inevitable.