Lower coast gazette., 1913-12-13
The Wall Of the Wealthy.

NOTWITHSTANDING our enormous aSIlculLuT-
al crops in the United States and the equally
proportionate output of our mineral wealth,
there CONES a wall from the. wealthy all over
the land, clamcring against the present demo-
cratic administration as being inimical to the
common good. If there be any one thing that
we shoald be comparatively certain Of, it is that
Woodrow Wilson is outspoken and sincere in all
that he Goes. We, here in Louisiana, espec-
tally deplore his countenancing the destruction
Of our great domestic sugar industry, which We
think should be permitted 10 survive under such
financial. conditions as the world at large has
seen fit to.
The beet sugar industry had q long struggle
to secure ascenGaDcy ever the cane sugar In
dustry and-ahat asceadancy it maintains even
now, were it rot for the fact that over two mil
lions of tors of care sugar made in the British
East Indies are rated as one Of the sugar crops
of the world, while practically not G single ton
Of it enters into modern commerce, but i is al!
consumed at home. Tie legislation that brought
about the predoninaAce ct the beet sugar in
dustry was conceived by Napoleon B~onaparte,
who appreciated the great power that the Eng
!ish people had in their West Indian Islands
possessions, whence they got their supplies Of
sugar. With the French ports blockaded by
the English, Napoleon Ionapagte eneeayeted to
develop a beet sugar industry end f:scceaead
therein and baiidel better than he kE.W, IS he
surely could not well conceive Of the vss. d.
yelopment that would come to that Industry in
France and Germany.
We in Louisiana have had our share Ct mis-
fortunes and have rot had the wealth with
which to console ourselves. We hear now the
walls Of the wealthy coming from many parts
Of the country and particularly from New York,
complaining first of the income tax, which we
co not approve Ct. complaining Of The currency
ill a.d of the regional bar ks, which We think
doubtful remedies for inflated and extravagant
~flnancia! conditions, snd now they complain Of
the gradual sll1l kage in valua OF ali the leading
stocks that IRE sold on the New York Stock Ex-s
change, OF the disincliEation to operate in a
speculative way, and attribute all these disturb
ing things to tie repression OF the enormous
,rast3 thai, octupus like, have had their ten
tacles on the wealth of the entire country. They
have even opposed the commission to place a
physical value on the railroads of the country.
they are afraid TO have the country know how
little real value there is i'll the great railway
systems OF the country which they are calling
upon to pay great dividends to them as The
owners and dealers iii these railway stocks.
Even in the days of Commodore Vanderbilt and
OF Fiske and Gould, when they were manipu-
la.lag the New York Central and the Erie
Railways, the total capital and bonds of these
roads Waa less than 20 millions of dollars each.
These low reach into the hundreds Of millions
OF dollars and because they don pay dividenes
OF + per cent per annum on their Watered stock.
their possessors are Waiing and crashing their
teeth in a way that is attracting general atten-
ton to these sufferers, who have been deprived
Of their inordinate gains from gathering to
themselves the vast profits that have been COM
ing Tito their hands Dung recent years.
There has been a disposition to upset. or to
deny AID combat the control Of TIE laws Of ma
ture ai.d the assertion IS made that competition
IS improper; that it is destructive sud wssseful.
4 suppression of competition permits the sugar
trust to crush out Of existence whoever it may
das,le TO crush out. The suppression Of COM
petition IN the metal Industries has permitted
the. Steel Trust to water It's IIO0 millions Of dol
lars Of stock to at least some so per cent of
,,ro&o. !. ~ ooa.Li. on 80 #%.@ A @&&