Year: 1871

than any Of the civilized nations Of Europe,
because, under the mask of democratic for


mulas and boasts Of liberty and equality, it is
overshadowed by corporations, monopolies
and oligarchies of accumulated wealth such as


never existed under the universal suffrage


imperialism of the Emperor Napoleon. !


This gigantic cause of disintegration has
already grown 30 omnipotent that railway and
telegraph corporations actually control Legis-
latures and the balance of political power.
The representatives of the people being the
interested tools of these corporations, the


people abdicate their sovereignty and are only
freemen in name. In fact, they are the mere
slaves of handful of oligarchs who monopo-
| lize railroads, teleyraphs and vast landed
property, embracing wider domain than was


ever possessed by the feudal lords Of Europe.
If this condition of things is really permitted
to go on and grow history viii say that the
Americans only abolished African slavery to
erect on its ruins species of slavery of far
more hideous proportions, considering that
its victims comprise the large body of the
enlightened American people and not merely
/" AiDet Va cSuA5utCu ucSIocs IL tulS Stdtc
of things is allowed to go on with impunity
the newly fedged African, Irish and German
voters, as well as the great bulk of the native
American population, will only live and toll
to enjoy nominal political privileges for the
purpose of making richer the rich corpora
tions, and thus consolidating the power Of an
oligarchy of wealth which threatens to become
an 'mperaam in imperio and to destroy in
reality, If not in name, republican institutions.
The Generalization Of the public service,
the demagoguery of professional politicians,
the total absence Of sincerity and integrity in
Congressman and Office holders, the frauds
which. daily come to the surface and which
are but pebbles to those not discovered.
the want Of ability and frmness in dealing
with the int ernational and commercial interests
Of the country-all these evils are to be
traced to the fact that the State is over
powered by grasping individuals, and that
waile bowling dervises prate about the uni
versal suffrage of the negro, the Chinaman,
the Irishman and the German, the American
people stand on this very day on the brink of
serfdom, the abject slaves OF railroad and tele-
graph corporations and moneyed oligarchs.


In old feudal days the serf was serf with
out being mystifed with the idea that he was a
freeman. But in these modern days the arts
of hypocrisy come to the assistance of oppres-
sion. The American is allowed to toy with the
bauble of suffrage but it must be exercised in
favor of corporated oligarchies, as witness the
orders issued to the serfs of Erie and the power
exercised in this State by the Central, in New
Jersey by the Camden and Amboy, in Penn
sylvania by the Cameronian railroads, more
arbitrary than was ever enforced by Euro
pean landlord. The struggling masses on the
other side of the ocean come to our shores
under the delusion that they will find here
liberty, education and the means Of sub
sistence; but those who come here in the
future will find the public lands of the West
monopolized by railway corporations and the
Legislatures upon whose action their liberties
and property depend the mere tools of rings
and corporations.


In view Of these facts the humanitarian
aspirations which seemed to have animated
the champions of negro emancipation can only
be regarded as tribute which a SCARED
national conscience paid to the genius of hu-
manity. But the platform of ''moral ideas
the abolitionists, ''give universal suffrage to
all classes and let them all shift for them
selves" has been tested again and again in
history and found fimsy failure The mil
lions cannot shift for themselves. If not pro-
tected by superior minds they must inevitably
be crushed in the strong grasp of corporate
pelf and injustice. The negroes were never
more helpless against their masters than are
the bulk of the American people against rail-
way and other corporations. 1t is no use for
moral idea demagogues to tell the people that
they have done their duty, that bloody civil
war has settled the question of negro slavery
and universal suffrage, and that now they may
be permitted to enjoy the luxury of their vic
tory and the conquest of the spoils. If it
turns out that the violent abolition of slavery
in one section was mere bait for the enslave-
ment of whole people in another, these
abolition Girondins may prove to be but the
forerunners of the sans cu0ttes, and they may
bear in mind that if the American people have
been goaded on to strife for the purpose of
delivering from bondage a few million negroes
they will not shrink from deadier war for
the purpose of overthrowing the more gigantic
bondage of corporations. This is the coming
question, before which the one whether Grant
is in or out or Fish and Boutwell, out and
Morgan and Morton in dwarfs into insignif-
canoe. 1t is a question which must be met
some day, and The sooner the better. Every
day will strengthen more and more the despot-
isms Of corporations and rvet the chains
more tightly round the neck Of the toiling
masses. 1t is for the American people to
decide whether it is to be met promptly and
peaceably or whether war is to come. as il