Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 September 1902 — POLITICS OF THE DAY [ARTICLE]

POLITICS OF THE DAY

The Portion of Labor. i As in a former cannibalistic age, 1 lie biggest giants with the heaviest clubs became chiefs of their tribes, ami to vaunt their power and glut their pride, decorated their caves with the emptied skulls and cleanly gnawed bones of their victims, just so our own monopolistic giants with the crushing clubs of combination beat down anil reduce to ibare bones the labor of to-day, glutting their greed upon its flesh, its blood, its marrow and its brain. True, their caves arc gilded now and we call them not cannibals, but millionaires. But the primal instinct of man, civilized but unregenerated, remains the same; the cruelty Is but refined; the greed is but further-reaching. So the problem is not a new one in our time or in our age. The self defense of labor against tho cruel power Created iii the accumulation of its own product, is as old as organized greed. Only the American mind has been slow to learn the world-wide truth that social misery comes more from inequality of privileges regarding property than from inequality of political rights. At last we are being forced to recognize tiie fact that with our long boasted security of political equality, the same misery that wearies life under the despotisms of Europe is being fastened upon us. The long blindness originated in the teachings and training of past generations. Our fathers, having braved tho perils of unknown seas an 1 iiv«>d through the privations of a howling wilderness, that they might believe in and utter aloud, without fear or restraint, certain religious maxims, came in time to believe that there was a political gospel, somewhat akin to their theological creed, in which national salvation could be assured by simply uttering from time to time, certain glittering generalities or political abstractions. So we came to be a race of political phrase-eaters. Epigrams that have been passed down to us canned ami labelled, we bolt down without inspection or test. To maxims and proverbs—such, for instance, as "Government of tlie people, by the people and for tin* people. “All men are created equal,” ad infinitum —we look for our sole political and social sustenance. To this fools’ paradise we have been greatly helped by the happy circumstances attending the early conquest of our continent. The deep rich soil of our wide domain, which offered free homes to the industrious, saved us for a time, from the fierce competition that crowds the hungry masses down and gives to organized greed its great advantage. Failing to comprehend from what we gained our prosperity, we attributed all the good we enjoyed to our free institutions,” as we proudly called then?, and blindly proceeded to cut from under our good fortune the very foundation of our advantage. We donated whole territories of our precious domain to corporations until the surplus land is practically exhausted. and now, with the same conditions that have so long afflicted Europe, wc begin to wonder that our “free iiisiiefb tions” seem to have lost their charm! They talk of “prosperity,” but even that is “made by a trust" and its production may be curtailed at will. The ballot fails to bring just remuneration for toil. While hundreds hoard, millions work and want. Starvation presses Its skinny face against the pane where plenty wastefully feasts. It asks for crumbs a*d gets a laugli of scorn. And we say the reason those things are, is that organized wealth buys from our lawmakers their manhood. Let us not he too sure that is the real reason. First, let us lie sure that wealtli has not bought our own manhood, without paying the price. Labor is sovereign, not in theory alone, but in very truth, and all the ills It bears are borne through tolerance. Could Lalior feel its wrongs and know Its rights and net In wisdom and force, it could weave a rope of ballots that would bind Its giant tyrant hand and foot.-—Des Moines News. Helps to Trust Prosperity. The President In one of his New Hampshire speeches on prosperity told his hearers that "all the government can do Is to create conditions under which prosperity can come. If the Individual citizen lneks the thrift, the energy, the power and tho mind to work no laws will make him prosperous.” Our paternal government, for example, so "creating conditions” for the steel trust through the Dlugley tariff that it lias charged and got sll a ton more for rails in this market than In England, and other steel products in proportion. By the same law the beef combine Is put In a position where it need fear no outside competition and can charge monopoly prices at home while sidling lower to London In competition with meat from South America and Canada.—Now York World. Htute of Chronic Unrest.. Without Justifying tho conduct of the coal miners or denouncing the conduct of the operators, one fart remains conspicuous, from which the public

is at liberty to shape its own minor premise and conclusion. There is no other single Industry in which there is so much friction between the employer and the employed ns in the mining of anthracite coal. There are no other employers In the country who are so frequently in a state of war with their employes. The significance of this can not be overlook'd in considering the merits of the controversy. Detroit Free Press. Here’s Anothsr Lesson. 1 A trust has been formed for the manufacture of agricultural machinery. The promoters and stockholders are cheerful and hopeful. This news item is one of the little facts upon which their cheefulness is based: "Following the International Harvester Company’s public declaration that economy in the manufacture and distribution of agricultural machinery was the motive for effecting the $120,000,000 merger, several of the Chicago companies in tlie combine have Issued letters to them agents throughout the country ordering a reduction of about tlirec-fourths in the number of employes representing them in the field. The other companies in the combine are preparing to follow their example. Ten thousand men in all are expected to lose their jobs.” The above condensed and official dispatch tells a cheerful story for the trust owners. As soon as the trust gets going the owners will be able to discharge ten thousand men. The earnings of those ten thousand men will go into the pockets of those who formed the trust. The increased price Of goods will also go to the profits of the trust owners. It is very nice to own a trust —but what about the ten thousand men to be discharged? These ten thousand men—a large majority of them at least—are anjong those who shouted for trusts and prosperity in the last two general elections.'' Now they can sympathize with the drummers who also shouted for prosperity and who have since been discharged, thousands at a time, by trust formations. —Chicago American. Demand for Tariff Reform. Of course, conventional resolutions such as those in the Republican platform can not bring about tariff changes, but such resolutions, which are entirely at odds with the wishes of the political machine of the Republican party, would not be adopted unless there was a strongly pronounced feeling on the part of the people whom the delegates to these conventions represent; hence It becomes evident that if the Republican majority in Congress refuses to act it runs the risk of placing in the possession of the Democrats the best possible issue with- which to win a sweeping victory In IQm»4 —Boston Herald. None of the Public's Business. Apropos of Abram S. Hewitt's defense of the anthracite barons. It lhay confidently be asserted that if these silent gentlemen had supposed they were acting from high civic motives, they would long ago have been anxious to tell the public so. But they have refused, and still refuse, to make any statement or to enter Into any discussion, assuming and asserting that It was no business of the public how they manage tholr business. All of the country may suffer because of the dispute, but it Is none of Its business what the barons do!—lndianapolis News. Hanna’s Idea of Trusts. Senator Hanna's declaration that there are no monopolies save those which are protected by patents invites research. Possibly he does not include (he beef packing industry among monopolies, and perhaps, again, the proprietors of the slaughter houses have found some means of copyrighting the cow. Senator Hanna's expressions of opinion on this subject have been fre- | queut and consistent and no doubt are i the result of Investigations which go j beyond the popular interpretation of tlie word "trust.”—Bangor Commercial. Workingmen and Politics. Every once in a while someone advises workingmen to “keep out of politics.” When It means that their trade organizations should keep out of politics the advice is helpful, but there is no reason under the sun why workingmen as individuals ami as members I of well-defined political parties should keep out of politics. Nobody Is more vitally Interested In politics than workingmen.- St. Paul Ulobe. To Moke the Trusts Behove. The best way to make the trusts boha ve themselves is to put them in competition with the world. The best way to make them arrogant Is by a protective turiff to give them an ex'cluslve market. Let tho Democratic party make Its light on this Issue and It will stand on solid ground.—Richmond Times. Executives, Too, Must Fight. President ltoosevelt may be reminded that while It Is the duty of n soldier to fight, It Is also the duty of an executive to tight lawbreakers. If lie would put In more time fighting trusts and less talking about a strenuous life, he would come nearer earning his sul* ary.—lndianapolis Sentinel.