Pike County Democrat, Volume 31, Number 24, Petersburg, Pike County, 19 October 1900 — Page 5

AU, FORMS OF TOIL MENACED BY TRUSTS The Farmer, the Laborer and the Business Man Alike Threatened with Serfdom DEMOCRACY THEIR SOLE DEFENDER THE KANSAS CITY PLATFORM SAYS: Private monopolies are Indefensible and Intolerable. They destroy competition, •ontrol the price of all material and of the finished product, thus robbing both producer and consumer; lessen the employment of labor and arbitrarily fix the terms and conditions thereof, and deprive Individual energy and small capital of their opportunity for betterment. They are the most e file lent agent yet devised for appropriating the fruits of Industry to the benefit of the few at the expense of the many, and unless their Insatiate greed Is cheeked all wealth will be aggregated In a few hands and the republic destroyed. We pledge the democratic party to an unceasing warfare In Nation, State and city against private monopoly In every form. WILLIAM J. BRYAN SAYS: A private monopoly has always been an outlaw. No defense can be made of an Industrial system In which one, or^a few men, ean control for their own profit the output or price of any article of merchandise. Under such a system the consumer suffers extort I oi^ the producer of raw material has but one purchaser and must sell at the arbitrary price fixed; the laborer has but one. employer and 1s powerless to protest against Injustice, either In wages or In condition of labor; the small stockholder Is at the mercy of the speculator, while the traveling salesman contributes his salary to the overgrown profits of the trust. Since but a small proportion of the people ean share In the advantages secured by private monopoly. It follows tbat tbe remainder of tbe people are not only excluded from the benefits, but are tbe helpless victims of every monopoly organised. It Is dlfllcult to overestimate the Immediate Injustice that may be done, or to calculate tbe ultimate effect of this Injustice upon tbe social and political w el ware of tbe people. Our platform, after suggesting certain specific remedies, pledges the party to an unceasing warfare against private monopoly In nation, state and city. I heartily approve of this prombe. If elected. It shall be my earnest and constant endeavor to fulfill tbe promise In letter and spirit.

One of the main reasons why men struggle so hard to obtain a monopoly is that It enables them to charge more than the worth of the goods or services they supply. In the Bramkamp wire nail case the attorney for the trust admitted that the combine had raised the price ' from 80 cents to $2.50 a keg, wholesale, securing thereby a monopoly profit of several million dollars. That trust went to pieces, but recently another has been formed, and wire nails have advanced over 140 per cent beyond the ordinary competitive price. Coal Trust Extortion*. The coal combine was investigated hy congress in 1893, and the report declares (1) that in 1888 the extortions of the coal monopoly averaged more than $1 a ton, or $39,000,000 for the year; and (2) that from 1873 to 1886 $200,000,000 more than a fair market price was taken from the public by tats combination. It also appeared that in 1892 the combine raised the price $1.25 to $1.35 a ton on the kinds vsed by housekeepers, though the price of coal was already high and the costfof mining diminishing every year. The Linseed Oil Trust in 1887 put the price up from 38 to 52 cents a gallon, or nearly $5,000,000 additional tax ' on the yearly output. In the same year the copper Syndicate put up the price from 10 to 17 and 18 cents a pound, or $30,000,000 aad.oon on the yearly outppt. A congressional investigation in 1893 brought out the fact that on the strength of a rumor that the internal revenue tax was to be increased by congress the Whisky Trust raised its prices 25 cents a gallon, which would amount to an additional profit of $12,600,000 on its yearly output. Jump la Sugar. In 1888, just after the Sugar Trust was formed, the average price of raw sugar was ihe same as in 1885, but the average price of refined sugar advanced so that the difference between the pries of raw sugar, and the price of refined sugar was 76 per cent more than in 1885 and about 70 per cent more than in 1887, the year the trust was formed. Recently sugar has made advances amounting to a total of 2 cents on the pound. For a dozen years we have paid each year a good deal' more per pound for refining sugar than we did in 1885 (although the cost of refining has been constantly diminishing), and our sugar bill has averaged at least $10,000,000 and perhaps $20,000,000 a year more because of the trust.

Standard Oil Again. a he Standard Oil is another monopoly that has kept prices form falling as much as the diminished cost of transportation and refining would have caused them to fall in an open market, and at times it has lifted prices absolutely as well as relatively, In spite of the vast improvements in processes of manufacture, great cheapening of transportation by the pipe-line service, and the falling price of crude oil. From 1894 to 1897, for example, the price of refined oil went up 14 per cent, while the price of crude oil declined *6 per cent Oil rose at wholesale in New York from 3 cents in November, 2u97, to 6 cents in December, 1899, and it has gone still higher in 1900. One may charge the fair value of the services he renders without a monopoly. But monopoly gives power to charge more than that value, in other words, monopoly confers the inestimable privilege of demanding something for nothing. Th« Telegraph Monopoly. We pay twice as much for our telegrams as government systems charge; the telephone monopoly charged the federal government $76 per ’phone for service the government is now supplying for itself at a cost of $10 per ‘phone, and even in our largest city excnanges, where the monopoly charges $90 to $250, tae service could be rendered at a profit for a uniform charge of $30 a year. The Bell monopoly, in Grand Rapids, Wis., charged $36 for a house and 448 for a business place, while a co--operative telephone exchange is oper

ating in the same place at $6 for a house and $18 for a business place per year and is making money. The exorbitant rates of express monopolies are notorious, and even railroads have been known to make excessive charges. Municipal French lie*. it is iiie same wifca all our city monopolies. Gas sells at $1 which can be made for 20 cents and distributed for 15, as we know from various gas, reports and investigations. The above are but a few samples Irom an enormous mass of facts demonstrating that private monopoly tends to extortion. Extortionate charges lead, of course, to enormous profits and the building of vast fortunes which become, in theb turn, the instruments of further extortion. The monopolists roll in wealth, while the working masses and competitive classes are cheated out of their fair share of the world’s wealth. Those who build palaces do not live in them. Builder* Enter Not In. < , Those who dig coal have little -fuel, Those who make clothes are ill-clad, 't hose who grow wheat and corn are poorly fed. Those who build railroads do not travel. Those who do most of the work do not enjoy the fruits of their labor, while those who do little or nothing, enjoy much; all because privat monopoly gives some men the power of appropriating what others produce. Here are some of the profits private monopoly has made: Oil trust—$23,000,000 in three months —about 100 per cent a year on the capital, water and all. (The oil monopoly has been known to make 520 per cent on its whole capital, and on one investment 3,000 per cent per year was obtained througn railroad favoritism. -^Wealth Against Commonwealth, pp. 67, 99, 100.) Profits of Monopoly. Steel trust—$42,500,000 a year— about 30 per cent on water and all. Sugar trust, 200 to 400 per cent. Wire trust, 60 per cent. Tin plate trust, 40 per cent. Pennsylvania coal, 30 per cent. Fifth Ave. bank (New York), 150 per cent. Chemical bank (New fork), 200 per cent. | Metropolitan Telephone Co., 150 per cent Bell monopoly, $5,000,000 a year, 4-5 of its total income. Telegraph monopoly (on original investment), 300 per cent a year. Bay State Gas Co., 60 per cent a year.

Cleveland Gas Co., 144 per cent a year. New York Gas,; $300,000,000 In ten years', or enough to pay 10 per cent on the investment and duplicate all the plants besides.—(New York Senate Investigation). Metropolitan Street Ry. System, New York, 28 per cent. Philadelphia Traction—$5,500,000— 16 per cent on investment. ltfth and 15th Street Co.( 65 per cent. , Philadelphia City 31 per cent. Ridge Avenue 42 per cent. Citizens’ Co., 67 per cent. 2d and 3d Streets, 25 per cent. Union, 31 per cent. The excessive charges and exorbitant profits of private monopoly are nothing more nor • less than taxation without representation. You are no. represented in the oil trust, the steei trust, the coal combine, the Cnemical bank, the gas, electric, street railway, telegraph, telephone, railroad, beef, sugar, copper and tin monopolies. Yet they levy taxes on you. Watered Stock. The monopolists know that their outrageous profits may rouse the people if they become known and so many of those most open to the public gaze try to hide their gains by watering their capital. Ninety per cent on the real investment is only 9 per cent on a capital watered to tenfold bulk. Fraud and extortion are among the most prolific, and are quite the most deplorable of all the results of private monopoly.

SLAVERY RECOGNIZED _ Amendment to the Constitution fur Which a Million Lives Were Sacrificed Set at Vaught by McKinley* THE INFAMOUS STJLU TREATY. The constitution of the United States says: ARTICLE XIII. L Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. i M’KINLEY’S INFAMOUS TREATY WITH THE SULTAN OF SULU. Article I. The sovereignty of the United States over the whole archipelago of Sulu and its dependencies is declared and acknowledged. - Article II. The United States flag will be used in the archipelago of Sulu and its dependencies on land and sea. Article III. The rights and dignities of his highness the sultan and his datos shall be fully respected, and Moros shall not be interfered with on account of their religion. All their religious customs shall be respected and no one shall be persecuted on account of his religion. . . . Article X. Any slave In the ArchlpelaSo of 8nln shall have the rl|fht to purchase freedom by paying; the master the usual market value. - Article XIV. The United States government will pay the following monthly salaries: To the sultan. $250; to Dato Rajah Mada, $75; to Dato Attik, $60; to Dato Calbe, $75; to Dato Joakanian, $75; to Dato Puvo, $60; to Dato Amir Haissin, $60; to Hadji Buter, $50; to Habib Mura, $40; to Serif Saguin, $15. Signed in triplicate, in English and Sulu, at Jolo, this twentieth day 1 of August, A. D., 1899, (13th Arakuil Akil, 1397). The Sultan Sulu, Dato Rajah Muda, Signed J. C. Bates, Brigadier-General U. S. V. *

COST OP MILITARISM. Two Hundred Millions for the Army; Seventy-Five Million! for the Navy Is What McKinley Wants. DEMANDS AEMT OF 100,000 MEN. We are at last to know what we are to pay for our experiment in'imperialism. The Washington government has made its demand. It demands an army of 100.000 men and ityrants $200,000,000 for the next year to support its pretensions. The navy department wants $75,000,000. The end is far away. This is only the beginning of what American taxpayers may expect To support the army and navy until the end of the fiscal year, June 30, 1902, congress will be asked to appropriate more than $200,000,000. The war department is estimating on the basis of 100,000 men. Under the present law all volunteers and regulars in. excess of about 30,000 men must be discharged before July 1. 1901, and Quartermaster-Gen-eral Ludington is making arrangements for the transportation home of the volunteers, beginning next month. It will be necessary to recruit regiments to take the place of the volunteers in case more troops are authorized, and when they are ready for active service they must be transported to Manila. The pay of the army will be what was estimated for the current year— $47,000,000. There will be a heavy bill for clothing, medical and hospital stores, ordnance, ordnance stores and supplies and regular supplies for the quartermaster’s department. The estimate made by Commissary-General Weston for subsistence stores for the current fiscal year was $11,112,242, and this will be exceeded. Secretary Root’s estimate for the military establishment for the current year aggregated $128,170,583,. and it will undoubtedly be larger for the next fiscal year.

No Room for Subjects 1 Un der the Free Flag The Supreme Purpose of the People Should Be to Oppose All Kttsmpts to Grasp Imperial Power. REPUBLIC FACES A PROFOUND CRISIS ^/WWWVWVWWN The Republic la coal' on ted by m gnat national crisis—Involving the perpetuity the Institutions founded l.y the fathers. i ' \ For the first time In >ur country’s history It has undertaken to subjugate a foreign people and to rule them I y despotic power. The president Is waging war upon people of alien birth for asserting the very principles for which the : others of our own republic pledged their lives, their fortune* and their sacred honors. « The policy of the pr sldent offers the Inhabitants of Porto Rico, Hawaii «"*» the Philippines no hope of ti dependence, no prospect of American citizenship, no tutlonal protection, no re resentatlon In the Congress whieh taxes him. This Is tbs govern mi at of men by arbitrary power without their consent; tfch la Imperialism. This Is the Issue whi h the Kansas City platform declares to be the question In American poll .Ics. There Is no foom utu «r the Amerlcnn flag for subjects. The president and con* gress. who derive all thei: powers from the Constitution, can govern no man without regard to Its limitations. \ So nation can endurt part cltlsen and part subject. We have come as a p ople to the parting of the ways. Which »h»n It be—Republic or Empire? Shall wc remain true o the Amertcnn Ideal or shall we adopt the sword? Is the Republic of Washington and Jefferson ready for this tremendous stride backward ? ■

KING GEORGE AND K, .6 WILLIAM. When the Ameri an colonies/''"' were in revolt again*;. Great Britain. George III., thet king, issued a proclamation as fel lows: “I am desirous < f restoring to them (the American colonies), the blessings of late, w) ch they have fatally and despera:ly exchanged for the calamities of tear, and the arbitrary tyranny ©j (heir chiefs —George III. of Eng and, in 1776. So too while the .orces of the United States were \ chasing the patriotic Filipinos from their burning homes, Pres lent McKinley assured them of Js kind purposes as follows: “That Congress will provide for them (the Filiyino8),a government tthick will bring th in blessings, which will promote ieir material interests, as well as Ml,vance their people in the paths f civilization

1 I WILLIE AND HIS PAPA ; ■ ■ ' - *

WILLIE—“What have you got on those spectacles and false whiskers for, papal” PAPA—“Papa has got to disguise himself as a harmless old gentleman, Willie, to fool the common people They call papa Honest Old Si’ down town.”

WHERE THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY STANDS ON LABOR DEPARTMENT OF LABOR (From Kansas City Platform.) In the Interest of American labor and the upbuilding of the workingman, as the corner-stone of the prosperity of our country, we recommend that Congress create a Department of Labor, In charge of a Secretary, with a seat In the Cabinet, believing that the elevation of the American laborer will bring with it in* creased production and increased prosperity to our country at home and to our BRYAN ON ARBITRATION (From Letter of Acceptance.) “The platform renews the demand for arbitration between corporations and their employes. Mo one who hns observed the friction which arises between great corporations and their numerous employes can doubt the wisdom of establishing aa impartial court for the just snd equitable settlement of disputes. The demand for arbitration ought to be supported as heartily by the public, which suffers Inconvenience because of strikes and lockouts, and by the employers themselves, as by the employes. The establishment of arbitration will secure friendly relations between labor and capital, and render obsolete the growing practice of calling the army to settle labor troubles.*’

and intelligence, I confidently believe.” — President , IcKinley at Minneapolis, Oct. 12, \ 1899. Read what Abrah .m Lincoln said with regard to th »e promises or “benevolent asshnil ition” offered to a people for & surrender of their liberties. Mr. Lincoln, in a a Jech at Chicago. 111., July 10, 1* i8, spoke as follows: “Those arguments "Sat are made that the inferior n » are to be treated with a* much ihlowance as they are capable of < ijoying; that as much is to be do* s for them as their condition wUl iUow: What * are these arguments They are the arguments that kings have made for enslaving le people in all ages of the %sorl . You will note that all the argm ads of kingcraft were always c, this class. They always be*trod< the neck* of the people, not that t jy wanted to do it, bdt because th people were better of for being rid en. * * * Turn it every way yox will, whether It comes ftom th mouth of a king as an excuse J r enslaving the people of his cou 8ry, or from . the mouth of one race an a reason

for enslaving the men of another iticc, it is all the sami old serpent?” —Lincoln's Complete Works, VoL UT., pmje 269. "Let it be remembered,’' said th» continental congress in addressing the states at the end of the Revolution, “that it has ever been the pride and boast of America that the-righta for which she contended were the righto of human nature.” “True statesmen as they were,” said Lincoln, “they knew the tendency of prosperity to breed tyrants, so they established these self-evident truths, that when, in the distant future, some men, some 'action some interest should set “upt the doctrine that none but rich men or none but white men, or none but Anglo-Saxon white men, were entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, their posterity might look up again to the declaration of independence and take courage to renew the battle which their fathers began; so that truth", justice and mercy and all the humane and Chris> tian virtues might not be extinguished from the land; so tuat no man would hereafter dare to limit* and circum scribe the great principles on whieli the temple of liberty was being built DEMOCRATIC PARTY FAVORS LIBERAL PENSIOI W® are- proud i>f the courage fidelity of the American soldiers and sailors in all our wars; we favor liberal pensions to them and their dependentsV and we reiterate the position taken in the Chicago platform in 1806, that the fact of enlistment and service shall be deemed conclusive evidence against disease and disability before enlistment. —Kansas City Platform,

“First Au’t Postmaster General. “Wsihlngton, D. C., Dec. 13. 1898. “My Dear Major—1 Intended to say t« you when yhu were here that there Is out man, Mr. Charles F. W. Neely, of Monde, lad*, who wants to go Into the Cabas mall service. In whom 1 am more Inter* ested than any other man 'among thou* sands of applicants for positions of thal character. He Is a newspaper writer and publisher, and about forty-two years ol ago, splendidly educated,°a hustler, a mas with the very best habits and as loyal at loyalty Itself. He would make a GRAND CONFIDENTIAL MAN FOR YOU. I will write and ask him to go and see yoa This is a man ybu will warm up to, and would like to have AS A COMPANION a| well as an executive officer. “Tours faithfully, “PERRY 8. HRATH, “First Ass't Postmaster General. **To Maj. 35. J. Rathbone, “Hamilton, Ohio.** * - Tbe writer of the above letter is tlM secretary of the Republican national committee and the chief of its literarj bureau. The object of his enthusiastic eulogj is now in jail at New York, chargee with participation in Cuban posta frauds, in which he is said to hav< been a prime mover. He is fightinj extradition to avoid a trial in th< country where the colossal frauds were committed. Whenever things get so far wronj as to attract their notice, the people if well informed, may be relied upoi to set them to rights.—Thomas Jeffer son. £■*, '

JEFFERSON AND UBE8TX. I think all the world would gain by setting commerce at perfect liberty. The only orthodox object of the In* stltutlou of Government la to secnrc the greatest degree of happiness possible to the general mass of those associated under It. The whole art of government consists In the art of being honest. Governments derive their just power^ from the consent of the governed. ^ The liberty of speaking and writing guards our other liberties.