A little while ago the man who spoke against trusts and general monopolies of public necessities was called demagogue, socialist, anarchist, inciter of the masses against the classes, and so on.
But along comes the Beef Trust and begins to punish even the respectable "upper" classes. Double prices for food mean a serious difference even in a very respectable income.
Then you have the respectabilities also suddenly developing signs of demagogism, socialism and anarchy.
They want the tariff taken off of foodstuffs. They want the managers of the Food Trust put in jail.
The Beef Trust teaches the nation one interesting lesson—namely, that by excessive extortion the trusts will lose soon their respectable friends and unite all of the people against them.
The Beef Trust also teaches that the language called socialistic and anarchistic, when confined to working people, becomes profound political economy when uttered by some respectability with a pinched toe. ——
The Coal Trust is a later and even more radical national teacher.
The respectable individual who a short time ago could see no difference between advocating Government ownership of national resources and communism or thievery has seen a wonderful light while gazing on his coal fire at Twelve Dollars a ton.
Judges on the bench, eminently respectable newspapers—by which we mean those newspapers representing the interests of men who think with their pockets—are expressing the most radical out-and-out socialistic ideas.
One of the mildest suggestions made by these respectabilities is that the Government should seize the coal mines and work them for the benefit of the people, setting aside the preposterous claims of the Coal Trust.