Monopolies and the People

by D. C. Cloud

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

In treating of the topics discussed in this work, the author addresses himself to the task with no partisan bias. His purpose is to draw aside the veil, and let the facts speak for themselves. He writes, as he believes, in the performance of duty. Serious dangers are threatening the people. There is a power in the land, possessing elements destructive not only of the industrial and producing public, but of the very form and spirit of republican government. It will be the aim of the author to show forth the progress and present attitude of this power in its relations with the people, and to suggest, if not to advocate, such measures of relief and protection as the exigency demands.

It is a fact to be admitted by every candid thinker, that of late years, corporations, rings, and single speculators have, by united and persistent efforts, obtained control of the government; that their interests are guarded and protected by the legislative, executive, and judicial departments of the government, both state and national.

The men who are thus combined in opposition to the people, do not belong to any one political division; they are found in all parties; they are firmly united for the purpose of grasping power; of controlling the government in their own interest; of fastening upon the people oppressive monopolies, and of enriching themselves at the expense of the public. To accomplish these ends they procure donations of land, money subsidies, protective tariffs, continue a depreciated currency, and by arbitrary rules and by-laws of their own, hold the whole people at their mercy. To such an extent have these monopolies been fostered and protected, that at the present time the farmer pays in freights, taxes, and duties, at least one-half of his farm products for their support.

A silent or passive acquiescence in, and submission to, these abuses and oppressions, have given a controlling strength and power to monopolies that cannot now be overcome without a united, long, and hard struggle.

These evils cannot be corrected, nor the rights of the people restored, save by concerted action on their part, not only in securing proper legislation, but in asserting and maintaining in their business, at elections, and in the courts, their rights as free and independent citizens of the United States. The taxing of the people for the purpose of aiding private enterprises, the donation of the public land, or of the public money, to individuals, or companies, or the enactment of laws by which the people are compelled to pay a part of their hard-earned substance to aid private parties in accumulating wealth, are oppressions not to be tolerated in a republic. Yet it is true that we are now taxed for the purpose of paying the interest on many millions of money given or loaned to railroad corporations; that we pay large duties on goods for the benefit of wealthy manufacturers; that extortionate rates are exacted for transportation of products to market; that we are taxed to build railroads for private owners, and these things are all pronounced legal and constitutional, not because they are so, but because these private interests have become so powerful that they control the country. The antiquated idea that the government was instituted by the people, and for the people, has become entirely obsolete, and the new doctrine has obtained that the whole duty of the government is to foster, protect, and support monopolies, and that these monopolies own the people.

In no country of the civilized world are the people more directly connected with all the questions affecting their well being, than they are in the United States. It follows that all should be familiar with such measures as tend to fix and establish the general policy of the government, not only in respect to its general administration, but especially in those matters that directly or indirectly give to corporations, associations, companies, or individuals, exclusive grants, donations, or privileges, detrimental to the interests of those who are not of the "favored few."

A republican government can only exist when it is controlled by the people, and administered in their interest. When special, or class legislation, for the benefit of certain limited interests, or in favor of certain parties, becomes the rule of action in the administration of either the state or national government, accompanied by grants of land, money, or taxes, to be returned to the government by levies made upon the people without their consent, that government ceases to be republican.

In our country, with its vast extent of territory, its diverse interests, and variety of products, and manufactures, it is but natural for different localities and interests to ask governmental aid; nor is it always an abuse of power for the government to give this aid. In some instances it is the duty of the government to use its power and the public money in matters that in some degree, at least, are in their nature local; such, for instance, as the improvement of rivers, harbors, &c. In these cases it is not an abuse of power, but a legitimate exercise of the delegated authority for the benefit of the people.

But there is another species of legislation, approved by the executive and judicial departments of the general government, and endorsed and supported by the legislatures and courts of many of our states, that is in its operation anti-republican and oppressive to the people. We refer to the current special legislation in favor of railroad corporations, our protective tariff, and the banking system, and financial policy of the government.