Monopolies and the People Part 1

Monopolies and the People.

by D. C. Cloud.

PREFACE.

TO THE READER.

For two years past the author has awaited the auspicious moment for presenting to the public his views upon the oppressions and abuses practiced by corporations and combinations of men who were apparently getting a controlling influence over the commerce, finances, and government of the country. Recent action on the part of the people has convinced him that his opportunity has come, and he embraces it. He has aimed to present a true history of the operations of the different monopolies.

Since he began the preparation of his work, some events have taken place not noticed by him. Oakes Ames and James Brooks, two prominent characters among railroad men, and whom he has had occasion to name, have died. Some changes in the laws of congress have been made affecting the interests of corporations. The law requiring the secretary of the treasury to retain but one-half of the earnings from the government of the Pacific roads to apply on the interest due to government on subsidy bonds, has been repealed, and he may now retain and apply the whole amount. Suit has also been brought against the Union Pacific company because of its dishonest practices.

On the whole, however, combinations of corporations, and other rings and organizations, at war with the best interests of the people, have acquired new strength and more power within the last few months.

The reader will notice the fact, that while the author has quoted liberally from the statutes and resolves of congress to show the great privileges and powers conferred upon railroad companies, and familiarized the reader with their financial and other transactions for a clear understanding of their manner of doing business, he has not pretended to give a full history; satisfying himself with such chapters as would place before the public the true character of these monopolies.

The author has sought to present truthful statements of matters in connection with the various _interests_ now so hostile to the _rights_ of the people, and he believes he has embodied the facts as they exist.

D. C. C.

MUSCATINE, Iowa, July 28, 1873.

MONOPOLIES AND THE PEOPLE.

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 att.i.tude 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 pa.s.sive 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 a.s.serting 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 acc.u.mulating 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 p.r.o.nounced legal and const.i.tutional, 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 inst.i.tuted 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, a.s.sociations, 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 cla.s.s 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.

No one will accuse the author of indulging in a partisan view of these matters. The history of our country shows that men of all parties have sought for and obtained special grants and privileges. Our aim is to direct the attention of the reader to some of the facts connected with, and resulting from, special legislation on the above named subjects, and show their effect upon the people generally.

The a.s.sertion that the government is now committed to the policy of donating the public lands to railroad corporations may be thought untrue, yet if we look through the acts of congress for the last few years we will find that more than two hundred million acres have been donated to such corporations, and from the number of bills asking for further grants introduced during the last congress these donations have but just begun. It will not be claimed that the people asked for these grants, or that the necessities of the government demanded them. Nor will it be contended that the people derive any direct benefit from them. On the contrary, the lands and the roads are owned and controlled by private corporations, and not even the government can use these roads for purposes of transportation without compensation. Now, these lands do not belong to the government, but to the people. Those persons filling the different departments of government are but the agents or servants of the people, and have no more right to give the public lands to railroad corporations than to tax the people and donate the money received as taxes to these companies. The policy is bad and oppressive in its effects. If one owns lands and employs an agent to sell it at a given price per acre, this agent has no right to convey one-half of it to himself and friends, and mark up the remaining half to a double price, and leave it on the owner's hands. This is what congress has done with the public lands, and in every instance the grants or donations have been made to aid monopolies, corporations, and powerful companies, who disregard the interests of the public, and use their power and these immense gifts for the purpose of securing further grants by corrupting legislators, judges, and executive officers. If we scale their efforts at corruption by their apparent success, they have not always failed.

The interests of these monopolies are adverse to those of the people.

The privileges granted them are taken from the people. The wealth of the nation, held by the government in trust for the people, has been and is now being misapplied by the people's trustees, and given to these anti-republican monopolies, and unless something is done to arrest this species of dishonest and unconst.i.tutional legislation, it is only a question of time, and that time not distant, when this government, called republican, will deny to the common people those _unalienable rights_ guaranteed to them by the const.i.tution. How is it now?

Discriminations are made against the public in favor of these monopolies in payment of taxes, in special legislation for their benefit, and the aid and protection afforded them by the courts.

Corporations and joint stock companies should have such legislation and judicial aid afforded them as is necessary to give them a legal being, and place them on an equal plane with individuals, and no more. All privileges, immunities, and favors granted to them, beyond such as are necessary for the above enumerated purposes, are in conflict with the spirit and genius of our government. The granting of exclusive privileges to individuals or companies tends to build up an aristocracy of wealth, to array capital against labor, and to divide the people into cla.s.ses. While we have no t.i.tled aristocracy in this country, under the fostering care of the government an aristocracy of wealth has sprung up among us, more despotic in its nature than exists in the old world. It holds in its grasp the labor of the country; it compels the whole people to pay tribute to it; it is constantly asking, claiming, and receiving additional strength at the expense of the people. So great has its power become throughout the country as to alarm all who have considered the subject. For the purpose of self-protection, the laboring community throughout the country are banding together to resist this monopoly.

The Patrons of Husbandry are moving in the same direction, all feeling a.s.sured that no time must be lost, and that the welfare of the country, the perpetuity of our free inst.i.tutions, and the privilege of owning and enjoying the fruits of thrift and labor, without giving at least one-half of them to support these monopolies, demand prompt, united, and efficient action.

We propose discussing the different matter referred to in the following order:--

I. Donations of land and government subsidies, and their effect upon the people and the country.

II. The oppressions practiced, and unjust discriminations made by railroad companies in the transportation, s.h.i.+pping, and storage of freights.

III. The unjust system of taxation and discrimination made by legislatures and congress in favor of railroad companies.

IV. The financial policy of the government, and the aid afforded by it to corporations and monopolies.

V. The tendency of the courts of the country to uphold special or cla.s.s legislation in favor of monopolies and corporations, at the sacrifice of the interests and rights of the people.

VI. The banking system of the country with its useless burdens imposed upon the public.

VII. The policy of protective tariff, and its effect upon the people and the interests of the country.

VIII. The evils incident to the patent laws of the country.

IX. The author will present his views respecting the means to be used for redressing the grievances considered by him.

In treating of these different subjects, it will be our design to cite and quote such acts of congress, of the state legislatures, and decisions of the courts as will sustain the views presented, in order that the reader may fully understand how these giant monopolies are in fact aided and supported by the government; and we shall try to demonstrate that the only way to arrest and correct these evils is by united and persistent action on the part of the industrial and farming communities, and that the remedy for all improper legislation for, and governmental aid to, these monopolies is in the hands and under the control of the people.

CHAPTER I.

A PRELIMINARY SURVEY.

Nothing in this country has contributed so much to the subversion of our republican inst.i.tutions as Land Grants made by congress to railroad corporations, and congressional legislation in their favor. The policy has opened a wide field for reckless speculation and corrupt legislation. It has reversed the old rule, that "the people are sovereign," and has given to "the favored few" the absolute control of the nation. The reckless giving of lands to railroad corporations, by congress, is without excuse, or even apology. When grants were first made to states, it was pretended that railroads could not be built without this aid. Subsequent developments exploded this idea. Take Iowa as an example: In 1856 four leading railroads crossing the state from east to west, received grants of lands sufficient to pay at least one-half of the entire cost of their construction across the state, yet they were not built until long years after the grants were made, nor were they constructed as rapidly as roads built exclusively by private enterprise and private capital. The effect of the grants was to r.e.t.a.r.d the settlement and development of the wealth and resources of the state, by demanding from those who wished to settle upon the lands so granted, an extortionate, or at least a greatly appreciated price therefor. It does not require a great stretch of the imagination to arrive at the conclusion that but for these grants the population and wealth of Iowa (the taxable wealth) would be quite one-fourth greater now. The grant of lands to certain railroad companies in Iowa reach eight thousand acres per mile; this, at $1.25 per acre, amounts to $10,000. per mile; much more than one-half of the actual entire cost of their construction. Yet, as a matter-of-fact, some, if not all, of them became insolvent, and either before, or soon after their completion, their roads were sold to other parties--the original companies becoming bankrupt. But while the companies became bankrupt, the officers and few stockholders who controlled the corporation retired with immense wealth. These are the men who, at the inception of the land grant system of building railroads, inaugurated the theory which has since been practiced, that all lands thus granted were to be treated as donations to the men who controlled the roads receiving the grants. The result has been demoralizing. It has opened a field to adventurers, stock jobbers, and unscrupulous men, who have gone to the national capital and organized themselves into squads, rings, and companies, for the purpose of robbing the people. Not unfrequently the men elected by the people to look after their interests in congress, have themselves become leaders and partners in these raids upon the public treasurer; and so powerful are these organizations that all the departments of government have yielded to them, and the rule, with but few exceptions, is, to plunder the treasury upon all occasions, and for every conceivable object. But as these matters will be treated in detail in the following pages, we dismiss them for the present.

The rule has been, with few exceptions, in granting lands, to provide that the railroad company shall select alternate sections; that the residue shall be for sale at $2.50 per acre; that it shall not be subject to settlement under the pre-emption or homestead law. By these provisions, those persons who enter the remaining alternate sections, pay back to government the value of the lands donated to the railroad company. This plan of aiding monopolies is at variance with every princ.i.p.al of right and justice. The people themselves are the governing power. They are the government. Those who fill the various offices are not rulers, but agents and servants of the people. The public lands are the property of the people, and these agents or servants representing them in congress have no more right to give these lands to corporations than to vote a part of each citizen's private fortune to the same corporations. When, in addition to these grants, embracing territory eight or ten times larger than the state of Iowa, large subsidies of money are also voted to accompany the lands, the people should become alarmed, and, if possible, arrest such abuses.

Every acre of land given to railroad companies is a direct robbery of the people, and the fact that whenever a grant is made the people are required to make good the amount taken from them by paying a double price for the moiety that is left to them, but adds insult to injury.