•'Shall we, after the first of May, have as low a rate of freight as any body else?" they asked. "No," he said, "after the lirst of May we shall give the Standard Oil Company lower rales than you." "How much dis crimination will we have to submit to?" the independent refiners asked. "I decline to tell you," was th."; reply. "How much business must w% bring to your road to get as good a rate as the combination?" they asked again. "1 decline to tell you," was the only reply they got. "If we will ship as much, will you give us as low rates?" "No," was the answer. HERE. THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD, ONE OP THE 'HIGHWAYS OP THE REPUBLIC, WAS ABSOLUTELY CLOSED TO EVERY BODY IN THE OIL BUSINESS EXCEPT THE STANDARD OIL COMPANY. The independent refiners then weut to the president of the Pennsylvania Rail road, aud the only cousolation they got was that "you had better go and arrange with the Standard Oil < Company." They asked him if they could have the "same rates aw other shippers?" "No." "If we ship the same amount of oil?" "No." "It we build our owu cars?" "No." The history of their efforts before the Pennsylvania Railroad was the his tory of their efforts before all the other railways, the highways of the Republic. In the case of the Commonwealth against the Pennsylvania Railroad, in 137U, the vice president of the Penn sylvania Railroad was obliged to admit that they had paid the Ameri can Transfer Company, one of the concerns of the Standard Oil Com pany, in oue year, $3,01)3,750 in rebates. In 1888, the independent oil retineis had .built up a great trade for their oil in the New England States. On October 25th, 1888, the railroads made known to these independent refiners that they would not be allowed to send any more through shipments to New England. [These facts were brought forth in the testimony of the Titusville and Oil City Independent cases, pages 283 and 284.] Again the highways of the Republic were closed to everybody except the Standard Oil Company. The independent oil re liners were shut out of all the princij pal cities of New England. THE MAN WHO CONTROLS*THE HIGHWAYS, OVER WHICH YOU MUST OO TO MARKET, CAN MAKE YOU His SLAVE. This great corporate, monopolistic railroad com bination delies the courts, and refuses to answer when questioned, shielding itself behind that provision of the law that provides that you cannot make a man convict himself of a crime by his own evidence. The men who control the highways of the Republic treat the Inter-State Commerce Commission with con tempt. In 1888, the independent reliners petitioned the Inter-State ('omuierce Commission to prohibit un just discrimination between tank, car and barrel shipments. After an ex pensive litigation, they proved the facts of these discriminations before the Commission, and for two long years the Commission failed to issue' au order prohibiting the wrong, and when linally the Commission issued an order prohibiting said discrimina tion, the Pennsylvania Railroad ig nored tho order, and when the Com mission ordered them to reduce the rates, they showed their contempt for the Commission by increasing the rates. [These facts will be found set forth in the testimony before the SUPPLEMENT. Inter-State Commerce Commission, page 131, Volume 4, and in the testi mony of the Titusville and Oil City Independent cases, pages 188-193, 446, 66(5 and 407.] Again, in the case of Rice, Robin son & Winthrop, before the Inter- State Commerce Commission, in 1890, the case was dragged out before the Commission year after year. During all this time, Rice, Robinson & Win throp were unable to ship their oil over the highways of the Republic. Aud all this time the business of the petitioners was being ruined and de stroyed, and five • years had passed away in their vain effort to obtain a passage over the highways of the Republic. [Facts in this matter can be found in the Report of the Inter- State Commerce Commission, page 193.] Yes, live years had passed away, and no justice. Yes, twenty years have passed away since the Inter-State Commerce Bill was intro duced into Congress, and yet no justice. The most heroic light tha* 1 . man ever made for the right to do busi ness IN THIS FREE RAND, has been made by Mr. George Rice, of Marietta, O. The history of this struggle is a history of the highways of the Republic being used in the interests of the Standard Oil Com pany, and to the detriment of all the people. The railways continually raised the rate of freight to Rice, until he could make no money, and sometimes absolutely refused to ship for him at all. [These facts can be found in the Report of the Inter- State Commerce Commission, pages ST-147.1 Why all these efforts of the high ways of the Republic to destroy every shipper except the Standard Oil Com pany? Because the men who control the highways are in league with the Standard Oil Company; because they are in the conspiracy to take from the producers the wealth which they produce, for the benefit of the Stand ard Oil Company, and from the Standard Oil Company, through Standard Trust Stock, they get their reward in the dividends thus wrung from the people. Hundreds of mil lions have been taken from the men who have produced this wealth, and transferred to the pockets of these great conspirators. And the govern ment, under Win. McKinley, is organ ized to force the people to submit to this robbery. The Sugar Trust, by raising the price of sugar one-half cent per pound are able to tax the American people #50,000,0(10 annually. Within the last three years, they have grad ually increased the price of sugar by about two cents per pound, and by this move they have been enabled to take from the people W00,000,000 a year of illegitimate prolit, absorbing the wealth produced by the people, and the government is organized to force the people to submit. Today, the producer of petroleum is forced to take sixty-live cents a barrel for his production. The pro ducer is being impoverished, crushed, pauperized and bankrupted, in order that a forty per cent, dividend may lie declared on this Standard Trust Stock; that the wealth beiug pro duced by the people, may be trans ferred into the pockets of the favored classes. Who is it in these United States of America that have created classes? Who is it that has driven the coal miners into revolt, and then ordered the deputies, and sheriffs, aud soldiers, to shoot theui down like dogs? Who is it tli. t las destroyed the great right of equality upon which the foundation stones of our Republic were build ed? And the answer is: The men who control the highways of the Republic. Aye, fellow citi zens, and just as long as the corpora tions control these highways, just so long will they be used for the benefit of the few, and against th%. best interest of the masses. Under this system one set of men are built up, and all other men are pirt dpwn. There is no longer an equal show in the contest for wealth. With the highways closed against you on equal terms, you are forced back into obscurity. You are helpless. You are chained to tne rock with the vulture of injustice feeding upon your vitals. This great wrong is undermining and destroying the strength of the Republic. The rumb lings of discontent are heard upon every hand. The soldiers, under the flag, marching to force the people to submit to some unjust demand of the monopolists, makes that dei.r old iiag look like an emblem of oppres sion, and yet, it you make any pro test against this condition of things, you are ostracised as an anarchist. My fellow citizens, what is the remedy? The equal rights of our peop l cannot be reestablished so long as the highways of the Republic are in the hands of these corpora tions. Corruption of legislators, sen ators. congressmen and judges will continue as long as there is $10,500,- 205,410 of corporate capital on one side, and only human justice upon the other. Justice will triumph in the end, but it cannot triumph as long as ten billions of dollars are in the hands of corrupt and corrupting lobbyists and legislative bribers. What is the remedy? They put up a few millions for a campaign fund, on condition that they may continue to plunder the people, and the poorer and poorer the people become the more subser vient they are to the demands of cor porate power. What is the remedy? Take these railways, these high ways of the Republic, away from these great corporations. Make them pub lic property. Let the government own and run them. Make them what they should be, public highways for the people upon which every man can go to market on even terms with every other man. Do this, and the great monopolies that now oppress us will wither away when they meet the honest competition which will rise up on every hand. Make these highways, highways indeed. Declare to every man that no Standard Trust, no Sugar Trust, no Meat Trust, no Coal Combine shall have anv advan tage that is not open to the lowest citizen in the land. Reestablish the equality of our people over the high ways of the Republic. When you have done this, three-fourths of the battle will have been won. There will be no more coal miner's strikes. Soldiers and deputies will not be called upon to shoot down American citizens like dogs, for the reason that then the miner can go to market with his car of coal as cheaply as the big gest coal company in the land. And the coal miners, when dissatislied, instead of striking for their rights, can get together, form a company of their own, go over and lease Tom Johnston's or Tim Moore's farm, and open up a coal mine of their own, and ship their coal, the product of their own labor, to the markets on even terms with Mark IJdmia or tae Ul*c land Gas and Coal Company. Now, this might be pretty hard on the big coal companies, but it would be jus tice and a wise national policy. To day, the letter of a coal miner goes to its destination with the same speed, and at the same rate, as the letter of a Rockefeller. Send his coal, the product of his labor, to mark* t upon the same basis, and from a striker, a citizen, discontented and riotous, he ; will be turned into a patriot, ' prompted by the warmest feelings of ! pride of conntry and devotion to the flag. From an element of weakness, he will become a tower of strength to the Republic. And so it will be along the whole line of development, from the forest, the farm and the ' mine, to the finished product. Do this, and the rule of the monopolies will end, and the.reign of the people I will again begin. How can this be done ? • It is easy. The public welfare de mands it. Under the eminent domain of the State the power exists to con demn these railways, just as under the eminent domain of the State private lands were condemned upon wihch to build these railways. Pay ' these corporations for them just what thev are truly worth. But how could the people pay the interest on the immense public debt which this purchase would create V The answer is, that the people are taxed today by these corporations in 9 excessive freight rates to pay all the interest on the bonded debt of these roads, and every dividend that they pay, and in addition they are taxed by these monopolies hundreds of mil lions annually for the benefit of these monopolies, trusts and combines. The only differt3nce is, that under government control, the people aro changing the managers of their high ways. The advantage of government ownership is that the bonded indebt edness upon these highways could be placed at from one and one-half to two per cent, lower interest annually, than it is under this corporation ownership. Aye, and a greater ad vantage is that, under government ownership, we can shake oIT the grip of these monopolists from the throats of the people. Is national ownership of railways practicable ? The answer is, "Yes." Fifty-four nations of the world now own and control their railways, wholly or in part. The German Umpire owns 26,9ti6 miles of railway, and, although it cost them to acquire these roads from the corporations that built them, the enormous sum of $107,079 per inile, yet, while they only charge an average of .117 c per mile for pas sengers, and an average for freight rates of .0147 c per ton mile, and while third class passenger rates (which is about equal to our second class rates) is only one cent for every four miles traveled, yet, notwithstanding this immense cost of acquiring the roads, the German roads are paying into the government's exchequer of the German government 4.4 per cent, per annum upon their cost. In Aus tro-Hungary, i will give the report of Vrooman in his work on "Government Ownership." He says: "That 1889 will be noteworthy in the history of railroads in Hungary, as it witnessed the introduction of the Zone tariff on all railways. The Zone system allows tickets to be sold like postage stamps, good for any distance within the Zone or radius where issued. Since the introduction of the new, cheap tariff, on the lirat of August, 1889, to
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