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yo know that by this craft wo havo our wedlth.
Moreovor, yo soo and hoar, that not alone at
Bphesus but almost throughout all Asia, this
Paul hath porsuaded and turned away much
people, saying that they bo no gods, which are
made with hands. So that not x only this our
craft is in danger to bo sot nt naught; but also
that the temple of tho great goddess Diana
should bo despised and her magniflcance should
bo destroyed, whom all Asia and the world
worshippoth. And when they heard these say
ings, they wero full of wrath saying, Great is
Diana of tho Ephesians."
Tho silvorsmlth was profltting by the wor
ship of idols; tho making of imagec was tho
source of his Income. lie called together those
who wero engaged in the same occupation and
when all wore convinedd that Paul'B preaching
would bring them financial injury they joined In
a protest, but they did not givo their real reason
. Tor opposing Christianity namely, that It
would cause them a money loss, but they pre
tended a fervent devotion to the goddess Diana.
So, today, tho beneficiaries of bad laws arid bad
governmental systems aro defending their pe
cuniary interests with arguments that imply
great devotion to the public welfare. Having
satisfied themselves that the reforms demanded
by the people will lessen their power to extort "
from, and to tyrannize over, the people, these
monopolists and their defenders shout "Great
Is property! Great are the rights of property!"
While the issue between the" man and the dollar
seems to he an acute one, yet In the last analysis
there can be no issue between human rights
and property rights, for nothing more surely
undermines property rights than a disregard for
human rights, and nothing brings greater se
curity to property than a scrupulous regard for
tho natural rights of each human being. But
wo must always remember that human rights
are paramount. In fact, everything depends
upon the establishment of the true relation" be
tween the individual and dull, inanimate
property.
The house" and Its foundation are indisso
lubly connected, and we can not think of one '
without the other. So'human rights and prop
erty tights are indissolubly connected. We can
not think of the one without the other and as,
wintho-Ajuildingw-of a houBQ, -wo must think of
the foundation fiTst and of the house as a super
structure, so in thinking of society we must
necessarily think of human lights first and of
property rights as resting upon human rights.
Ho who talks of property rights as if chey could
exist without a regard for human rights, speaks
as fooliBhly as one who would attempt to build
a house without considering the foundation upon
which it is to stand.
It. 4b safe to say that no contest over prop
erty rights is likely to arise between those who
feel that they are giving ; to society a service
commensurate with the compensation which
thoy are receiving. The controversy arises now
and has always arisen between those rrho are
, conscious of enjoying what they have not earned,
or conscious of desiring to secure that to which
they are not entitled, and the masses of tho
people who feel that they not only earn all that
, they receive, hut something more". Those who
are insisting upon legislation which will protect
each citizen in the enjoyment of 'life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness are the real cham
P ons of property rights as well' as the cham
pions of human rights, and those ivho talk so
oudly of defending property rights are, upon ,
investigation, found to be the ones who are en
dangering property rights as well as assailing
tho natural rights of the individual.
Just now tho trust magnates are hurling
epithets at those who seek to destroy the trusts
They assume to be the special custodians of
property rights, and charge anti-monopolist
with communistic, socialistic and anarchist o
designs upon "the thrifty and the successful
As a matter of fact the reformer has never been
more grossly misrepresented than ho is now
by the monopolists. It is the trust magnate
not the opponents of the trust, who is striking
. at property rights. He trespasses upon thl
?hPynrigbtB ?Vhe 8ma11 manufacturer and
the retailer, and heartlessly drives him into
bankruptcy He trespasses upon the property
rights of the consumers, who have a right to
purchase what they need in a free market at
reasonable price. The monopolist ataply ap
propriates the property of others. The trSst
magnate often trespasses the property rights of
toe employe, whoso skill and muscle he utilizes
He encourages the employe to invest in a home
and then he sacrifices thnt hn. tr. v ;
in a war with his laborers or finds it profitable
to' dismantle his plant. Even the property in-' 1
terests of tho stockholders are not safe in the
hands of the trust magnate, for he has been
known to dopress the market for the purpose
of freezing out his associates or in order to buy
more stock at a low price. Those who, believ
ing that "a private monopoly 13 indefensible
and intolerable," are laboring to restore com
petition and to proteot the small producer, the
consumer, the merchant and tho skilled laborer
these, not the trust magnates, are the real
defenders of property rights.
The railroad presidents are also yery much
concerned now lest their particular" form of
property will be injured by state laws, and they
are quick to describe as demagogic all argu
ments that are intended to inform -the public
intelligence and to arouse the, public conscience
on the railroad question. What is the position
taken by the railroad presidents? They deny
the right, of the people of the state acting
through their legislature, to fix the terms upon
which the railroads j shall do business-in that
state. They deny the right of congress to inter
fere with their privileges or the right of gov
ernment to fix the -rates, although they must
know that In the fixing of railroad rates the
magnate has made vigorous' attacks supon "the
rights of property'
Not only is the reformed the Teal defender
of property' rights, hut he is the best friend of
the1 very persons wh6 abuse him". Just as that
physician is the best'dhe who 'points -out to his
patient the dangers of the disease 'from' which
he suffers and prdposes the best remedy," no mat
ter how severe, so those are the best friends
of the rich who attempt to restrain excesses and
to correct abuses. " ' ;
Jefferson in his first inaugural address de
scribes the right of election by the rteople as "a
mild and safe corrective of abuses which are
lopped off by the sword of revolution where
peaceful remedies are; unprovided." The re
former seeks by peaceful means to correct
abuses which, if not reformed by legislation,
are sure sooner or later to lead, first, to bitter
ness between the classes and finally to violence.
Dickens in his "Tale of Two Cities" gives his
readers a picture of the Frehch revolution and
points put that the horrors of the revolution
were but the natural result of the cruelties'
which the masses ' previously suffered at the'
hands of the aristocracy. This is his language':
"Along the Paris streets, the death
carts rumble, hollow and harsh. Six turn- :
brils carry the day's wine to La Guillotine.
All the devouring and insatiate monsters -imagined
since imagination could record it-
self, are fused in the one realization, Guillo
tine. And yet there is not in France, with
its rich variety of soil and climate., a blade,
a leaf, a root, a sprig, a peppercorn, which
will grow to maturity under -conditions
more certain than those that have pro
duced this horror. Crush humanity out of
shape once more, under similar hammers,
and 'it will twist itself into -the same tor
tured forms. Sow the same seed of rapa
tious license and oppression over again and
It will surely yield the same fruit accord
ing to its kind.
"Six tumbrils roll along the streets.
Change these back again to What they wore
thou powerful enchanter, Time, and they
shall be seen, to be the carriages of absolute
monarchs, the equipages of feudal nobles,
tho toilettes, of flaring Jezabels, the
churches that are not niy Father's house
but dens of thieves, the huts of millions of
starving peasants."
The French aristocrats " who showed their
contempt for human -rights were very solicitous
about property rights, and yet they were in
fact th6 deadliest enemies of property and prop
er rights, because their wantonness provoked
the attacks- which followed.
The situation in this country today is not
what it was in France prior to the revolution
The extremes of society are not so far apart
nor have the ovils now complained of been
carried so "far. And yet no one who hap studied
the situation can be blind to the fact that the
arrogance of our financiers, and greed of our
railroad magnates and the avarice of our mon
opolists are creating a culf between productive
wealth and predatory wealth between the very
poor and tho very rich The longer remedial
legislation is delayed the wider the gulf grows
and the wider the gulf, the greater the danger'
Tho longer a needed reform 1s delayed the more
radical the remedy is likely to be and the more
. VOLUME 7i 'NUMBER
danger that the spirit of retaliation will make
itself manifest. aKe
i Uis tIme t0 7" halt K time to dis
place the corporate influences that now havo
such a powerful hold upon politics, and tore?
turn to a government "of the people, by u
people and for the people," in which the Pr0D.
erty of the poor as well as the propertv of tho
rich the life of the obscure as weH m the life
of the conspicuous, and the liberty of all bCii
be Protected by law. They are tho best friends
Sff? a5d prPerty rtehts who labo?
most earnestly and most intelligently to correct
injustice in government wherever found; thev
are the most dangerous enemies of propertv
rights as well as of human rights whS either
turn the instrumentalities of government to pri
vate gain or who, forx pecuniary advantage re
sist needed remedial legislation.
oooo
SHERMAN ANTI-TRUST LAW NOT AMENDED
The Houston (Texas) Post, referring to the
?rlec,lSSni)Ctlle Stanard Oil trust resuming
5 i?o?4t5f ,'00 fine refeS t0 "the Elkins law
of 1903, which amended the Sherman anti-trust
law of 1890 and repealed the imprisonment pro
visions of the interstate commerce law." The
Elkins law did amend the anti-rebate law by
doing away with the Imprisonment feature It
did not, however, amend or relate in any degree
'to the Sherman anti-trust law of 1890. The
Sherman anti-trust law has never been" amended,
if v, t Commner refers to this fact because
it has been noticed from communications re
ceived in this office that there is a widespread
hnpression that the Elkins law which did away
ii? imprisonment feature abolished the
criminal clause of the Sherman anti-trust law.
Democratic newspapers everywhere ought to im
press upon their readers the fact that the Sher-
S!Sraw I remalDS upon lbe statute
? ? j i VaMfc wTas enacte. st as it has been
sustained by the United States supreme cbiirt
and It should be emphasized, too, that tho crim
inal I clause of that great law remains unenforced
by the republican administration.
ZhL?y e?0rt to enforce this clause was
in the beef trust cases and then when the beef
0magnaes wr&: at th Xery threshold of
l XV ,ltLntla?r, ft deveoped that- someone in
authority had taken the precaution to give them
an "immunity bath." - ,-7
xxx
THIS IS TOO MUCH
The Pittsburg Dispatch says: . '-'Mr. Wat
terson entertaining as he is, has never been
an infallible prophet, kand it will be a .pretty
f??f opln,02 th, lle is bent uPn maintain
ing his reputation."
The Dispatch-might have said that Mr, Wat
terson Is not invariably, a graceful writer, a
?i? 0.mpani01l' a courteous gentleman, a de
voted friend and a merciful foe; and the
friends of the talented editor of the Courier
Journal would have borne it calmly.; Butwhcn
the Dispatch attacks Mr. Watterson in that par
ticular role where he so delights .to shine then
in the name of the prophets livingand in the
name of the prophets dead we protest.
" oo&o '
BUT WHY DON'T HE GO?
The New York World is making .frantic
a?Pa STi Gov?;nol Hugh.s urging the removal
of Mr. Kelsey, Now York's superintendent of in
surance. The World, as The Commoner; recalls
it; sought in vain to Lave Governor Htfgh'es act
on the Kelsey matter during the special session
of the legislature, and now the World devotes
practically its entire editorial page to a statement
of charges against Kelsey. The World sum
marizes these charges in this description- of the
present day insurance situation: No reorgani
zation of insurance department; failure to en
force the law; smaller dividends now than under
Hyde, McCurdy and McCall; no; apportionment
of ussets; false bookkeeping permitted; bonuses,
prizes and rewards illegally paid; the 'NyliC
still exists; discrimination against old policy
holders; robbery of small policyholders; wrong
doing concealed; lying advertisements; informa
tion refused; parasite banks continue; traction,
gas and Union Pacific stock still held; .Illinois
Central stock to help Harriman; payment for
votes; industrial insurance neglected; surplus
not yet apportioned; mutuality not secured;
and Edward H. Harriman not yet disqualified."
t ?efe! rin& the . insurance investigation,
the World -says: "But what practical godihaa
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