Justice, Administration of -- United States; Working class -- United States
But there are real industrial conspiracies. They began long ages ago,
and they began by direct action, when the first capitalist took his
club and knocked the brains out of somebody who wanted a part of it
for himself. That is direct action. They got the land by direct
action. They went out and took it. If anybody was there, they drove
them off or killed them, as the case might be. It is only the other
fellow that can't have direct action. They got all their title to the
earth by direct action. Of course, they have swapped it more or less,
since, but the origin is there. They just went out and took possession
of it, and it is theirs. And the strong have always done it; they have
reached out and taken possession of the earth.
A few men today can control all the industry and do control all of the
industry of this country. A dozen men sitting around the table in a
big city can bring famine if they wish; they can paralyze the wheels
of industry from one end of the United States to the other, and the
prosperity of villages, cities and towns, and the wages of its people
depends almost entirely upon the wills of a dozen men.
They have taken the mines; and all the coal there is in the United
States, or practically all, is controlled today by a few railroad
companies who can tell us just what we must pay, and if we are not
willing to pay it, we can freeze; and we respect private property so
much that we will stand around and freeze rather than take the coal
that nature placed in the earth for all mankind. (Applause).
All the iron ore in the United States that is worth taking is owned
and controlled by the Steel Trust, one combination with a very few men
managing the business; not more than a half a dozen absolutely
controlling it have their will; and nobody can have any iron ore, or
mold it or use it, excepting at the will of a few men who have taken
possession of what nature placed there for all of us, if we were wise
enough to use it and understand it. And the great forests of the
United States, what is left of them--and there is not so very much
left. We are a wise people. We pass laws now for the protection of
timber in the United States, so it won't be destroyed too fast, and at
the same time, we put a tariff duty of two dollars a thousand on
lumber that comes from somewhere else so that it will be destroyed at
a high price. (Laughter and applause). We are the wisest set of people
of any land that the sun ever shone upon. And if you don't believe it,
ask Roosevelt when he comes here. (Laughter and applause).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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