Monopolies -- United States; Railroads and state -- United States
many years, the people, especially the agricultural, producing, and
laboring classes are taking the lead. They are reading, thinking and
acting independently of old political and partisan leaders; they are
exercising their rights as freemen. They have declared that "old things
shall be done away, and all things shall become new;" that the
government shall be taken out of the old political grooves in which it
has been running; that it shall assume new life, with the rights of the
people fully recognized. That when the rights of the people and of free
government on the one hand, and the privileges claimed by the combined
corporate interests of the country on the other, are at issue, these
rights shall not be made to yield to old precedents originating in
monarchial and despotic governments, in order that the privileges
claimed by corporations may be upheld.
The organization of the Patrons of Husbandry forms a nucleus around
which all reformers can rally. The reforms they seek will effect the
liberation of the whole people from the oppressions under which they now
suffer. Our aim is to aid in this work. We feel assured that there is an
irreconcilable conflict between the monopolies and the people; that the
powers and privileges assured to corporations are at war with republican
institutions, and hostile to the constitution of our country. To effect
reforms will require time. Some relief can be speedily obtained, but to
accomplish thorough reform, and bring the administration of the
government under the control of the people, will require that the
offices shall be filled by men whose education and pursuits have been
such as to place them in full sympathy with the people--men who will not
spend their time as legislators and judges in discussing federal
prerogatives, and classing our republican government with old time
despotisms. The doctrine that corporations are subject to legislative
control must be fully established as the fixed and settled policy of our
government. When this point is reached, the farmer will not be obliged
to divide his crops with railroad companies--and so with all other
abuses. The power to correct all abuses must remain with the people. The
prosperity of the people, the perpetuity of our form of government, the
rights of the states and the public can only be preserved by guarding
against all encroachments made upon free institutions, whether they
originate in congress or out of it--whether they are enunciated from the
bench of the supreme court, or from the stump. In these days when the
tendency is to a strong centralized government--when a few men control
the finance of the country--when the whole commerce of the country is
controlled by Wall Street gamblers--when special grants and privileges
are bestowed upon companies and individuals, and when the property of
each individual is insecure and liable to be assessed for the building
of railroads--at this time, there came from Justice Bradley of the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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