Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The new Northwest. (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887 | View Entire Issue (May 12, 1881)
- i - . i ' - , 1 , . . .- , . . . i i - ; t , - . . " . - . , - . !.,,. ' .) i I ' i, - . ' - """ ' " '"- 1- " ' ' '" " 3- ' ' ml.ir ..... : - i j. r . .. .-J- l - y j ; ,f : - , ' . -" i i ' iii ri - n r m .i . mi. -i i. i ... ,1111 i i i i ! I ii VOLUME X.-tfO-5.T , - ; - r rORTLAND, OREGON, .THURSDAY, MAX' 12. 1881. : '-' . TER YEAR-W OO. r. -x MONOPOLY IM THK LIGHT OF PHILAJTHlBOPV ,AND BOCI- ' ' ' . ' ' OLOQY. . ; s iDDBBSS BT BLVIX A. TUOKP BKPOBf THB OMA SCV FBAOB CLCB Or IBDKPBXDKKCB. '. I lore W linger opoa the strong but kind benev olence of man now dead, who came to Nw. York before the railroad was known, and while that city-was -'carcely-inom than a-good-lred town. This -man's whole financial capital was summed up In the traditional shillings Employed as clerk, which In tboM days meant- porter too, he labored morning, noon and nighty By dint of honesty, economy and Industry, he worked his way from employd to master;1 from poverty to wealth. This man was Palmer. And how can we fail to admire the shrewdness, sturdy pluck and tire lews perseverance of such a character, which, amid the fierce struggles of trade, enable man, In this Instance, to distance his competitors aud wrest success from thevefy jaws of opposition T - - This" Is the picture of individual enterprise upon its better side ; and it Is this same individual en terprise that has done more than aught else to build up our national -commerce and raise our country to its present height, of renown, and which, extending and strengthening ittwlf by corporate combinations, has given us those won derful developments we see dally in the depart- ments Jof bankingJnsurancc telegraphy, and transportation, hot to mention many other mam moth and similar outgrowths7f trade. "But now the question comw,' says Palmer, "how far may this Individual enterprise be legiti mately carried? How far may the few go on ap propriating to their own behoof the great powers of steam and electricity, the soil, and all the other great facilities for production and exchange which natural and human Justice declares should be free to all ? For, brought to Its extremest ultimate, this process could only mean that a few great financial potentates or Incorporated companies . would own the whole of our great planet, while all the rest of earth's cltlxens would be their mon eyed slaves." ; ", ' A speaker, referring to the State of. California remarks as follows : "There monopoly Is king.. There a few men control steam transportation. They have annihilated competition There Is not a farmer, not a producer, between the mountains , and the Pacific, who does not pay them- heavier tribute thanconquered people ever paid to their conquerors. They fix the value of the farm, the mine, the mill, and the forest. They decide year by year whether the producer shall mske a profit or a loss whether his children sliall travel toward the academy Or the poor-house. They name Sen ators and Judges. They have their Candidates for the Presidency. They have bound the prosperity of California In fetters of Iron as fatal as death and -jur unyieldiug as the grave.- But all this evil Is from the corrupt control of legislatures, public officers, etc, and should be remedied by proper legislation. A just government would regulate rates for ths Interest of the whole people. V Statutes may be ordained restrictive of those -men who recognize no responsibility butthat of . their stockholders, and no principle, olfaction but personal and corporate aggrandisement. To7 this most worthy aim Iay amen, for great would be the good accomplished by such reform. As long as gigantic public enterprises like our railroad and telegraphic systems are privately controlled, , there must be warfare between the private inter- ,' est of the stockhoidenl and the publlo Interests of . the people. And even under the best of regula tion laws, when best administered,, we should still see the few swollen plutocrats atnasslag their for tunes from the unjust tax they levy on the public, - since, ever so restnctedj-titeir" iuwers becoraetoo great to admit of opposition, and all competition .is handicapped against them. - WV.t - tkl. W.. o.a -i move? Is It for the purpose of gaining legal power to organise working women's societies, so that when they die their husbands can draw 12,000, the same as now does the Workman's wife T If the Workman's society would offer me . membership free of tax, I would not Join them. Why not? For the simple reason that I would have to work for the Interest of 'feat society, -which ronld,ln myopl nlonvturo the bars oifln dividual Interest, and in the future drive the working masses to homes of poverty, and their widows would have to pick the, gleanings of or ganised socIeTIeraTntTsTeep at the feet of the rich, as the Bible says Ruth was compelled to sleep at the feet of Boas. I wish to work for the Interest of universal human Justice. and natural rights,' that would enable woman to carry on business Inst thesamsrafter theeathferhusband'as before, and give all of earth's children a home in stead of 12,000. . r v I am not afraid of woman. By ftvlng her equal Tights, thers isro danger hatshs will send the nation to destruction, as some men think. -Na ture has endowed her with shrewdness, sturdy pluck and tireless perseverance' of such a charac ter as would equalize monopoly, stop the license of crime, and make this earth a better dwelling- place for her sons and daughters. She would es tablish commerce and the ballot-box as rulers In stead of the sword and the money power. -Right here I can do no better than to quote from an ad dress delivered before the Anti-Monopoly League. In'settlng-tortthrpnrpoees tho Leaguern speaker thus announces two oLJts fundamental principles: 4 We advocate and will support and defend the rights of the many as against the priv ileges of the few ; and corporations, the creatlous of the state, shall be controlled by the state.' To make the first of these statements consistent with the second, it seems to me the latter should be amended thus: "Corporations, the creations of the state, shall be controlled by the State; and when Inflated to such magnitude that they be come co-extensive with the government domain itself, then theT shall be bousht and owned and that when the chain Is broken then society and her peaco Is destroyed." It is Just and right that when private enterprise so overleaps Itself as to trench on what should be public enterprise, then the public or state should step in on fair terms, "put the individuals out,-and put themselves In. I cannot see why a nation which conducts its post office and custom house cannot also manage a national railroad and tele graph system, and . also -(which Is even , more needed, In ray estimation) a national, really na tional, banking system. I tor satisfied that Just so long as woman can have no voice In the body politic with man, Just so long will that heathenish, oppressive,. monarch ical spirit be more or less Ingrained in man. From remote antiquity comes the custom, and from the conditions In the struggles of life, the strong arm of man has saJULihat-he masses of womankind shoujdgofioiurther socially with man thantothe church, home, penitentiary or managed by the state or government" OtherJfows; but in this age of railroading and tele- wise, in my opinion, the lights of the many will never be maintained against the privileges of the few. This Is the only real solution of the question thst I can see, and Is at once confirmed by a com parison of our people's post office and the Western Union telegraph consolidation, the first of which sends a letter from New York to Ban Francisco for three cents, and the secsnd a telegram of ten words for two dollars! , ' The very principle that the Autl-Alonopoly League enunciates brings Us face to face with the hard problem of Individual yersus social rights; of the old political economy based on self-interest versus the. new political economy founded on a higher view of man as a social being, and vested with social rights and duties. In truth, the unde niable fact Is that labor, acting upon the free gifts rand forces of nature, Is the source of all wealth; and It Is equally true that labor does not reap its equitable share of reward sTTh rough the squees- Ing-out process of competition, the stronger are yearly working toward the top, the weaker toward the bottom ; the rich are growing richer, the poor poorer f and, Instead of a Just distribution of earth's products, we find the meanest of all mean power concentrating Itself In the hands Of the few the power of Irresponsible wealth. Our banking, In su ranee, telegraph and railroad companies, our great dry goods, grocery and ' other business houses, and even the control of the real estate, are now becoml ng th us monopol 1 ted, and such a thing as free competition practically exists no more. Against these overpowering agglomora- tlons, any poor man -starts-out so weighted down that victory-Is next to impossible. For a fw years many such tyros may struggle on till one of our decennial money panics flings up Its turbid a a a a. waves and enguirs mem, wnue ineir cargoesare landed on the decks of their more powerful rivals. who, by their superior strength, are enabled not only to outride the storm, but gather in the spoils the feebler ones have lost. 'Of Herbert Spencer's little work on sociology, I can only give here the .barest reference to Its ar guments He says 1. "Society Is not a mere aggrcK gate of separate Individuals, which, like an audi enoe In a theater, disperses when the play Is over and exists no longer, but rather la a living organ Ism, analogous In many respects to the human body Itself. For Instance, the human body grows; so does a society. Again, one" body, taking Its conception as its date of birth, undergoes great changes of structure and function ; so, too, does a society in the course of its evolution, as witness how, In early Stages of culture, man was his own farmer, tool-maker, merchant,, etc, but how, as time goes on, vast divisions of labor and occuna- llon occurT by means oFwhlch commerce, manu factures, the wits, education, and all the functions and departments of life, become assigned to their respective workers." Spencer's second reason 1st "As In the human body, so In the social body, there exists mutuality of dependence between the parts and the whole, and thus the more humanity develops the more Interdependent and unified Its many classes become, until, as Cariyle says, an Indian cannot quarrel with his squaw on the lakes of Maine without producing a rise In the price of ursjn Londoiu'To harm such vast relationships, It is that governments arise. Their purpose Is to act as the balance wheel to the general clockwork, and make It all harmonise and keep time." Now, all this , solidarity of Interest has always been more or leas clearly perceived, and was even shadowed forth In the old Roman fable of the bells and the members. St. Paul said, "No man Uveth to himself, amljwe are all members jnejofani other ;',and we ourselves are accustomed to speak of society as the body politic, and to refer to the life of a nation In pretty much the sam terms as we do the life of a man. Bradlaugh says : . "So-, elety should ,bo one 'brotherly ci rclef In which ... . 1 n ewwx-ta.'rs u wr a tirtsx OffEion a niAfm men should be linked together Dy a consciousness j hcbulijuuko ur n adw w r r hau io id, thmt lk .iM aiiI hann in linkMl-MnsCIOUS I ' ' graphing there are a few thinking women who dare come out aud plead for the free rights of the masses of their 'sex, and, in accordance with the fundamental principle of our government, to go up with man Into the financial, political and so cial struggles of life, and soon take a seat with him In the state-house as well as the church. With me, the very thought shows a bright future of a higher protection and the elevation of our mcr : : 1 A V I close with a few lines of attempted poetry : BACK BOMB. - "V . When jrou a fellow-mortal Without flzod and frarleM views. Hanginf on the aklrta ot othra, Walklnc In tb4r eaaUoir ahoM, BowlncjAW to wealth or favor, - "Wlfh sbjrt, oncoveretl head, " L natlr to retract or waver, Willing to be trov or led ; ' t When you see a politician - Crawling through contracted hoi mi. Begging for torn, fat -position In tba ring or at tba polla, . ' With no atertlng manhood In him, KothlngsUDIe; broad or sound, : Destitute of ptaek or hattast, ' Dnuble-alded all axnund ; WIb you sea a rl low-mortal Hugging rliM to custom's creed. Fearing to reject or question Toll tics hlr fellows read, Holding back all noble feeling,- Choking down each maaljr view. Caring mora for forma and symbols Than to know the gwod and true, Walk yourself with firmer bearing. Throw your moral shoulders back, 8how, jrour spina has -nsrva 4 J ant the things Which ha must lack. GREAT FEAT IN REPORTING. (Prom the Mew York Mar. A remarkable achievement in stenography was that of the lady to whose kindness the Boston Herald Is Indebted for the accurate aud almost verbatim report of Carl Schurx's fine speech In German at the reception by his Boston country men. The speech was uanslated ofishand Into English short-hand notes as it was taken, Instead of being taken in German and afterward put Into Engltshfas is generally the casern such dScaslons. Mr. Thomas Allen Reed of London Is regarded as the greatest short-hand writer In England, and his facility at taking both French . and English equally well Is considered a marvel. But when he takes a French speech, his notes are In French. In the Canadian Parliament there are two sets of short-hand reporters, one to take the speeches de livered in Kngusn, and the other those delivered In French. But the mental processes necessary to such a work as that of the Boston adyjrjjjbe seen to be. remarkably complicated. "First, there Is the following of the speech In German, which must have been with the strictest attention. Then there Is the Instantaneous translation of the German words Into their English equivalents. And thirdly, there Is the rendering of the English Into short-hand characters, while the ear Is alert to catch the German, The quickness of wit de manded by such a performance is wonderful, and, as lar as we anow, it is unprecedented inline re cording of publlo speaking. The lady gained her kiJMn. tWsayJypractlJn Jaklng-noi at the lectures In German universities. , From the Ban Francisco" Examiner t "Women have won a victory even In old-fogy, bigoted Spain. After a long and earnest discussion, the conclusion was recently reached that women should be permitted to attend the lectures, and If found competent, to take the degrees conferred by L?Pi!n!lHlesrC cles formerly placed in the way of. women's acquir ing information, it would almost appear as If meh were afraid of the women excelling them Id science, art. or literature, and so dental them a Xalr.spaiiun4ty--redevolopii sowrn." ' 7J (Prom Tha Dalles Mountaineer. Itetolved, That we are in favor of the en f ran-'" chlsement of women. First, because It Is right. ' Second, because there are certain Invidious dis tinctions made by the laws of Oregon In reference to the descent of real and personal property which- we fear will not be changed unless woman is . a a a as " given tne bauot; among mese inviaious uisiino- tions lsT the, la W: governing curtesy, and dower. Third, thst no governments are so successful as those whose laws and authorities ofgovernment: r are based on the nearest approach to equal rights v of all. - livtolved. That we heartily commend the action of the Legislature of 18H0 In. passing the resolution for so amending the State Constitution that the women of Oregon may be secured in the posses sion of their right to the elective franchise. Retolved. That we will use all honorable means to Induce the Wasco county members of the legls- lative sesslon of4882 to further legalise the action ' of 1880 by ratifying the Woman Suffrage resolu tion. Iietolved, That no government Is republican In form or democratic In principle which refuses to - - - guarantee to every citizen the equal protection of the laws. : , -J-t J.:.. ' ' Jtetolved, That women are now denied the equal protection of the laws, because they are taxed without representation and governed without consent. x ''. - " ' '"' Rfolvedj That thls movemeni for enfranchise ment for our wives, mothers, sisters and daugh ters Is a movement In strict accord with , the fun damental principles of, equality and justice upon which this Government Is professedly founded. Jletolved, That women are seeking for the bal- . lot as much for men's good as their own; they are courteously and earnestly demanding lights not asking for privileges ; nor would they, If they could, usurp authority over men. T Jlt$otvi, That It Is the duty of women to un derstand the functions of the government Which . I they are taxed to maintain, and to whose laws they are held to be amenable. ' A WORD FOR THE GIRLS. II (Prom Iha-MetntMttsTllceorder, A great deal has been said and written concern Ing the rights of farmers' boys, but nothing about the girls. It Is a common thing lor farmers to pay their sons fair wages for their workYyet their daughters do not receive-a dollar from month to month'. Why should this difference exist between the farmer's girl and the boy 1 The former Is quite as much entitled to a reward for services as the latter. In truth, thex farmer's glri js fjre quently the more valuable of the two. She Is ex pected in many cases . to rise very early, get breakfast, dean up the house, and prepare the other meals required through the day, or, If not, to at least largely aid In all these household du ties. In addition, she Is looked upon by father, mother and brother to entertain company to act the hostess, at least, as a creditable second to the mother ; and she may be the pride of the -family, and regarded as a sort of privileged character, yet much Is expected from her lh ten thousand smaller features of home life. WhythenTahouIdniheliot be encouraged with at least as much pay as the boy ? In addition to that, the farm-house should be made as attractive as possible with a piano, plenty of books, newspapers and pictures; culti vate a taste In the girls for flowersTeto, . These features, with a moderate amount of work, should produce a happy and contented home farm life. (Prom the TArt Orford rost PROBABLY WILLFUL. A package of New North wests was addressed to Independence, Polk county, to regular sub scribers, and then returned from there to the office of publication through Wells, Fargo A Co. As an explanation of his conduct, the postmaster at Independence avers that the package was ad-' -dressed to an Individual Instead of to the office simply, and that he delivered the package to the husband of the lady whose name the wrapper bore, and then by him It was returned through the paper and makes, affidavit (that the self same -paekage had been addressed In the usual way to the Independence office, simply, and that it was received back through Wells, Fargo 4 Co. In the original wrapper as first addressed. Here, ' now, Is raised a question of veracity between the -postmaster and the mailing clerk, and thus far the P. M. Is manifestly the sufferer In this behalf. ' Abu . uch -H-nlscannokbtloQ sternly re--buked by the press In common. All have suffered more or less through the Ignorance, Inattention ot petty malice of some postmaster, who, not be ing capable of distinguishing between doty and spleeTthas en tailed embarrassment andloas- uipwu irre' -