HE C0BVALL1S GAZETTE
Tuesdays and Fridays,
umirirn
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE,
Articles p- .eral interest will be pub
Jifh?i in this lfpa'f meut as the personal
opinion of ti e writer. It is understood
that the paper i not lield responsible
lor anj opinion btre expressed.
AN APPEAL TO TJ1E PATRIO
TIC PEOPLE OF OREGON.
BY GEN. T. J. THORP.
The fcllowing appeal for ac
tion is not prompted br, nor is it
in the interest of the propaganda
of any pa'iticul party. Neither
5s it made with any hope of arous
ing to action any citizen whose
highest conception of American
citizenship is satisfied by slavish
obedience to the mandates of a
political boss.
Patiktic citizens and patriotic
orders, however, will take some
decided and prompt action for ar
resting the purposes of those cor
porations which the Inter-State
Commerce Commission has de
clared to be ungovernable by any
code of laws found in the stat
utes of the Federal Government.
It is believed that a remedy
sufficiently drastic, will be found
in the following address, which
sets forth the reasons and neces
sity for it now that the whole
power of the government has
igBomiuiously failed to restrain
the unlawful and overt acts of the
chartered corporations of the
United States.
our appeal:
The organic law of a nation
may ordain and establish politi
cal liberty liberty of its citizens
to prosecute their chosen calling
under just rules of action.
The government of such a na
tion may write its statutes and
enact its laws in harmony with
the provisions of its organic pow
ers and provide for freedom of
speech, prss ard action, and yet
rme a race ot slaves.
and cargo. Railway corporations,
the creatures of the state under
charters, deliberately rob the pro
ducers and the -consumers in the
nation to the utmost limit that
commercial traffic will bear. The
It accumulates its countless wealth
tfom chartered franchises which
have, in most cases been vioiated
and justly forfeited to the State.
It is this Oligarchy that seeks to
divide this nation into castes
pirate of the high-seas-and the I the rulers and the ruled,
chartered railway corporations otjnothing to reason and as little to
the United States are identical in Jour laws and the decrees . of our
chsraeter. Thev differ onlv m national tribunals
deree of robberv and the -form
of charters under which they pil
lage and plunder their unfortu
nate victims. The pirate writes
his own charter, for which be is
outlawed, while the railway cor
poration receives its charter from
the state under the authority of
which it deliberately robs and
plunders the commercial interests
of e very citizen of the nation.
It may be the patriotic duly of
the citizen to submit to the gi
gantic robbery of railway corpo
rations because they are the char
tered cormorants of the state. It
may be the duty of every citizen
to scorn to make complaint
again.t corporations which, if
justly- dealt with, would forfeit
their charters and suffer the con
fiscation of their stolen wealth.
But is it?
The chartered railway fran
chises, municipal, state and na
tional, have produced nine-tenths
of the unruly, defiant, insolent
and arrogant millionaires of this
couutry, commercial freebooters
who defy our Courts and who
but recently attempted to place
one of their chosen representa
tives at the head of this govern
ment and are now reorganizing
for the control of this government
in 1908.
There is not a commercial
trust in the United States, that is
not composed, in large part, of 1
men interested in railway corpo
rations which are perpetrating
their nefarious crimes under
charters issued by the grace of
the people from whom they filch
the last dollar possible in every
commercial transaction. The
chartered railway corporations
operating 160,000 miles of rail
road in the United,. States are
now perfecting the most gigantic
! combination in the world. A
violation of the
cny
Thr OKia-wi i enslaving anv i combination in
j;ice or cuss of men, outside of I laws of the United States; .a corn
i.ni,(iii.M by tlu: sword, is, and ever j bination in violation of the laws
hat. been, bv the slow and aggres- ! of the several states of this Re-
sive act'on ol some power work-, ptitui
1115 su e I-avoc wirh the rights of;
This defiant act of combina
tion is an unmistakable declara
tive common people
The J.a' ions which for centur- tion of war upon the rights and
jes. ruted the countries of the : commercial freedom of eighty
millions of people. The magm-
Meditetrane.tr, in the fullness of
time, nullified the righis of the
ttide of it i relied upon as suffi-
rrivate citizen whose liberty fin- cieutly powerful and able to over
ally became absorbed in the pre-j awe and to defeat the Executive,
logatives of some fa voied chief or j Legislative and Judicial depart
piiace through t-pecial grants ofiments of the Federal Govern
iranchises iii the public domain, j ment, in every effort made to
With those grants came the pow-j bring these offenders to justice,
er and authority to rule and gov-! If the magnitude of this fel
cru those franchises in the inter-jony, if the magnitude of this un
est of the favorite proprietor. j paralled commercial robbery of
This is the origiu of patrician j the people can be relied upon to
Mobility under tue Romau Em-1 secure immunity from our Courts
pire. This is the origin of the i and the executive department of
jiobiiitv ot continental Europe, j the Government of the United
This is Che origin of every species ! States, then what peaceful reme
uf European oppression in an-jdy is there left to which a long
cieut or modem times. This is ! suffering nation can appeal for re
origin of the castes and classes of j Hef?
European citizenship. Royal! Have chartered combinations
srrants of franchises to private in- renounced all sanctity of state
lividuals have made a race of
rtepeudent citizens in India and
m eveiv Oriental state.
and national government? Do
they owe no duties and obliga
tions to the people? Is there no
Nor has the form of govern-! law which corporate greed will
uieut in any manner modified the
ligor o: that dependency, ranging
from the distinguishing type ot
abject slavery to the condition of
respect? Do the railway corpo
rations seek to provoke eighty
millions of people to hurl wide
open their red-hot gates and
labor for the miserable compen- make defiant commercial lines
sation of a precarious supply of j blaze with perpetual conflict,
even the most common necessa- spreading into a war for the sur
xies of life. vival of the fittest?
Repub .cs as we'd as monarch-j Railway corporations, more
ies niaS" e uite c..s ot citizens ; than any other, have bred irn
by graiuu.g irauct-ies to coip-r-( perious, domineering and agres
sions organized by men ofjsive men, clothed with powers
wealth to whom are rantei ' under charters which thev inter-
charters as tvranic.il and arbitra
rv in their application and in
their administration as the char
ters of King George III. Under
such chaittrs the rail way corpo
rations cf the United States have
made combinations with no high
er motive than the spoliation of
every citizen of this Republic
who is engaged in anv legitimate
business, or in developing any of
the natural resources of the state.
Railway transportation and
freight rates are so manipulated
tinder charters that only those
who arc stockholders, or are oth
erwise interested in such railways
can receive reasonable and fair
commercial treatment.
A pirate upon the high-seas
strips his helpless victim of ship
pret as license to plunder, and
they now propose to combine in
a colossal commercial trust for
the avowed purpose of making
greater dividends to their stock
holders and millionaires. Rail
way corporatious have in council
resolved , to rule this nation
.with a rod of iron. They- have
resolved to seat the next chief
magistrate of this Republic.
Their special chartered franchis
es have given them immense
power over states. It is this
power that holds the South solid
in its despotic grasp. It yields
nothipg to reason and as little to
our laws and the decrees of our
natvnal tribunals.
This American railway Oligar
chy derives its power from wealth.
This American railway Oligar-
derives its power from
wealth. It accumulates its count
leg's wealth from chartered fra -chises
which have in most cases
been violated and justly forfeited
to the State. It is this Oligar
chy that seeks to divide this na-
tion into castes, the lulers and
the ruled .
Its proud, ambitious and domi
neering spirit brooks no resist
ance from Courts, States or Na
tion. It is determined to rule by
the force of its financial and cor
porate power.
If there be anything about
which the minds of our common
people are united, it is this,
that a government administered
by chartered corparations is the
first step in the direcnon of mon
archy; they will never submit to
this. Rather by far declare every
railway charter null and void
and forfeit to the State.
This Government derives its
just powers from the governed
and it must be administered by
the governed and not by a ruling
class of chartered corporations,
Our common people are irre
vocably determined that a sig
nal example shall be made of all
attempts to do things otherwise
than according to our laws and
our Constitution.
Our great wheat fields and
natural grazing lands upon the
public domain are rapidly becom
ing exhausted by a depleting
process of cropping without
returning anything to replete the
sou with its native richness
This depleting system is carried
on to give our nation a surplus in
bread and meat for commercial
export to less favored nations of
the earth, also to give employ
ment to our multiplied energies
rand to our sous and daughters at
remunerative wages: but how
long can this system of robbery
and spoliation of the soil go on
feeding railway corporations with
ninety per cent of the net profits
of our varied agricultural pur
suits? . -
The American railway Oligar
chy grows rich and strong while
our agricultural lands are grow
ing poorer every year, for the
want of commercial fertilizers
which cannot be employed on ac
count of the high freight rates
exacted by railway corporations
everywhere. The vast , tonnage
of fertilizers and waste of cities
would restore the constant waste
of our soil if it could be distrib
uted by railways at a reasonable
margin above the actual cost of
transportation in empty trains
running to our rural depots for
surplus products.. A national
system ot distribution of fertili
zers at actual cost would clean up
our American cities and make
them fit habit itions for people
and give employment to thou-
sanas 01 our citizens wno are
now either idle or employed to
cart all the valuable elements and
factors of fertilizers to the banks
of our great rivers and there
made v to pollute our whole sys
tem of inland waters. All of
this havoc and public waste is
a direct result of the extortion
practiced by the railway corpora
tions of the United States.
This American railway Oligar
chy has but recently absorbed
160,000 miles of railroad and is
now dividing into systems to
carry out purposes forbidden by
our laws and the decrees of our
Court,s and hence it is in re
volt against the government of
this Republic.
The settled policy of this Oli
garchy is to extort a tribute from
American commerce and rigidly
enforce its demands, until it
becomes the mistress of this con
tinent and the absolute ruling
power of this nation.
The administration ot our
government by railway corpora
tions by methods adopted at the
national convention of one of the
leading political parties of this
country, will seal the doom of
American growth and develop
ment and make impossible the
improvement of the fertility of
tne soil by any system of renew
ed application of capital and
skill paralyzing our great agri
cultural industry under the dras
tic system of railway extortion.
When chartered corporations
are able to rule this nation we
shall have to come to the end of
our commercial greatness. The
finest regions of this republic will
become as unfruitful and desolate
as the fairest fields of Italy under
the rule of Romau aristocracy.
The absolute control of our Ju
dicial, Legislative and Adminis
trative department by the collosal
railway combinations of the Unit
ed States wiiT inaugurate a reign
cf commercial despotism more
intolerable than the administra
tion of our government under the
naked power of the sword more
tenibie thari the vivid ruin in
flicted" upon the commerce of the
world by the successive invasions
of the Goths, Huns, and other
vandal hordes of Europe.
The tactics applied to one of
the late national political con
ventions will be attempted in the
conventious-of the leading polit
ical parties of the United" States
lour years hence, and the only
remedy for the insolent, proud,
ambitious and domineering rail
road Oligarchy is the speedy con
struction of a double track rail
road across this continent from
ocean to ocean, owned and oper
ated by and for the people of the
United States.
. The construction of our great
Panama canal by the people of
the United btates, under the ad
ministration of President Roose
velt is a monument to the splen
dor of our civilization, the glory
of our arms, our commerce, and
our power. A work more en
during than the pyramids of
Egypt, a contribution to the com
merce of the world by the people
of the United States and a dem
onstration that our people can
build, own and operate th egreat-
est. enterprise on earth. The
construction of this canal makes
the coHStrtiction of a double track
railroad from ocean to ocean
through the commercial heart of
this Republic an absolute neces
sity.
t The railway corporations of
the United States are now laving
the foundation for a combination
upon the high-seas that will
overshadow all other trusts and
combinations in the world. The
commercial corporations of all
Europe are to be taken into this
gigantic pool to be operated to
control the carrying trade of the
commerce of the whole world,
fixing freight rates by water at
the exact figures for transporta
tion by railway carriage.- No
government under heaven can
prevent this commercial and
financial combination upon the
high-seas nor can any govern
ment deliver any nation from the
commercial slavery to the corpor
ations of the world by any sys
tem of international commercial
law.' This colossal pool will re
vive all the rigor of the piracy of
the middle ages less the savagery
of barbarism ot death and total
confiscation, every dollar that
the traffic will bear will be the
minimum rate of freight by ships
sailing to every port in the world
under the flags of every nation on
earth.
The princes of commercial
wealth in Europe will compel
passivity on the part of their
governments while the railway
millionaires of the United States
will attempt to control our Gov
ernment, State and National,
preventing any legislation hos
tile to this conspiracy to rob and
plunder and lay every commer
cial nation under tribute to the
corporate wealth of the chartered
pirates of the world.
There is only one nation that
has the resources and power to
quell the boasting pomp of finan
cial treachery to mankind.. There
is only one nation that has the
fortitude . and , courage - to assail
this commercial Python and drag
it to execution and transfix it
upon the rocks of black despair,
leaving its mighty commercial
fleet rotting sailorless upon the
seas. '
The common people of this nation can
build doable tracked continental roads
tnroagh the commercial centers of the
United States and own and operate them
in connection with ample shipping facil
ities upon the high seas to every civilized
port in the world, carrying our surplus
products to every market on earth at a
rate of transportation that will give the
products of American labor, courage and
patriotism -the patronage of . mankind.
This is the remedy for the revolt of the
chartered corporations of American rail
ways against the laws enacted by eighty
(Continued on third page)
CHRISTMAS
'04
A cheerful call to 'Christmas Buyers:
Our Bright, Spaiklius Liu -of Christmas Gifts is ready lor inspect
ion. Come and look your judgment will tell vou what to do.
You will delight in our fine display of Holiday Goods, because it is
in close touch with th times and anticipates Our wants.
Our stock is thoroughly up ;o the minute in variety and novelty in
every department- The simple,' plain talk of the Price" that is right
is our convincing argument. We advise early selections. Extra
help engaged for the holiday rush.
I you are looking for some real good
Bargnins in Stock, Grain, Fruit and
Poultry Ranches, write for our special
list, or come and see us. We will take
pleasure in giving you reliaole informa
tion; also showing you over the county
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HEADQUARTERS FOR COMMERCIAL MEM. h
Philomath Meat Market
All kinds of Fresh Meats, Ham, Lard, etc, always on hand. '
S.-.Wy Gibbon, Philomath.
Benton gounty Cumber Company,
:'a- k - - V MANUFACTURERS OF ' - ' ;
JSCAU kinds of Fir Lumber
Dealers in Shingles, Mouldings, Doors and Windows. Special at
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