American Plutocracy
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THE American Plutocracy BY M. W. Howard, Member of Congress, Seventh Alabama District. Illustrations by A. A. COBB. " Here, on the soil enriched with the blood of the patriotic dead, is to be erected an aristocratic monarchy, with wealth as its God."— Wendell Phillips. NEW YORK. HOLLAND PUBLISHING COMPANY, 1287 BROADWAY. Copyright, 1895, by M. W. HOWARD. All rights reserved. THE HOLLAND LIBRARY. Entered at the post office at New York, N. Y., as second class matter. Issued Quarterly. Subscription price, $2,00 per year. Goldsmith, the sweet and gentle poet, said: 11 111 fares the land to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay." and he expressed a truth, the depth of whose meaning we of America are beginning to understand. As we look over the country to-day we see two classes of people. The excessively rich and the abject poor and between them is a gulf ever deepening, ever widening and the ranks of the poor are continually being recruited from a third class, the well- to-do, which class is rapidly disappearing and being absorbed by the very poor. On one side of this gulf we see the people toiling day and night, in the fields, the mines, the factories, working for meager wages, scantily clad and poorly fed and when the year's crop is gathered or the day's wages are paid we see the products of the farm and the fruits of the toil transferred across this inseparable gulf and delivered to those who are on the opposite side. An inspection shows that they are well clothed and that they have every comfort and luxury. They live in splendid mansions, in gorgeous palaces. We see no farms, no mines, no mills, no factories, for the dwellers on this side of the gulf do not labor. Yet there is piled up all the products of the farms, the mines, the factories which came from the other side. A little study of the situation reveals the fact that the laws are such that this vast army of people on one side are compelled to labor and toil in poverty in order that the few dwellers on the other side may lead lives of idleness and luxury. One of these classes represents plutocracy, the other represents the great masses, the toilers of the nation. The greatest struggle of all the ages is the one now going on between these two classes. Plutocracy is endeavoring to widen and deepen the chasm while the people are trying to bridge it until there will be a common ground on which all can meet on an equal footing. The rapid concentration of wealth in the hands of a few is the most alarming sign of the times and unless speedily checked portends the decay of our national greatness. The danger is so imminent that thinking men everywhere are alarmed, and it is with a desire to arouse the people and let them see whither they are drifting that I have written these pages. I have an unwavering faith in the honesty and patriotism of the masses and believe that when the critical moment arrives they will exhibit the spirit of our ancestors when they declared what "all men are, and of right ought to be, free and equal." M. W. HOWARD. New York, September 1, 1895. To the toiling millions ot America. To all who love freedom. To all who oppose plutocracy. To all who favor A government of the people, For the people and By the people This volume is respectfully dedicated. EPIGRAM FROM LINCOLN. ' You can fool some people all the time—you can fool all the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time." LINCOLN. EPIGRAM FROM GARFIELD. 'Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is master of all its legislation and commerce." GARFIELD. CONTENTS. CHAPTER. PAGE. I. The Else of Plutocracy . 7 II. The Money Power . .16 III. The Great Issue—Plutocracy v. Democracy . .24 IV. The Trail of the Serpent . 31 V. Trusts 40 VI. The Heritage of Death ... 51 VII. The Sound Money Fanatic . 60 VIII. Modern Brigands . .71 IX. Easter Morning .... 82 X. Blind Followers . .100 XI. The Impregnable Intrenchment . 110 XII. Slavery 122 XIII. The Canker Worm . 130 XIV. Not Charity, but Justice . 141 XV. The Twelve Apostles of Wealth . 150 XVI. How Plutocracy Enslaves . 156 XVII. Princes and Paupers . 166 XVIII. The People Triumphant . 198 Appendix A. 207 Appendix B. 211 Appendix C 216 Appendix D .................................................... 225 PLUTOCRACY CHAPTER I. THE RISE OF PLUTOCRACY. The millionaire is a product of modern civ ilization. He was wholly unknown to our Eev- olutionary forefathers. He could not have flourished in the same atmosphere which gave birth to our Declaration of Independence. But, as we have grown more refined in our ideas, more aesthetic in our tastes, and more profligate in our manners and expenditures, there has grown up the spirit of "money get ting." And as this mad rush for wealth swept us on, the spirit of liberty took flight, and now the spirit of gain and avarice presides over our institutions. At the time of his death, George Washing ton was the richest man in this country. He was worth probably eight hundred thousand dollars, a sum not equal to more than one- eleventh of the annual income of William Waldorf Astor. Prior to 1860 we had in this country but three millionaires. This year wit- 8 nessed what may be called the beginning of the Coal Oil Age. Soon there sprang up the most gigantic trust the world has ever wit nessed, making its promoters fabulously rich. It was this coal oil trust which sowed the seeds of political and legislative corruption which have germinated and borne such a fruitful crop. When the late war closed, the race for wealth was renewed with more zeal, and men and women became money-mad. Abraham Lincoln, the friend of the people, the equal of Washington in every respect, saw with the eye of a true prophet some of the dire calam ities likely to befall the nation in consequence of certain conditions growing out of the war. In 1864 he wrote these memorable words: " Yes, we may congratulate ourselves that this cruel war is nearing its close. It has cost a vast amount of treasure and blood. The best blood of the flower of American youth has been freely offered upon our country's altar that the nation might live. It has been, in deed, a trying hour for the Eepublic; but I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country- As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people, until all 9 wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my suspicions may prove groundless !" How prophetic were these words. Surely he must have had a presentiment of his ap proaching martyrdom and been accorded a glimpse into the beyond and a panoramic view of the future of this great commonwealth, for the unity of which his blood was soon to be shed. Ah, noble patriot, America's great commoner, divinely appointed and divinely inspired, to-day we are living in the epoch which your prophetic soul foresaw, and we are, entering the somber shadows of doom and impending dissolution which you pre dicted would hover over the nation, and un less God speedily raises up from the ranks of the common people a leader with thy great ness of intellect, thy goodness of heart and grandeur of soul, the people from whose ranks thou didst spring, and whom thou didst love even in thy years of glory, will be in a bondage far more oppressive, more galling and cruel than were the poor black men for whom thy great heart did bleed. At the close of the war plutocracy was not so all-powerful as it is to-day, but the growth has been rapid. The war left one section of the country rich, triumphant; it left the South 10 poor, desolate. It left both sections bitter, prejudiced, intolerant. The North entered upon an era of unprecedented prosperity; the South upon a struggle for bread. Human slavery was abolished, and the North, rejoic ing in the triumph of liberty, forgot that there were many other reforms necessary, forgot that there were other triumphs in the name of liberty to be achieved. The South, desolated and humiliated, strove only to bet ter her material condition. Both sections lost sight of the, fact that liberty is a tender plant and requires constant watching and careful culture. They heeded not that there has ever been a spirit opposed to human rights and human liberty, slumbering, perhaps, at times, but ready to burst forth like a volcano whenever the people ceased to be watchful. Both sec tions turned their backs upon the future, and steadfastly gazed into the past, and year after year fought the war over again. Pa triotism slumbered and slept while politi cians, not statesmen, kept watch and ward. The money power now came upon the scene and peeped cautiously around at first, but see ing that the people no longer were zealously guarding their liberties, seeing that crafty politicians were steering the ship of state, and that the people were blindly following their leaders, who continually fanned the flames of sectional bitterness, it became bold 11 and threw off its timid, fawning air, and as sumed a most insolent swagger.