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Show THE MONEY DANGER. Congress is drawing near to adjournment. It has passed some needed legislation, but its completed work leaves a feeling akin to apprehension appre-hension in the minds of the people. The reason is that a subtle power dominates all legislation in this country and no statesmanship yet revealed is sufficient to grapple successfully with it. This power is concentrated wealth, and the reason the statesmanship of the country and the world cannot can-not grapple with it successfully is because on its face it is fair and demands no exclusive privileges. privi-leges. For example, something is asked for in general terms, say like the ship subsidy bill. It gives to every man or company who can put on a certain class of ships a subsidy. That is perfectly fair on its face, is it not? But the fact that there is only a small class of men who can supply the necessary means to thus equip a line of ships, makes the subsidy practically a monopoly. That is only a sample. We find the same thing creeping in everywhere, because a few men have the means to do what they please. They posses a power stronger than is the State itself. A Kipling might describe the American Congress as a convention of the animals, and could put speeches in the mouths of certain of the animals which would sound realistic, to say the least. The tiger's attorney might demand the openi door and declare that perfect enlightenment meant a perfectly free affiliation among the animals ani-mals and an unfettered exchange of products. On the ground of perfect equality, what argument could be advanced in reply? Still the deer and even the wolf would think with a shudder of the awful armature of the tiger's mouth and the furious claws hidden within with-in the velvet cushions of his paws. And who can frame legislation to fit the case? Indeed, it is necessary to grant concessions to these monopolists to meet and turn back the tigers of the outside world. And that money power is growing in strength and aggressiveness all the time. It grows while the poor man sleeps. Agriculture supplies in profits in this countrty $200,000,000 annually; the mineral fields within our Republic twice as much more. This profit gravitates surely to the pockets of those who are already supplied. This sleepless power is always asserting itself, it dominates even the Government; it dominates the fashions in every little hamlet; it is all pervading per-vading and is continually not only growing, but more and more concentrating its forces. It holds all the stragetic points; it controls the banks, the transportation and all the great mechanical industries in-dustries of the country. How long can the Republic Re-public bear the power? |