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Show oo CONTROLLING THE COUNTRY BY INTIMIDATION. One of the most remarkable statements state-ments from a man of great wealth Is attributed to Rudolph Spreckel6 of San Francisco who declares the national na-tional administration has been whipped into yielding to big business and that the present depression was deliberately brought on for the purposes pur-poses of intimidation. A special dispatch from San Fran cisco to the Sacramento Bee quotes Mr. Srreckels as follows: "It is my opinion that great numbers num-bers of men have been thrown out of work throughout this nation by reason rea-son of a deliberate curtailment of work by many big business interests in thl3 country for political reasons. "The suffering occasioned by Buch a pollcj has now become a serious oroblem. but the big fellow's plan has succeeded and the first to receive benefits are the railroad corporations to "horn the interstate eonirn.-rei-commission h?B granted the right to tax the people many millions of do! lnrs in the form of increased freight rates. "If i hp dlsem ployed throughout this nation but realized their power and used it as cleverly as does organized greed, their problem would soon bo solved without subjecting them to the humiliating necessity of accepting charity. I intend to contribute an equal amount to men i66nnected with organized labor In the hope that they may Blart the collection of a fund tc be used lor the Investigation and correction cor-rection of conditions that rontinutilly conspire to bring government assistance assist-ance to corporations with their millions milli-ons of watered securities and to thelt wealthy owners, while human beings b the millions are forced to accept charity at the hands of their more fortunate men or starve. "Owing to the accident of my personal per-sonal position I have seen what reall goes on. Last summer I crossed the tlantir with one of (he biggest cap taint of Industry in the country I told him that we were living over a volcano that was likely to blow its cap off at. anv time and that the dangerous dan-gerous element was the tactics of the moneyed powers He did not grasp the point, but he told me one thing that proves it. He said the business leaders had to have 'freedom to act,' and that this constant criticism criti-cism of business, and opposition to business raut be stopped. He sa d that before the Wilson election, he had arranged to make a certain extension ex-tension in one department of his vast enitrprise which would represent an expenditure of oer $3,500,000 ' But because of the attitude of the nation as he had expressed it. lie had held up the huge order It is evident mat me administration, administra-tion, has succumbed to this deliberate pressure. The interstate commerce commission carried out the will of big business with the consent of the administration There are Indies -tlons that the Federal Resere Board is acting on a similar policy It looks as though business eould :ei about anything it wants at Washington Washing-ton now." There is much circumstantial evidence evi-dence to prove that what Rudolph Spreekcls says is in part true More than one prominent man has declared that a conspiracy has existed lo forco this government awa from certain reforms objectionable to the moneyed Interests. As president of one of the largest banks on the Pacific coast and himself one of the very rich men of the- country, Mr. Spreckels should he in n nosition to snonk with nssn-- ance that what he says is not based on suspicion and envy The count ry raaj he drifting toward a plutocratic government through th" over-awing influence of great wealth If a comparatively small group of men can make good or bad times, and do exert that tremendous power 1n sun-port sun-port of those who do their bidding anil against those offensive to thein, and the American people are to be swayed by the ups and downs thus created, then we are to remain no longer a republic re-public but become an oligarchy of dollars. dol-lars. Men of great wealth should realize before too late that in theso lactics tbey arc riding for a fall. They may go on for a number of years, gaining unfair advantages and enjoying unrightful un-rightful privileges, but eventually there will come a crash which will be destructive, and the pendulum then will swing to the other extreme of disregard dis-regard of property rights Better give up seeking to rule or ruin and yield to the judgment of enlighten d public opinion |