Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

WATSON’S EDIT ORIAJLS W WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN feWS? A Newspaper Devoted to the Advocacy of the Jeffersonian Theory of Government, ' — , published BY SUBSCRIPTION PRICE: SI.OO PER TEAR 7>®r (•/SSS THOS. E. WATSON and J. D. WATSON, Advertising Rates Furnished on Application. yyrMfIFCJKSS* Editors and Proprietors *—— ’ vUj _, —, „ . Bnltvtd at Pttt.JSci, Atlanta, Ga., January 11, iqoj, at tattna VUrjf v\Xr Tb>mplk Court Building, Atlanta, Ga. dan m*u mattar. i 4" — I a ■ 1 ATLANTA, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1907. Kit M lexander and the 'Robber. When I was a boy, there used to be, in one of the “Advanced Readers,” a story which made an indelible impression on my youthful memory. Under the heading of “Alexander and the Robber,” was given a spirited conversation which was alleged to have taken place be tween the Macedonian Conqueror and a rob ber-chief, whom he had captured. In this conversation, Alexander the Great upbraids the robber-chief for his crimes, and the robber-chief defends himself by comparing his own methods to those of Alexander him self. My recollection is that the Macedonian King started out promisingly in the discussion, but that he steadily lost ground. At the close of the conversation, the robber-chief had every thing his own way. To speak in up-to-date phraseology, the King had got himself “balled up.” In brief, the argument of the robber-chief was about this: “I do just as you do; but I don’t do as much of it.” It is a pity that our “Readers” no longer carry this story of “Alexander and the Rob ber.” It would apply mighty well to latter day conditions. The world acclaims Alexander the Great because he burnt the whole city instead of one house, murdered a thousand instead of one man, and robbed provinces instead of individu als. But after all, he was a mere robber. Fan ciful theorists may prattle about the Helleniz ing of Asia, but that is mere academic talk. The world gained nothing, and lost much, by the raid which Alexander made into Asia. Hardy, enterprising Greece did not Hellenize Persia and Assyria; on the contrary, the effeminacy of the East flowed back to Greece, along the lines of Alexander’s march, and Greece lost her hardiness and enterprise. Per sia, in the end, conquered Greece; as effeminate Greece, in turn, conquered her conqueror, Rome. “Alexander and the Robber,” —the story in the old time Reader came back to me when the papers announced that the Chiefs of the Standard Oil Trust were to hold a conference at Fairhaven, Mass. That’s where H. H. Rog ers lives. And H. H. Rogers is the Standard Oil Chief who is being sued for $50,000,000 by a man who alleges that Rogers cheated, him out of that amount of pocket change, in a transaction concerning an improved process for refining oil. And the Plaintiff must have had the Defendant in a tight place, for Rogers’ son, and Doctor, and Preacher went into court and swore loudly that Rogers was too sick to come to court. And the Judge continued the case indefinitely, stating that it would be “cruel and inhuman” to force such a sick man as Rogers was to come to court. And immediately after the case had “gone over,” I saw, in the Wash ington Post, that Rogers, the sick man, had taken Mark Twain out for an automobile ride, and that Rogers, the sick man, had acted as chauffeur. Whether the Judge who continued the lit tle fifty million dollar case has gone out and hung himself, I do not know; but I guess that Young Rogers, and Old Rogers, and Rogers’ Doctor and Rogers’ Preacher, laugh a good deal among themselves at the neat manner in which they tricked the Judge. What I meant to say was this: When those chiefs of the Standard Oil Trust meet at Fair haverf, there will be, bunched together, the most ravenous and remorseless band of robbers this world has ever seen. Long before Ida Tarbell had published her magazine articles, Henry Demorest Lloyd had given, in his “Wealth and Commonwealth,” a complete history of the criminal methods of this robber band. From Courthouse records and other official documents, Mr. Lloyd proved that the Standard Oil Company, with John D. Rockefeller in active control, had violated al most every penal statute of the Code. These banded criminals had made use of the vilest men and the vilest methods to stifle competition and to kill off rivalry. The com mon thief, the brazen perjurer, the house wrecker, the murderer were useful instru ments, used by this gigantic‘monopoly. Above and beyond this lower level of criminal meth od, came the corrupt influencing of elections, the bribery of men in office, the subsidizing of the Press, the corrupt control of the State Legislatures and of Congress. In municipal politics, in state politics, in national politics, these rascals, who were gaining $125,000,000 every year, from one Trust alone, have exerted their baleful influence—corruptly and crimi nally. Touch dozens of the Pet National Banks, in whose behalf nearly $200,000,000 of the nation’s wealth is annually laid aside—to be used by them, free of interest, and you touch the Standard Oil band. Touch the monster railroad corporations, which are taxing commerce to compel divi dends on about seven billion dollars of fraud ulent stocks and bonds —and you again touch the Standard Oil band. Touch the Cotton Seed Oil Trust, the Lum ber Trust, the Copper Trust, the Steel Trust, the Harvester Trust—and again you touch the Standard Oil band. For, these Alexanders of modern commer cialism have not yet had to weep for more worlds to conquer; their tired troops have not mutinied at the Hyphasis, refusing to march farther! No; these omniverous, insatiable, irresistible men of the Oil Trust have continu ed to add province to province, until in scope of territory and richness of loot, their empire is greater than that which fell before the onset of the Macedonian King. Not only the New World, but the Old bows to the Rockefeller band. Not only the general Government of the United States, but every state in the Union, and every city in every state, knuckles to the Standard Oil band. The direct revenues of the Oil Trust is theirs —5490,000,000 net profits in seven years. Then, the profits of their banks, their railroads, their copper mines; their holdings in the Steel Trust, Lumber Trust, Harvester Trust, and many oth er commercial enterprises, are theirs. Think of what the Grand Total must be! Compared to it, the National Treasury shrinks into comparative insignificance. The average increase of wealth in this coun try is not more than five per cent. When Express Companies pocket net earn ings of 200 per cent; and the Standard Oil Trust 1,000 per cent; and we have a dozen other Trusts increasing their wealth in the same proportion, there is bound to be some class, or some classes, which are increasing their wealth at a smaller rate than the average five per cent, OR NOT INCREASING AT ALL. Where some exceed the average, some must fall below it. When the Steel Trust gets so much more than the average; when Express Companies, Railroads, Banks, Oil Trusts, Whiskey Trusts and Sugar Trusts get so much more than the average—there must be many a million of men in America at whose expense these Trusts get more than their share. When a band of robbers meets in their cave, and gloats over the loot which fills it, one nat urally thinks of the folks who were robbed. Somebody had to lose what these robbers stored away in the cave. When the Standard Oil band meets at Fair haven, the robbers will gloat over the vastest accumulation of loot disclosed in the records of the human race. They have had a free rein for a full genera tion. They debauched Public Opinion by gifts to churches and schools; by the purchase of public men, and by the employment of Press Agents. They have enjoyed immunity from punishment by hiring the best lawyers, intimidating the witnesses who could not be bought, and bribing the Judge where they could not hire the Judge’s son or son-in-law, or nephew to act as their “Attorney.” From whom did the robbers take the loot— THE ONE THOUSAND PER CENT NET, PROFIT? And how did they ever manage to steal so much? / The American people are the victims; and the two old political parties supplied the ma chinery by means of which the robbers filled the cave. The Standard Oil band have been enabled to steal $490,000,000 from the American people in seven years because the American voter is so fond of the Democratic and Republican parties that he would rather be robbed by those Twins than to be protected by any new political organization. In other words, the fools are Wedded to the Knaves AND NEITHER WILL SUE FOR A DIVORCE. * W M The Story of Trance. We are receiving so many orders for the book above named that we think best to ex plain why there will be some little delay in filling. The present supply being exhausted, the MacMillan Company is bringing out a new edition. Mr. Watson has asked the publishers to al low him the privilege of making a revision