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ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF
THOMAS JEFFERSON
ADDRESS
OF

HON. ROBERT L. OWEN
OF O K L A H O M A

DELIVERED IN NEW YORK CITY
APRIL 13, J908




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ADDRESS
OF

HON.

ROBERT

L.

OWEN.

AN ADDHESS BY ROBERT L. O W EN IN NE W YO RK ON T H E A N N IVER SARY OF
T H E B IR T H D A Y OF T H O M A S JE F F E R SO N , A P R IL

Mr.

P

r e s id e n t

and

G

entlem en

of

th e

13, 1908.

N a t io n a l

D

e m o c r a t ic

C lub : It has been one hundred and sixty-five years since the birth of
Thomas Jefferson— the patron saint of the Democracy.
In the cen­
turies to come the dignity and the value of this great intelligence and
of this great heart will rise higher and higher in the estimation of
man, for the birth of no man since the birth of Christ has been so serv­
iceable to his fellow-men.
W e do well annually to assemble and burn incense on the altar in
his memory— the man who taught religious liberty and the first to
write it in the statutes of V irgin ia; the man who taught freedom of
speech ; who put an end to entailed estates, overthrew the law of primo­
geniture, and in 1777 introduced in the Virginia assembly the first
bill providing universal education and the first bill to forbid dueling;
who established the University of Virginia ; the man who condemned
monopoly and slavery, and pointed out their dangerous tendencies ; the
man, above all other things, who loved his fellow-men and trusted them,
and regarded them as his brothers and worthy to govern them selves;
the man who stood firmly for a strict construction of the Constitu­
tion, who maintained the reserved rights of the States and of the peo­
ple of the S ta te s; a man whose ideas of government were so sound and
so true that within a few short years his doctrines— opposition to slavery
excepted— were established in the hearts and minds of all of the people
of the United States, so that there was in effect only one party in the
decade following his presidency.
OKLAH OM A.

You Eastern sons of the National Democracy may fancy that Okla­
homa is a long way off and has but few ties with Thomas Jefferson, but
I call your attention to the fact that the purest Jeffersonian democracy
upon the continent is in the heart of Oklahoma— all of the teachings
of Thomas Jefferson are vitally active in the constitution of Oklahoma.
Oklahoma is more indebted to Thomas Jefferson than is New York, be­
cause Thomas Jefferson, in the Louisiana Purchase, acquired by pur­
chase the very soil of Oklahoma, and made many republics where one
empire had controlled. The people who first settled Oklahoma carried
with them the liveliest memories of Thomas Jefferson. Among the first
settlers of Oklahoma was my Indian grandfather, a leader of the
Cherokees, who carried with him as a precious memory a silver medal,
which I now show you, given to him by Thomas Jefferson. On the one
Side is a medallion of Jefferson and the inscription, “ Th. Jefferson, Pres­
ident of the U. S., A. D. 1801,” and on the other side, embossed, are
two hands in friendly grasp, with the legend “ Peace and friendship.”
51007— 9315
3




4
In the most beautiful part of the Cherokee Nation I have a country
place named for the residence of Thomas Jefferson, and called Monticello. A t this country place the great-great-granddaughter of Thomas
Jefferson gave birth to two of his descendants, Adalaide and Pattia
Morris.
Oklahoma has many ties binding that great Commonwealth to Thomas
Jefferson, but chief of all are the intellectual and spiritual ties, drawn
from the soul of Thomas Jefferson, establishing great principles of gov­
ernment necessary to the welfare and the happiness of man.
R E L IG IO U S

FREED O M .

The great doctrine of religious freedom taught by Jefferson is found
recorded in the Oklahoma bill of rights, section 5 :
“ Sec. 5. No public money or property shall ever be appropriated, ap­
plied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or
support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for
the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister, or other
religious teacher or dignitary, or sectarian institution as such.”
The right of free speech is written in the same bill o f rights, section
22, as fo llo w s:
“ S ec . 22. Every person may freely speak, write, or publish his senti­
ments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse o f that rig h t;
and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech
or of the press. In all criminal prosecutions for libel, the truth of
the matter alleged to he libelous may be given in evidence to the jury,
and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous
be true, and was written or published with good motives and for justi­
fiable ends, the party shall be acquitted.”
And the principle of universal education is there adopted (Art. X I I I ) ;
“ ( S e c t i o n 1. The legislature shall establish and maintain a system of
free public schools wherein all the children o f the State may be edu­
cated.
“ (S ec . 2. The legislature shall provide for the establishment and
support of institutions for the care and education of the deaf, dumb,
and blind of the State.”
“ A kt . X X I . Educational, reformatory, and penal institutions and
those for the benefit of the insane, blind, deaf, and mute, and such
other institutions as the public good may require, shall be established
and supported by the State in such manner as may be prescribed by
law.”
NO SLAVER Y.

Thomas Jefferson was strongly opposed to slavery, as he Indicated
in many ways.
In his letter to E. Rutledge (1787) he stated :
“ This abomination must have an end. And there is a superior
bench reserved in heaven for those who hasten it.”
In the proposed Virginia constitution he subm itted:
“ No person hereafter coming into this country shall be held within
the same in slavery under any pretext whatever.”
(June, 1776.)
And also the follo w in g:
“ The general assembly (of Virginia) shall not have power to * * *
permit the introduction of any more slaves to reside in this State,
or the continuance of slavery beyond the generation which shall be
living on the 31st day of December, 1 8 0 0 ; all persons born after that
date being hereby declared free.”
51007— 9315




5
In commenting on the deplorable results of slavery, Thomas Jef­
ferson said :
“ The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual ex­
ercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting depotism
on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other. Our children
see this, and learn to imitate i t ; for man is an imitative animal. This
quality is the germ of education in man ; from his cradle to his grave
he is learning to do what he sees others do.”
And he also sa id :
“ Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have
removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people
that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be
violated, but with his wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when
I reflect that God is j u s t ; that his justice can not sleep forever; that
considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of the
wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation is among possible even ts;
that it may become probable by supernatural interference! The A l­
mighty has no attribute which can take side with us in such a contest.”
M y fellow-citizens, I comment upon these doctrines of the patron
saint of the Democracy, because it was a failure on the part of the
Democratic party to develop and observe this one teaching of Jefferson,
which resulted in the retirement of that party from national control
during the last half century.
I have always thought that it was a providential thing for the poor
Ignorant blacks of Africa that they should have been brought in con­
tact with the civilized races, even though it was through slavery, be­
cause it led to their gradual improvement from savage life. Ultimately,
however, it was the unhappy influence of slavery which caused the
original Democratic party to go to defeat in 1860.
Thousands and
hundreds of thousands of men, who, previously to that time, had been
Jeffersonian Democrats, felt that Jefferson’s opinion with regard to
slavery was r ig h t; that the continuance of slavery was equally harmful
both to master and slave, and, under the leadership of Abraham Lin­
coln, they first set their faces against the extension of slavery to the
Territories of the United States. Abraham Lincoln, in his speech at
Ottawa, 111., on August 2, 1858, in reply to Douglas, said :
“ I will say here while upon this subject that I have no purpose,
either directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery
in the States where it exists. I believe that I have not the lawful right
to do so and I have no inclination to do so.”
But, as the contention proceeded, those original Jeffersonian Demo­
crats who opposed slavery became more and more resolved against it,
until such men, under the new name of the Republican party, deter­
mined upon the complete abolishment of slavery in this country.
The same spirit of American liberty which determined that the
slavery of the black man under the forms of law should not exist in
this country will stand against the enslavement of white men by mo­
nopolies under a more artful form of law. Organized gigantic monopo­
lies have invaded every field, controlling the volume and rate of wages
paid to labor, and controlling the purchasing power of the wages &<!
labor when paid.
Lincoln was opposed to the extension of the slavery of black men, and
before his term of office was out he already was foreseeing the danger
of the enslavement of white men.
lie foresaw the danger to the
humbler toiling citizen of arrogant organized capital, aud in his first
message to Congress pointed it out.

51007—9315




Am ong other things he sa id :
“ Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the
fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first ex­
isted. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher
consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protec­
tion as any other rights.
“ No men living are more worthy to he trusted than those who toil
up from poverty— none less inclined to take or touch aught which they
have not honestly earned. Let them beware of surrendering a political
power which they already possess, and which, if surrendered, will surely
be used to close the door of advancement against such as they, and to
fix new disabilities and burdens upon them, till all of liberty shall be
lost.”
The monopoly of various industries by skillfully organized capital has
such control now that laborers by thousands and hundreds of thousands
and millions are dependent for employment on those whose policy and
interest may be served by the discharge of these laborers. The giant
corporations deem it judicious, in cases, to restrict the output in order
to raise the price, and thus dismiss labor at one door and raise the
price to the laborer as consumer at the other door— deny him wages
with one hand and raise prices on him with the other.
Monopoly
means ultimate mastery on the one side and slavery on the other.
Monopoly means mastery of the one man and coequal servitude of the
other man.
NO MONOPOLY.

Thomas Jefferson vigorously opposed monopoly of every kind except
as a reward for literature and invention. He opposed monopoly in
land.
He pointed out the terrible effects of monopoly of land in France
in 1785 as fo llo w s:
“ The property of France is absolutely concentrated In a very few
hands, having revenues of from half a million of guineas a year down­
wards. These employ the flower of the country as servants, some of
them having as many of 200 domestics, not laboring. They employ also
a great number of manufacturers and tradesmen and, lastly, the class
of laboring husbandmen. But, after all, there comes the most nu­
merous of all the classes— that is, the poor, who can not find work.
I
asked myself what could be the reason that so many should be permit­
ted to beg who are willing to work in a country where there is a very
considerable proportion of uncultivated lands. Those lands are undis­
tributed only for the sake of game. It should seem, then, that it must
be because of the enormous wealth of the proprietors, which places them
above attention to the increase of their revenues by permitting these
lands to be labored.”
And if you will remember, gentlemen of the National Democratic
Club, you will recall that when this condition of monopoly reached a
certain point the finest qualities of monopolists were suddenly over­
thrown and sent to the guillotine by the commonest kind of people in
one of the bloodiest revolutions known to history. The French revo­
lution that overthrew this great monopoly had the good result of di­
viding up the lands of France into small holdings, which has made
France one of the wealthiest and most powerful nations on earth, show­
ing a power of recuperation after the Franco-Prussian war that wag
the astonishment of the world.
I think that, perhaps, few men realize the extreme danger created
by monopoly to the welfare and happiness of the people and to the
51007— 9315




1

stability of the country. The slavery of monopoly is not new in his­
tory.
I recall a wonderful story of a monopoly recorded in Holy W rit that
was once established in the most fertile valley in the world, the valley
of the Nile.
It was in the reign of a king named Pharaoh. He had a commercial
adviser of great sagacity, a man, sold as a slave into Egypt, named
Joseph, of Hebrew extraction.
Under the advice of Joseph, Pharaoh and his captains stored all of
the surplus corn of Egypt during the seven years of plenty, and there­
after during the seven years of drouth they had one of the richest mo­
nopolies known to history.
The price of corn “ went up.”
There was a “ bull movement ” on corn.
The bears were not “ in it.”
The price of corn went “ sky high.”
And, first of all, Pharaoh and his captains took all of the money of
the Egyptians in exchange for corn, and next they took all their jew­
elry in exchange for corn, and then—
“ They brought their cattle unto Joseph; and Joseph gave them bread
in exchange for horses and for the flocks and for the cattle of the
herds and for the asses, and he fed them with bread for all their cattle
for that year,” and the second year,
“ Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; ” “ for the
Egyptians sold every man his field because the famine prevailed over
them : so the land became Pharoah’s.”
And when the people had sold all of their property and land to Pha­
raoh in exchange for corn, they said, “ Let us and our children work for
you for corn, and Pharaoh, being a benevolent man,” kindly permitted
them to do so.
And on these mild terms Pharaoh allowed them to have a portion of
the corn which they had raised with their own hands, because Pharaoh
was a benevolent man and had a sagacious adviser of fine commercial
instinct.
Then Joseph said unto the people, “ Behold, I have bought you this
day, and all your land, for P haraoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye
shall sow the land.”
“ And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth
part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field,
and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for
your little ones.”
“ And they said, thou has saved our liv e s; ” and so it came to pass
that Pharoali was the savior of the country.
And Joseph and Pharaoh have not been the only monopolists who
have been called by their captives “ the saviors of the country.”
I
well recall a recent scene in which certain great men of enormous busi­
ness sagacity are reputed, during certain recent years of plenty, to have
laid up for use enormous values in cash and cash credits, and to have
stored or made subject to control nearly all of the available cash and
cash credits iu New York— to have been piling It up for several years
on a bull market, and finally, when they had stored most of the
available cash in Egypt, there was a repetition of the days of Pharaoh—
and the famine came and the price of cash went up— there was a bull
movement on cash or a bear movement on stocks and bonds, and the
price of cash went sky high, and first of all Pharaoh and his captains
took over Morse and Ileintz and allied interests, and then they took

51007—9315




8
over Tennessee Coal and Iron and other properties too numerous to
mention, and still the price of cash went up. On October 24, 1907,
the price of cash was out of sight, because there was a monopoly of
cash in Egypt, and the Egyptians in W all street cried aloud and lifted
up their voices and said, “ Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes?
Let us have corn.”
And at 2 o’clock interest rates ran up to 150 per c e n t; Union Pacific
declined ten and a half points In ten sales, and at 2.15, when the Egyp­
tians were on the point of falling dead, and were looking at each other
with ghastly faces, and considering the easiest way in which they might
commit suicide, lo, the “ saviors ” of America, Pharaoh and his captains,
“ let them have corn ” in exchange for their valued possessions.
“ And

th e

E g y p t ia n s

lift e d

up

t h e ir

v o ic e s ,

“ And they sa id : ‘ Thou hast saved our lives.’ ”
In the leading Standard Oil bank there are 23 directors; In the
leading Morgan bank there are 39 directors; and they, with their sub­
ordinates and associates, making a number something less than 1 0 0
men, have control of every railway company, telegraph company, express
company, steamship company, and all o f the great Industrials which
have a monopoly in every one o f the great necessaries of life.
F o r those who are curious to see a more elaborate description o f this
system and the companies they control, I commend them to the remarks
o f Hon. R o b e r t M . L a F o l l e t t b , o f Wisconsin, in the United States
Senate during the last month.
These great combinations and trusts exercise a substantial monopoly
upon all of the great necessaries of life, and control their production,
transportation, and distribution.
In the last fifteen years these monopolies, commonly called trusts,
have been wonderfully developed in our country. John Moody, in his
revision of these statistics, bringing the figures down to January 1,
1908, presents the follo w in g.
Table shoieing grovjth of trusts. 190Jt-1908.

Classification of trusts.

7 greater industrial trusts........
X/Csser industrial trusts__ ____
Important industrial trusts in

January 1, 1904.

January 1, 1908.

Number
of
Total capitali­
plants zation, stocks
acquired
and bonds
or con­ outstanding.
trolled.

Number
of
Total capitali­
plants zation, stocks
acquired
and bonds
or con­ outstanding.
trolled.
1,638
5,038

1,528
3,426

$2,662,752,100
4,055,069,433

282

528,551,000

5,288
1,336
1,040

7,246,342,533
3,735,4.56,071
9,397,363,907

6,676
2,599
745

10,951,613,754
7,789,393,000
612,931,154,000

8,664

20,379,162,511

10,020

31,072,160,754

$2,708,438,754
8,243,175,000
(“)

Total important indusFranchise trusts - _ _ _______
Great railroad groups.
____

a The stock and bonds of industrials for 1909 aggregate $ 17,529,126,232,
Poor’s Manual of Industrials, 1910.
6 Railroad stock and bonds and assets for 1908 aggregate $ 1 9,370,078,153, Poor’s Manual of Railroads, 1909.
51007— 9315

L



9.
The Increase In these two items thus appears to be over $13,000,and the incomplete returns for trust properties for 1909 exceed
$45,000,000,000.
One trust which he does not mention is “ the money trust,” the
community of interests known as the system, by which the money and
bank credits of the country, which is the lifeblood of commerce, can be
controlled.
The laws have been so written as to pile up, in large measure, the
reserves o f the banks o f the country in three cities. And those who
can control the supply of “ credits ” and of “ cash ” in the New York
banks can, of course, control the price of stocks and bonds, whose
market Is fixed in New York, and there is grim humor in heax-ing the
Egyptians pay tribute to the masters of monopoly and to see them fall
down and worship and to hear them declare, “ Thou hast saved our
lives.”
It would make a man almost doubt whether such lives were
worth saving.
Who is there so aall, so grossly ignorant, as not to perceive that
monopoly means mastei-y on the one side and slavery on the other?
The slavery of monopoly is not confined to the Egyptians on W all
stre e t; it also goes to the Egyptians on the farm. Let me, as a farmer
and an humble Egyptian, give you a simple illustration: From 1887
to 1894 I handled cattle. I had free ranges, cheap labor, and I worked
at this business industriously for seven years, and in that time sent
to market over 17,000 steers, and as a reward for my service In pre­
paring food for the American people “ Pharaoh ” paid me not one dollar
in compensation above my actual expense. I earnestly thereafter ad­
dressed my extremely limited intelligence to discovering the reason
why, and the reason was that when I took those cattle to the Kansas
City stock yards there was but one buyer— Pharaoh— who had a
monopoly on meat products, who had a monopoly by which he controlled
the price of cattle and hogs and sheep. He had various buyers in the
market, but only one price— the price was fixed every morning. W hat
chances has a farmer or a cattle producer against this evil combination
which fixes an arbitrary price upon his labor and upon everything
which goes into the c a ttle ; that is, upon his corn, his oats, his rye,
his millet, his wheat, his grass, and the labor of himself and of his
children? W hy, the farmer is only an Egyptian, and he, too, is allowed
to work for Pharaoh, because Pharaoh is a benevolent man.
The meat trust is more considerate in these days.
In the old days they killed the goose, of which I was one, that laid
the golden egg. In these days they are wiser, and they encourage the
goose to live by permitting him to have subsistence, while they content
themselves with plucking the goose of all surplus and taking all the
eggs.
W e have not In our country a single Pharaoh, but we have a hundred
Pharaohs and 10,000 captains of Pharaoh, who have a monopoly upon
every line of commerce, upon every railway, every steamship line, upon
every means of transportation, of conveying intelligence, of production
and of distribution; upon every express company, upon every telegraph
line, upon all of the great industries. Monopolies in iron, and steel, and
copper, and tin, and zinc, and lead, and all m eta ls; monopolies in every
line of chem icals; monopolies in every line of d ru gs; monopolies in fer­
tilizers ; monopolies in all building materials, cement, plaster, lumber,
stone, g la s s ; monopolies in house furnishings; monopolies in tobacco;
monopolies in oil and all its by-products; monopolies in asphalt and
s a l t ; monopolies in various food products, including coffee, and tea, and
sugar, and meats, and canned goods, and crackers, and bakery products.
51007— 9315
0 0 0 ,0 0 0 ,







10
Monopolies in everything from the cradle of the child to the cerement
and casket of the grave.
Pharaoh has not been content with a monopoly of corn.
The Ethical Social League, at its conference on April 7, 1908, in
New York, pointed out some remarkable facts in relation to the smaller
purchasing power of the dollar paid in wages, and pointing out the
number of unemployed according to the statistics of Samuel S. Stodel,
as fo llo w s:
California----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Colorado____________________________________________________________
Connecticut________________________________________________________
Illinois______________________________________________________________
M assachusetts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Missouri____________________________________________________________
Montana____________________________________________________________
Rhode Island-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------New York State-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Pennsylvania-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Ohio____________________________________________________ ____________
Michigan-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------New Jersey---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Delaware------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------M ary lan d--------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------Virginia____________________________________________________________
W est Virginia---------------------------------------------------------------------------------North Carolina------------------------------------------------------------------------------Florida_____________________________________________________________
Oregon______________________________________________________________
W ashington________________________________________________________
Idaho_______________________________________________________________
Arizona----- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Nevada_____________________________________________________________
Nebraska----- --------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------Dakotas------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------Minnesota----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------W isconsin----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Indiana---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Kentucky---------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------Tennessee__________________________________ ________________________
Arkansas----------------------~--------------------------------------------------------------------Louisiana-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Texas_______________________________________________________________
Alabama-------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------South Carolina-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Georgia----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

95, 000
40, 500
55, 000
300, 000
95, 000
85, 001)
18, 000
30, 000
750, 000
350, 000
200, 000
135, 000
8 0 ,0 0 0
30, 000
75, 000
42, 000
40, 000
30, 000
45, 000
5 1 ,0 0 0
44, 000
20, 000
12, 000
14, 000
19, 500
20, 000
43, 000
92, 000
00. 000
30, 000
23, 000
21, 000
47, 000
40, 000
39, 000
30, 000
27, 000

Total------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- 3, 100, 000
But I call your attention to these things, and to an unorganized
mob of 1 0 , 0 0 0 unemployed recently reported to have assembled in this
city, and driven away by platoons of mounted police. They were sing­
ing a significant song— “ La Marseillaise.”
I call your attention to the operations of the tobacco trust, and the
apparently unthinking, unreasonable, and almost unexplainable viola­
tions of law by the “ night riders ” of Kentucky and Tennessee.
Abraham Lincoln demanded, as the voice of the American people,
that slavery of the unoffending blacks should not be extended-to the
Territories of the United States, and later emancipated them all.
Thomas Jefferson protested against the slavery of man as an abstract
as well as a concrete proposition.
The old Democratic party was split asunder and driven from power
because a large part of that party was under the influence of those
who thought slavery justified.
The Republican party, which arose out of the loins of the Demo­
cratic party, whose membership prior thereto had been Democrats,
51007— 9315

11
whose adherents had been and still were the disciples of Jefferson, went
into power, and has retained power almost as long as the Democratic
party did prior to 1860.
The same evil which tore the Democratic party in twain in 1860 is
tearing the Republican party in twain in 1908.
By natural processes the political power of monopoly has become
enthroned in the United States under forty years of Republican admin­
istration. Both parties were agreed on the tariff in 1857. The ex­
penses of war repaired a high tariff in 1861 for the raising of revenue,
and high tariff stimulated home m anufactories; it enabled the American
manufacturers to make money easily by taxing the American consumer.
Immediately there arose a special class who profited by the-privilege
of taxing their fellow-citizens under shelter of the tariff law which
cut off foreign competition.
When foreign competition had been extinguished and home compe­
tition began to be engendered, the most natural thing in the world took
place. W ith the telegraph and telephone and lightning express trains
available, commercial competitors quickly assembled in peaceful con­
ference, arranging various devices by which competition with each
other was extinguished and a monopoly in every line of commerce was
assured.
And now Pharaoh and his captains are in control, and millions of the
Egyptians are paying for the privilege of working for Pharaoh and his
captains, who are the “ saviors ” of mankind as the captains of mo­
nopoly and employers of labor.
There are said to be over 6,000,000 women driven by economic need
out of the homes of America, outside of domestic service, compelled to
earn their daily bread in competition with the wages of m a n ; hun­
dreds of thousands of young and tender children are being sacrificed
on the altars of Mammon under the grinding process of modern mo­
nopoly and the exacting demands o f corporation owners, who cry for
“ dividends, dividends, dividends,” on watered stock, of which only a
fractional part is honest capital entitled to interest.
The domestic and social relations of the sexes have been seriously
changed by these harsh conditions, and women have invaded every
avenue of labor.
The homes which women naturally love, for which they are nat­
urally fitted, the homes where they should find their employment and
render the most valuable service to the Nation in being the mothers
of the Nation and in teaching to the children of the Nation the lessons
of religion, morality, industry, and frugality, have been impaired in
serious degree, the man and the woman and the child being obliged to
work long hours in order to retain for themselves enough for the neces­
saries of life, after the stealthy hands of the captains of Pharaoh
have levied the artful tribute of monopoly upon every dollar received
for their wages.
Of course, Mr. President and gentlemen, I realize and thoroughly well
understand that many of the great beneficiaries of monopoly are, i a
fact, men of high benevolence and of sincere patriotism.
It is also true that some men, who are so religious that they will not
shave on Sunday, find no conscientious scruples against shaving other
men for the balance of the week ; but among tlie captains of Pharaoh
there are also many men of great intelligence, and of great benevo­
lence, and of great patriotism, who do not realize the effect of monopoly
on the weaker laboring elements of the Nation. Their benevolence is shown
by sucb enormous contributions to education and to the public servico,
51007— 9315




a




such as the benefactions of John D. Rockefeller, o f Andrew Carnegie,
and other very rich men. They are entitled to personal credit for their
good works and to discredit for their bad works. Their good works,
however, show that the men who have conducted successful monopolies
under the shelter of law and in spite of law have the same generous
impulses which God has planted in the hearts of the great majority of
®ien.
It would, however, be asking too much of human nature to
expect those who have been or are successful in the manipulation of
business and in the establishment of monopoly, by which their ambi­
tion for power and for property accumulation is gratified, to ask them
to contribute to the control of monopoly by law.
This duty is im­
posed upon the patriotic sons of America of both parties— of both those
who have always adhered to the original Democratic party or to that
branch of the Democratic party that arose under the new name of
“ Republican party.”
It matters but little under what banner men may promote good gov­
ernment, provided they stand for those principles which shall secure to
all an equal opportunity in life, an equal right to “ life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness.”
It gives me the greatest pleasure to pay my homage to the patron
saint of the Democracy, because he stood firmly against the terrible
evils of slavery and of its twin brother— monopoly.
The people of Oklahoma have put on record their opposition to mo­
nopoly in these w ords:
“ S ec . 32. Perpetuities and monopolies are contrary to the genius of
a free government, and shall never be allowed, nor shall the law of
primogeniture or entailments ever be in force in this State.”
And because primogeniture and entailments promote monopoly, Okla­
homa has followed the teachings of Jefferson, in forbidding primogeni­
ture or entailment.
Thomas Jefferson, in the Declaration of Independence, made the
declaration :
“ We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable
rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
And section 2 in the bill of rights of the Oklahoma constitution not
only declared that all persons have the right to life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness, but added the following words, “ and the enjoy­
ment of the gains of their own industry.”
The Oklahoma constitution goes further ; it provides the means by
which monopoly shall be controlled, and the citizens of that State may
peacefully enjoy the gains o f their own industry.
The first movement the people of my State adopted to protect them­
selves against modern monopoly was to put into effect the “ initiative
and referendum,” by which the people of the State “ reserved to them­
selves the power to propose laws and amendments to the constitution
and to enact or reject the same ” at the polls independent of the legis­
lature, and also reserved power at their own option to approve or
reject at the polls any act of the legislature. This power goes to every
county and district in the State, and every city of 2,000 or more people
may write their own charter of local self-government.
The constitution provides for a mandatory primary for the nomina­
tion of all candidates for state, district, county, and municipal officers
for all political parties, including United States Senators.
In this way no machine politics will ever be engineered by the
monopolies in Oklahoma.
51007— 9315

13
The first act of the constitutional convention was to drive out of
town the lobbies of railroads and monopolies assembled for the purpose
of influencing the constitutional convention.
The constitution of Oklahoma did not content itself by merely de­
claring that monopolies should not be allowed, but they provided for the
remedy of the evil by the eompletest publicity.
In the bill of rights will be found the follow ing:
“ S ec . 28. The records, books, and files of all corporations shall be, at
all times, liable and subject to the full visitorial and inquisitorial
powers of the State.”
And because monopolies heretofore have bidden themselves behind the
constitutional provision, “ that no man shall be required to give evi­
dence which might tend to incriminate him,” section 27 of the bill of
rights requires any person having knowledge of facts that tend to estab­
lish the guilt of any other person or corporation charged with an
offense against the laws of the State shall not be excused from giving
testimony on the ground that it may tend to incriminate him, but no
person shall be prosecuted on account of any transaction, matter, or
thing concerning which he may give evidence.
The corporation commission of Oklahoma, under the constitution,

is

given full power to compel publicity and to exercise control of corpo­
rations doing business in that State, and are required to ascertain the
actual value of the capital invested in any such corporation as a basis
of determining their charges, if excessive, and have the right and duty
to determine the charges made by such corporations for any service
performed in the State.
It has been said that Thomas Jefferson believed with Jesus of Naza­
reth in the doctrine of loving your neighbor as you love yourself, and
that he was the first statesman to write into a public document the
genuine teaching of Christ, and he wrote it in one word— Equality.”
The time has come in the United States when this great doctrine
should be recognized in our statecraft. When the thousands of our
citizens who have distinguished themselves in commercial enterprises or
adventure shall realize the truth that their own happiness would be
better subserved if they would cease exploiting their power over their
neighbors and brothers ; if they would be content with a small interest
upon vast accumulations of the wealth produced by the labor of the
American people; if they would be content with the property which
they have heretofore, either justly or unjustly, taken from the pro­
ducers of the Nation, and from this time forward consent that the
American producers shall be allowed, in the language of the Oklahoma
constitution, to have “ the enjoyment of the gains of their own in­
dustry.”
It seems to me that it would be unwise to destroy the great corpora­
tions which have been constructed in this country by our so-called
captains o f industry.
I have read with great interest the address of George W . Perkins,
esq., on the “ Modern Corporations,” before the Columbia University,
of February 7, lt>08. He argues in favor of organization, and denies
that these great organizations are due to the greed of man for wealth
and power. He points out the injury of destructive competition, the
harm of commercial warfare, the economy and efficiency of the modem
corporation, its value in standardizing wares, its power to steady wages
and prices.
He argues that we should control the corporations; that the corpo­
rations owe a duty to the general public, and best serve themselves and
51007— 9315







14
their stockholders by recognizing that duty and respecting i t ; that these
great corporations are, in fact, great trusteeships, and the larger the
number of stockholders the more it assumes the nature of an institu­
tion of savings. He points out the great growth in the number of
stockholders in various railways and in United States Steel. And with
much of this argument I find myself strongly inclined to agree.
I wonder if Mr. Perkins will agree with me when I express the hope
that these great trusteeships of gigantic monopolies, when controlled
by the people of the United States, shall be content to be confined to a
reasonable interest upon the money actually invested?
We have a perfect right to control these monopolies legally, morally,
and it is a patriotic duty to do so. And they should not be permitted
to tax the American people in excess of a fair interest on the capital
actually invested. If they were so controlled, it would give stability
to w ages; we would hear no more of overproduction nor of under­
consumption, but these enterprises would proceed upon rational lines
and work for the welfare of all of the people of our common country.
It seems to me that such investments of capital which have estab­
lished monopolies in interstate commerce should be limited to a maxi­
mum earning of 1 0 per cent per annum on their actual investments,
and 'that they should be allowed to lay up as a trust fund abundant
surplus to provide against contingencies. They would then cease to
be private monopolies and would become public monopolies, retaining
all of their desirable features and having none of the injurious features
left. The owners of such monopolies, if patriotic, should be content
with this adjustment, which would be equitable and fair and just to
them and to the people of the United States.
The first step in the control of these corporations must necessarily
be complete publicity, requiring a sworn report of actual assets, based
upon a true valuation, with penalties of imprisonment for any false
affidavit, together with accurate and frequent reports of the actual earn­
ings of such company and the disposition of such earnings. The excess
earnings over and above a rational return on these monopolies might
well go into the Treasury and be employed in improving our national
waterways and in building good roads.
T H E O PP O R T U N ITY FOR T H E REVIVED DEMOCRACY.

W hile there are many thousands of patriotic Republican citizens who
earnestly desire the protection of our country from the corrupting po­
litical influence and the insidious robbery by these great corporations,
it would be very unreasonable, if not impossible, to expect the Repub­
lican party to give such relief to the country, for the obvious reason
that these selfish interests which have been built up behind a tariff wall
have entwined and intertwisted themselves into the machine politics of
the Republican party until they exercise a dominating influence and
control over the organization of that party.
The patriotic elements of the Republican party are too disorganized
to bring up to their own standards of good citizenship the selfish in­
terests in that party. Theodore Roosevelt has made many excellent
recommendations, which have either been ignored or so indifferently
complied with that during the seven years of his service instead of these
monopolies being abated and controlled they have increased beyond any­
thing known in human history.
The disinterested, unselfish Republicans should be invited and en­
couraged by the revived Democracy to rally around the flag of Jefferson
and join the Democracy in restoring the Government to the highest
Ideals, from which we have in recent decades departed.
51007— 9315

15
The people of the new State of Oklahoma have laid down the prin­
ciples of good government in their constitution, which are drawn from
teachings of Jefferson, and which should he a beacon light to guide all
the patriotic sons of America, of all parties, hack to the days of good
government and of sound national health, in which our people shall
have peace and happiness, in which women and children shall be per­
mitted to return to their homes and be withdrawn from commercial
slavery, when men shall be permitted to enjoy the fruits of their own
industry, and when capital shall be content with a reasonable interest
upon an actual investment, and when every rich man shall find his hap­
piness in promoting the brotherhood of man and not in stealing from
his fellow-men, by craft or force, the proceeds of their labor merely to
pile it up as a monument to their own ambition and folly.
When the principles of Thomas Jefferson, which have been wonder­
fully worked out and developed in the constitution of Oklahoma, shall
have been established throughout the Union, we will see an end to
harmful monopolies in our country and a wonderful intellectual and
spiritual development of the American people, as well as a commercial
development for which the past holds no parallel. When these prin­
ciples of good government shall have been established men will more
and more pay tribute to the man who pointed the way and will celebrate
with greater and greater honor the 13th of April, the birthday of the
immortal Jefferson, the patron saint of the Democracy.
51007— 9315




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