THE FARMER'S WAR AGAINST MONOPOLIES. 277 



darker as the time wears on. His greed and heartless- 

 ness have made bread dear in a land capable of feeding 

 the world, and the same accursed spirit of avarice has 

 put the next great necessity of human life almost 

 beyond the reach of the poor. " The cheapness of food 

 and coal most concerns the comfort of the people ; to 

 lower their price must be the aim of every popular 

 government. Yet both with us have become the sub- 

 jects of monopolies, and are dealt out to the people by 

 the great companies in such quantities as they think 

 will aid them best in paying their dividends. We are 

 threatened with a dearth of coal, because the companies 

 have resolved that there shall be one. There is no 

 complaint of any deficiency in the supply, of any failure 

 of the mines, or any want of labor, but the coal com- 

 panies and the railroads combine to stop the production 

 of coal in order to raise the price, and are willing to 

 starve the miner and the consumer to enlarge their own 

 profits. It is of no consequence to them that the poor 

 must suffer or perish, that every honest working family 

 must be pinched and straitened, that manufactures are 

 impeded and commerce checked, so long as their divi- 

 dends are maintained and their wasteful extravagance 

 supplied. The price of coal has already risen one-third; 

 by December, if the companies choose, it may be 

 doubled. The mines are to be left unworked, the coal 

 retained, and the all-powerful companies' rule un- 

 checked over the helpless people. It has long been 

 their custom to produce these periods of unnecessary 

 dearth ; they scarcely seem conscious of the cruelty of 

 their policy, or of the painful consequences of their 

 avarice." 



It is an ugly state of affairs, but there is no denying 



