410 INTRODUCTION. 



may. The demoralization is worse than that of war as 

 fraud is meaner than force, and trickery than violence. 

 Aside from their own corruptions, the operators aim 

 directly at the corruption of the press and the govern- 

 ment. Worse even than a purifying storm is this malaria in 

 the air, which poisons all the body politic, and corrupts 

 the youth of the country by presenting the highest 

 prizes of society to its most unscrupulous and unworthy 

 members. ' ' 



Were it necessary, volumes could be filled with the 

 evidences everywhere manifested of the political, financial 

 and social extravagance which pervades our body politic. 

 Its permeations and deadly influences have reached, and 

 are demoralizing the structure of our whole social system. 

 A premium is placed upon dishonesty. While we have no 

 crowned potentates or hereditary princes, clothed with 

 regal power, we have a long list of money kings, railroad 

 kings, Standard Oil kings, coal kings, and manipulators. 

 on ' Change that prey upon the people, levy taxes on trans- 

 portation, on trade and commerce and exchange, with the 

 same relentless and remorseless greed that characterized 

 the kings and princes and feudal lords of Europe. It 

 shall be our endeavor in the succeeding pages of this vol- 

 ume to examine into and unmask the systems by which it 

 is accomplished. In the discussion of the subjects relative 

 to the causes which have given rise to a general discontent 

 among the producing classes throughout the country, we 

 shall attempt to treat of the leading features of the 

 demands of labor. For convenience and perspicuity we 

 shall, as far as practical, arrange them under four distinct 

 heads and discuss them in their regular order. 



ist. Monopoly of Exchange. 



2d. Monopoly of Transportation. 



3d. Monopoly of Trade. 



4th. Monopoly of Land. 



