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  _ THE CADET. . 5
  merchant asks the government to control the channels of t1·ade. The T
  poor asks for help, the rich that his property be protected. Capital
  is centralized, land is being monopolized, thus making bare the rural
  ` districts while the cities are swollen. The centrifugal force of our
  » system is weakened and the centripetal force is increased. The T
  powers of the States are being dwarfed, the general government is
- T being strengthened.
·   Concurrent with this drift and from the same source is another
  evil—the consolidation of capital. We hesitate to discuss this im-
g.;v portant phase of the subject, for of all men the most contemptible is
  the demagogue who tries to incite class against class and man ‘
{Y _ against man. The world has never seen, nor the minds of men T
ggj A never conceived of such fortunes as have been accumulated here in
  America. We do not denounce the man who by honesty, industry
  and integrity accumulates a good fortune. Such a man deserves
..}`gj honor. The great fortunes of this country, for the most part, have
  been accumulated under the due forms of law, but the abuse of this
  wonderful power of wealth has become a source of great danger to `
  this republic. It is a startling fact when we remember that there p
_   are four thousand millionaires who control more than one half of the
T [ wealth of this country. It is impossible to estimate what iniiuence
~ t' they have in our legislative halls. They demand such legislation as i
l will protect them in their greed. When a few banks can dictate to
T f this great American people what kind of currency they must have
y TI and when a dozen men can combine and regulate the prices of the
  articles of prime necessity, with no standard but their arbitrary will
  and nolimit but their greed or daring, and then notify the seventy
i millions of sovereign people in this Republic how much they must
_· pay for the comforts of life, the boasted American liberty is en-
· - dange1·ed. \Ve believe the sovereignty of this Republic rests with
T the people and not with a few monopolists and syndicates.
W The immortal Jefferson, the greatest apostle of humanity that ever
i   lived,abolished the Feudal system and primogenitive here in America,
Q; but the great corporations and monopolies have become more danger-
·_j ous to human liberty than ever was the Feudal system.
  TT·T They create large campaign funds, dictate party platforms, control
T   conventions and corrupt elections, until the only qualifications