You must not mistake me. I would not take a single comfort; nay, not a
single luxury from those who have the most. I would not deprive anybody
of anything they have or want; but I would so distribute the proceeds of
labour that those who produce the comforts and luxuries should have
their share of them; that they should have everything that the most
favoured now enjoy. In this land of fruitfulness and plenty, if all the
labour there is were constantly employed every man’s home might be a
palace, and want and sorrow be banished from the country. Am I asking
too much for those who have endured long years of toil and suffering to
bring this beautiful country to its present condition? Am I asking what
you are not willing that they shall have? Am I asking anything more than
justice? If you grant them less than justice God Almighty will come some
day, visit you and set the matter right, as he visited the South and
liberated the downtrodden blacks. So if you do not heed my warning,
remember that there is One whom you cannot ignore.
But there is still another way by which the industries are taxed in
favour of the non-producers. The railroads, which ought to be, and
which, managed properly, would be, a great advantage to the industries,
are now at once their blessing and their curse. There are now 75,000
miles of railways in the country, built at a cost of $4,658,208,630:
their earnings are $404,000,000 annually. But here is where the people
are hoodwinked. This sum does not begin to represent the actual amount
paid by the people for fare and freights. Almost the whole of the
freighting is done by “lines”—the Red Line, the Blue Line, the White
Star Line, and a hundred others, all which have special contracts with
the railroads to carry freights at just a living rate, while the lines
charge the people all that they can stand to pay, the difference in
these two sums going into the pockets of the owners of the lines. And
who are they? The owners, managers and officers of the railroads who
resort to this to blind the people’s eyes about the profits of
railroading, which they could not otherwise conceal, because they are
obliged to make annual exhibits. But the lines carry off the profits,
while the operating expenses of the roads, their interests and dividends
are left for the exhibits. If the companies made 20, 30 or 50 per cent.
dividends, the people would not stand it: but the managers play upon
them with their lines and blind their eyes while they pocket the
profits.