"THE WORLD AT HIS FEET.

"Mr. Morgan and six other American citizens have now become more powerful than any Congress or Parliament in the world.

"Fourteen steamship lines and 44 railroad lines are

theirs.

"On land a mileage of 108,500 and on sea a tonnage of 1,200,000 are in their control.

"Three hundred of the largest steamships of the world and 30,000 of the best equipped passenger and freight trains take orders from them.

"The railway mileage is greater than the combined mileage of Great Britain, Russia, Germany, Spain, Holland and Belgium. And more than 300 vessels, which will sail under its orders, cannot he duplicated from the merchant marine of every ocean.

"A world-wide transportation trust has long been Mr. Morgan's dream. English newspapers are making comically pitiful pleas to Morgan to let England come into the new trust, not as an annex to America, but as an equal partner.

"The fact that Mr. Morgan is addressed in tones of supplication shows that he is absolute master. Not Alexander, in all his glory; not Ceasar Augustus, not even Napoleon, with all his mighty armies, was such a conquerer as J. P. Morgan with his lttle "yes" and "no" that makes or unmakes trusts.

"NO KING IS SO POWERFUL.

"No king is one-tenth so powerful as Morgan. Edward VII, Emperor William, Nicholaus of Russia-any one of these is a pigmy in real power compared with Morgan. By nationality an American, he is in fact a citizen of all countries.

"Almost every kind of a man who labors works for Morgan through some of his companies.

"Rudyard Kipling, Lew Wallace-all the geniuses who in the fine frenzy dash off poetry and write stories for Harper's, are working for Morgan. The patient scientists are digging out minute facts for Morgan to scatter to the world. The artist with pencil and brush draws and paints, and Morgan pays him.

"MORE THAN ALL THE GOLD.

"So absolute has he become that while he is personally worth perhaps not more than a hundred millions of dollars, corporations over which he has control possess more wealth than there is gold on the earth.

"There are in the whole known world about 1,320,000,000 human beings. J. P. Morgan controls enough to give each $4.

"More than a million men are employed by the companies Mr. Morgan controls. This means that five million men, women and children are dependent on him for a living or rather that five million persons contribute to his comfort."

Again, The Appeal to Reason says:

"Eight billions of dollars worth of wealth were produced by the brain and muscle workers of the United States last year. The producers received in wages and salaries two billions of dollars. Where are the six billions?"

"Mr. Carnegie says that 'Capitalists do not care a fig for the flag. They will sell the nation to any foreigner who will pay the price. They will sell its flag to any bidder. They will sell its legislation to any trust or combination. They not only will, but have been and are still doing it. Patriotism' is for the common people, while the monopolists loot the nation and enslave the masses."

Other writers say:

We commit our sins, these days, on a large scale. That is the difference between ancient and modern slavery. Where the old world took men one by one and apportioned them to individual owners, we take the whole mass of people and make them slaves to a class.-John C. Kenworthy.

Bishop Potter, in speaking of the caste spirit that is ruining the world, uses these potent words: "A caste of capitalists, separated by practically inseparable barriers from a caste of laborers, means SOCIAL ANARCHY AND INDUSTRIAL WAR."

Here, then, we have facts from various sources. Here we have also the opinions of some of the best talent; the best thinkers and writers in the country. These views are not entertained by one man; they are held by countless

thousands. In short, it tells of actual conditions prevailing in our country.

Is it any wonder the gap is widening between the two classes of America? Is it any wonder they antagonize each other?

The workers and the toilers are the poor classes. The idlers, the riotous livers, are the aristocrats; who own the industries of the country, thus owning the other class. As the hold of aristocracy grows stronger, the discontent of the poorer classes increases. Nothing else could be expected. Slowly it is dawning on the minds of the masses that a system exists under which a few own everything, though they toil not, neither do they spin; nor do they think of the morrow, except as to the new pleasures and extravagances it may bring. They rob and fleece the toilers of all they produce, and in turn cordially despise the slaves for being made of such coarse clay. To work is disgraceful; to earn an honest dollar beneath them.

But the people are becoming aroused. The masses have begun to think. It is not a calm, cool reasoning, but a bitter hatred and resentment. Some have noticed it; some have not. But it is there, and, like a smoldering volcano, remains suppressed and quiet for a time. But the explosion will come. Any extraordinary disturbance may bring this about. The time will come; not by one agency, but by a score of them acting simultaneously.

Is not the subject under discussion a strong revolutionary force? Verily it will have much to do in bringing about the final catastrophe.

CHAPTER XII.

POVERTY.

Proof Positive That Poverty is Increasing in Spite of the Aggregate Increase in Wealth-A Few Are Getting All While the Many Suffer for Necessities

Facts Almost Beyond Belief.

It is remarkable that in this advanced age, with the means of production and transportation so highly developed, such a thing as poverty should exist. But it does, and is very widespread and common.

America has broad acres of fertile lands. It abounds in rich valleys, forests, hills and rivers. Its wealth in mines is inestimable. And when all this is augmented by its rich cities, by steam, electricity and many mechanical devices, we are constrained to say, "Surely God, Nature and Science have made bountiful provision for man. None need want for aught." Alas! That such cannot be true! Yet we cannot find fault with God or Nature. The curse of poverty must be charged to "man's inhumanity to man."