Monopolies and the People

Closely allied to the monopolies of which we have been treating is that of patents to inventors. The original idea in granting patents was to protect inventors and discoverers w...

Whilst I agree with the chief justice in the views expressed in his opinion in these cases, the great importance which I attach to the question of legal tender induces me to pre...

Money, in the constitutional sense, means coins of gold and silver fabricated and stamped by authority of law as a measure of value, pursuant to the power vested in congress by...

Since concluding what we desired to say on the subject of controlling and regulating railroads and railroad corporations, our attention has been directed to a circular from _The...

We are aware that many look upon the final decisions of courts with a degree of awe and respect which is almost reverential. The railroad companies of the country, with all thei...

We now approach one of the grandest schemes for defrauding a people ever conceived in the breast of the speculator. Before considering the Credit Mobilier, and to show the utter...

However much we may boast of our purity, patriotism, and political integrity, the history of the legislation of the United States, both state and national, proves that legislato...

The rule, by which the constitutionality of an act of congress passed in the alleged exercise of an implied power is to be tried, is no longer, in this court, open to question....

We now beg to call the reader's attention to the financial operations of the monopolists, and the course resorted to by them to control the finances of the country. There are no...

The Pacific companies are such a deep mine of iniquity, we must sink our shaft somewhat deeper if we would see the true quality of the corruption. In order to fully comprehend t...

To answer this question intelligently, we must examine the powers granted to the United States, as well as the rights, powers, and relative duties of the state governments. The...

The question of taxation for the benefit of private corporations has agitated the public mind since the construction of railroads became one of the admitted necessities of the c...

We have attempted to show the controlling influence of railroad corporations over the legislative department of the government, and its effect upon the people, without following...

"SECTION 2. That the right of way through the public lands be, and the same is hereby, granted to said company for the construction of said railroad and telegraph line, and the...

In order to fully realize the great power of what is known as the Pacific railroad companies, it will be necessary to look at the Central Pacific company, and its control of the...

A diversity of opinion exists throughout the country upon the question of tariff. Politicians, statesmen, and the people generally, differ as to the policy the government should...

We have attempted to show some of the oppressions of the present railroad system upon the agricultural interests of the country, and, at the close of our last chapter, were trea...

It is a self-evident proposition, that the wealth of a country lies in its products, and that the quantity of its products depends directly upon the amount of labor employed. Th...

Gold and silver are and must remain the standard of values. This being true, any attempt to substitute any other standard unsettles values, and opens avenues for reckless specul...

One of the great evils resulting from this bonded subsidy system of building railroads, is that it gives to those who manage them the control of the whole carrying trade of the...

The ostensible object in granting lands to railroad companies was to aid new and undeveloped portions of the country in procuring necessary railroad facilities for communication...

In scanning the names of the directors of the railroad corporations which have received large grants of lands, subsidies, and special and exclusive privileges, we find many ex-m...

None of the subjects of legislation have tended to destroy constitutional safeguards and debase public morals so much as congressional legislation, with its grants of land and b...

The justification for the munificent grants and lavish taxation of the people in aid of railroads has been, that these roads afford the necessary facilities for transportation o...

We now invite the attention of the reader to the account as it now stands with the subsidy bonds voted by congressmen to companies in which many who voted were stockholders and...

While we claim that railroads and other corporations have, to a considerable extent, influenced the distinguished occupants of the presidential chair, we do not wish to be under...

Taxes can only be levied, and collected, for public purposes; but all the property of the country can be taxed to its entire value, when the public good requires it. The exigenc...

Page 125, third line from top, for "Then" read _These_. 153, second line from bottom, for "Gould Jay" read _Jay Gould_. 202, fourth line from top, for "jealous" read _zealous_....

Another evil resulting from the railroad system of the country is the partiality shown railroad companies in the matter of taxation. The constitutions of all the states provide...

We have attempted to show the controlling influence of these railroad corporations upon the legislative and executive departments of the government, and have placed before the r...

Nothing in this country has contributed so much to the subversion of our republican institutions as Land Grants made by congress to railroad corporations, and congressional legi...

As our position on the "Legal Tender" decisions and their effect upon the finances and commerce of the country have been controverted by some of the _legal men_ to whom we have...