THE following is what the New York World, the great Democratic newspaper of the East, prints and calls in its issue of January 13, "The Best Statement of the Trust Question." It is from the recent message of Hon. Hazen S. Pingree, Republican governor of Michigan. As for us, we can not see when it is overdrawn. Read it, and then read the scriptures which follow, prophetic of these very times and things:
"There is no feature of our times that should so alarm the patriot, nor is there any so well calculated to drive the well-meaning legislator to despair, as that which confronts us on all sides in the rapid concentration of all the productive energies of the nation in the hands of overgrown corporations, or multiple corporations called trusts; or, where more solid combinations can not be effected, by means of intercorporate agreements for the purpose of limiting competition and controlling prices.
"The process began with the means of transportation and intercommunication—namely, the railroads, telegraph lines, and telephones. In spite of the feeble effort of the Federal Interstate Commerce law to check the tendency, it has continued almost uninterruptedly, and promises to continue in the future.
"Indeed, the process of concentration of ownership and management has proceeded much more rapidly since that law was passed than before. Where purchases or leases could not be effected, traffic agreements have been entered into which accomplish the purpose almost as effectively. Where these agreements have been open and public, the commission has in some instances interposed a check, but such interruptions to the process have only driven the promoters to more ingenious and secret devices to evade the law.
"It is no extravagance of despair to anticipate the time in the not distant future when the passenger and freight rates on every train traversing the country, when the charges for telegraph and telephone services in every State, and the ownership and control of every street-car line and suburban railroad, shall be centered in one great office in the city of New York, in the hands of one board of managers, and possibly in the hands of one man who may have the genius and the power to control his fellows.
"It has invaded other fields with the power of a glacier and the rapidity of a torrent. One by one each of the great staples which form the necessaries of life is falling into the hands of its special syndicate, or trust, or trade combine, which are but other names for a group of men dominated by one man of superior force and genius, into whose single hand is concentrated more power than any king possesses, and in comparison to whom the robber barons of feudal ages were pigmies in their capacity for extortion and oppression.
The Federal Laws Are Powerless.
"The anti-trust laws of the Federal Government have fallen powerless before them. Constitutional restrictions have been interpreted by the courts so as practically to make those laws a dead letter. Indeed, no period of our history has witnessed so rapid and noxious a growth of trusts and combines as the few years since the National Congress undertook to restrain them.
"These combines formed or reorganized since the anti-trust law was passed by Congress in 1890, and controlled by a comparatively few men, control a capital of nearly three and a half billions of dollars, equal to 20 per cent. of the entire wealth of the seven millions of agricultural population scattered over more than four and a half millions of farms, a capital more than twice the aggregate of the entire circulating medium of the country.
"Nor is this by any means the sum of the trust and combine element in the country. Hundreds of articles are governed in their price by secret agreements which do not make their appearance in the form of legally-organized companies. If you inquire carefully you will discover that you can scarcely make a purchase in which the price is not dictated by a combination over which the merchant you deal with has no control.
"Each of these great trusts now aims for the most part to control but one staple, altho some of them reach out for many. The control of the iron and steel and of the coal beds of the country is slowly drifting toward a single center. As the organizations grow more powerful, all related industries will be combined in one control for each great class, as in the case of iron and coal.
The Death of Competition.
"Even in the small retail trading of our cities the process of concentration is only too apparent. Our cities no longer present the once familiar aspect of miles of busy streets, occupied by thousands of small but respectable merchants, each doing a modest but satisfactory trade with his more immediate neighbors, and in a line to which he had been trained by long experience, looking forward to the accumulation of a modest competence for his old age, and to the transmission to his heirs of an honored name and reputation for fair dealing, which was as much a family property as his house or his goods.
"There are no longer any merchants, or if a few of the old sort remain, they are rapidly passing away. In their place a great corporation is organized, which builds or rents a vast pile of ten or twenty stories. In this are gathered the stocks of ten, twenty, or one hundred ordinary merchants in various lines, and as many small merchants disappear from trade and reappear in time as the hired clerks, floor-walkers and laborers of the corporation.
"All around this great center, scores of small buildings, once the homes of honesty and thrift, become empty and deserted, sad monuments to a class once the bulwark of our trade, the conservative safeguard of our communities. Having no longer a stake in the community or the country, their very intelligence becomes a menace to society by reason of their degradation from a position they have no hope of recovering.
"While the trusts have neither souls nor hearts, they are ruled by men, not angels, men, too, who, in their greed toward the consumer, and their heartlessness toward the laborer, are freed altogether from the personal responsibility which, in spite of himself, controls and modifies the selfishness of the individual manufacturer and employer.
"No employer who does business in his own name dare stand before the community in which he lives, and in which his reputation is part of his capital, for such heartlessness toward labor as the very small man will calmly and even conscientiously exercise toward his dependents when speaking and acting as the representative of a corporation toward which he regards it as his duty to grind the last penny for the benefit of the stockholders.
Higher Prices the Inevitable End.
"When the process of concentration has worked itself out to completion, the law which governs both prices and wages will assert itself with irresistible force. The consumer will be charged the highest price that can be squeezed out of him; the laborer will be paid the lowest wages upon which he can keep life enough in his body to perform his daily task.
"This result has not yet been quite accomplished, but it is sure as that night follows day, as certain as the law of human selfishness.
"There is no salvation for the consumer except in free competition; there is no dignity, no manhood for the laborer except in the comparative independence he derives through the free competition of many employers who seek his services.
"When there shall be but one source from which the consumer can obtain his supplies, but one employer to whom the laborer can offer his services, both consumer and laborer will be slaves.
"When each great staple shall have passed into the hands of one corporation or trust, those who have that control will have become masters, not alone of the price to the consumer and the wage to the laborer, but, what is almost as appalling, of the price which they must pay to such individual producers of raw materials as may still remain in the country, including, possibly, the farmer.
"When a thousand men make $10,000,000, the money is scattered and the wants of a thousand families are to be gratified, and others are making profit in catering to their wants, but when one man accumulates this amount, there is but one family whose wants are to be supplied, but one family to look to for the consumption of the products of labor, and the other 999 become laborers themselves.
"Take, for instance, the money accumulated by John D. Rockefeller. If the three hundred millions of profit that has been extorted from the people of this country had been divided among 20,000 men scattered over the United States, the effect would not have been so disastrous. No one of them would have sufficient capital to control the iron mines and the lake-carrying trade, to crush out and destroy those with small capital invested in mines and boats, and to turn loose thousands of men in search of other employment.
"Capital becomes more powerful as it increases in volume, and more dangerous as it becomes more powerful. A man backed by $300,000,000, influenced by ambition, greed, or avarice, holds in his hands the fortunes and happiness of tens of thousands of people, and he should not be permitted to increase this wealth and power by continued extortion, if the power of the State can prevent it.
There Must Be Remedies for These Evils.
"There must be remedies. The law was made for the people, not the people for the law. We have done greater things, bolder things before. Other peoples have accomplished reforms which seemed quite as difficult to the lawyers and the courts.
"If technical construction of the Constitution stands in our way, the Constitution can be amended; or a more summary method may be adopted by electing and appointing judges who will construe these instruments according to the eternal law of justice and humanity.
"One of the great political parties of this country has already made this latter suggestion in a national platform, only to have it denounced by the promoters of the people's degradation as anarchy and revolution.
"There may be those who will so denounce me for intimating that there is no divinity-hedging about judges which makes them superior to their masters, the sovereign people. I am content to suffer this penalty if I must, but no penalty shall restrain me from raising my voice on all proper occasions, even against courts which foster what I believe to be a danger to the freedom and welfare of the people."
The prophet Isaiah thus speaks:—
"Wo unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth! In mine ears said the Lord of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant." Isa. 5:8, 9.
The principle is the same whether it be a monopoly of land or houses or business.
"Remedy?" There is none in man. Mankind in general have become so corrupt, public morality in general so venal, public servants so subservient to wealth, and wealth so powerful, that Legislatures can be purchased and judges bought. Well again wrote the prophet:—
"They hunt every man his brother with a net. That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire; so they wrap it up. The best of them is as a briar; the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge; the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity." Micah 7:2-4.
"Judgment is turned away backward, and Justice standeth afar off; for Truth is fallen in the street, and Equity can not enter. Yea, Truth faileth, and he that departeth from evil is accounted mad. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no judgment. . . . And He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay. . . . And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord." Isa. 59:14-20, margin.
See also James 5:1-8. The only sure hope is in Jesus Christ and His coming again.
SAILING OF THE PITCAIRN.
By C. H. Jones
OUR missionary brigantine Pitcairn started on its sixth cruise Sunday, Jan. 22, 1899.
On Sabbath afternoon, January 21, farewell services were held in the Oakland S. D. A. Church, consisting of the following:—
SINGING, Hymn No. 769, Congregation
SCRIPTURE READING, . . A. O. Tait
INVOCATION . . . . . . W. N. Glenn
REMARKS . . . . . . . . C. H. Jones
SINGING, "Speed Away" . . . Quartet
SINGING, Hymn No. 1194, Congregation
ADDRESS. . . . . . . . . A. J. Breed
SINGING, Hymn No. 1392, Congregation
REMARKS, E. H. Gates, Supt. Polynesian Mission Field, Capt. J. E. Werge, and others.
PRAYER. . . . . . . . . M. C. Wilcox
SONG, "God Be with You," Congregation
BENEDICTION . . . . . . J. W. Bagby
The following named persons constitute the passengers and crew on this trip: Superintendent, E. H. Gates; captain, J. E. Werge; mate, A. Andreasen; steward, E. Bersinger; sailors, F. C. Butz, C. L. Harvey, Edwin Wigley, J. O. Harrison, Thos. Bennett; cabin boy, Willie Hiserman; passengers, W. M. Crothers, B. S. Young.
The Pitcairn was built in 1890, with money raised by our Sabbath-schools, and was dedicated September 25 of that year. Since that time she has made five voyages to the South Sea Islands. The first one was made in 1890-92, she being gone nearly two years; the second, in 1893; the third, in 1894; the fourth, in 1895, and the fifth, in 1896, returning to this port November 26 of that year. Since that time she has been lying in Oakland harbor.
A large number of brethren and sisters gathered at the wharf on Sunday morning, and just before the vessel sailed, brief services were held on deck. At 10:30 the lines were cast off, and the Pitcairn floated out into the stream, and off toward the broad Pacific.
Brother E. H. Gates accompanied the vessel on this voyage as superintendent of the Polynesian Missions.
Leaving San Francisco, the Pitcairn will sail direct to Pitcairn Island, the first stopping-place. By looking at the map it will be seen that this island lies about 4,000 miles directly south of San Francisco. This was the second mission established among the islands. Since that time missions have been opened in nine other islands, making eleven which we have already occupied.
THE TUG TAKING THE PITCAIRN FROM THE WHARF.
CREW AND PASSENGERS OF THE PITCAIRN READY TO SAIL.
From Pitcairn Island the boat will sail westward to Papeete, Tahiti, one of the Society group. Missionary B. J. Cady has charge of the work in this field, and with him are associated Brother and Sister Green and Brother and Sister Stringer. They have recently purchased a farm at Raiatea, an island a few hundred miles northwest of Tahiti, where they expect to conduct an industrial school.
From Tahiti the vessel will continue on its course, calling at Rurutu, where Brother and Sister Stringer have been laboring; then on to Rarotonga, where Dr. Caldwell and Brother Rice are located.
From Rarotonga the boat will sail northwest to Samoa, where Dr. Braucht and his collaborers are stationed. A commodious building has recently been erected at Apia, Samoa, and is to be used as a hospital. Brother D. D. Lake was ordained, and sailed from San Francisco a few weeks ago, to take charge of the evangelistic work in this island. From Samoa the Pitcairn will go to Tongatabu, where Brethren Hilliard and Butz are located.
From Tongatabu they will probably sail north to Tonga, where Dr. M. G. Kellogg has recently begun work. From here they will sail to the Fiji Islands, where Brethren Fulton and Parker have established a mission.
From Fiji the boat will sail to the westward, visiting the New Hebrides and other islands, as the way may open. It is expected that the boat will return to San Francisco about the 1st of October.
Up to the 15th of February, mail for those on board the Pitcairn should be directed to Rarotonga, Cook Islands, South Pacific Ocean, via New Zealand.10To March 25, direct to Apia, Samoa, South Pacific Ocean. To April 26, direct to Suva, Fiji, South Pacific Ocean. The mail for Tahiti leaves San Francisco the first of every month by sailing vessel. Mail for the other islands leaves San Francisco or Vancouver about every two weeks, to reach the Samoan, Fijian, and Tongan Islands.
Every person accompanying the Pitcairn on this voyage, from the superintendent to the cabin boy, is a Christian.
Brother Crothers is on his way back to New Zealand, and will probably leave the boat at Rarotonga, taking steamer from there to Auckland.
Brother Young is on his way home to Pitcairn Island. About two years ago he left San Francisco on a merchant vessel, expecting to stop at the island, but when they reached there it was such rough weather that they did not attempt to land, so he was carried on to London, and got back to San Francisco just in time to take the Pitcairn for home.
The Lord has had a special care for the Pitcairn all these years, and she has not met with a single accident. We hope and pray that the God of missions will watch over her on this voyage, and that she may be returned to this port in safety, having scattered the precious, incorruptible seed of the Gospel wherever she has been. C. H. JONES,
Chairman Polynesian Committee.
PITCAIRN.
By Mrs. M. J. Bahler
SAIL onward o'er the ocean,
So vast, so deep, and wide,
Tho heaving billows toss thee,
A plaything in their pride.
Angels of light shall guide thee
And keep thee on thy way,
Tho surges swell, and o'er thee
Dash high their angry spray.
Yes, angel hands shall keep thee.
Then, Pitcairn, swiftly speed
And bear thy heaven-born message
To precious souls in need.
Across the foam-crest waters
Are many souls who "wait;"
The "isles" shall hear the message
Now borne through Golden Gate.
O Father, guard this vessel!
We've given it to Thee.
'Tis sacred to the message
It bears across the sea.
We trust it to Thy keeping;
O, shield it from all harm,
And thus reveal the power
Of Thine almighty arm!
Go, brother laborers, trusting
In Israel's God alone,
The God who will deliver
While seeds of truth are sown;
And when has come the reaping,
And garnered is the grain,
Anchored in heaven's harbor,
We'll sing a glad refrain.
MRS. M. J. BAHLER.
Astoria, Or.
OUR WORK AND WORKERS.
By Editor
TWELVE conversions at Clarissa, Minn., are reported by Brother Fred Johnson.
ON the 30th ult. seven persons were baptized in San Francisco, by Brother E. E. Andross.
IN connection with the last quarterly meeting at Modale, Iowa, three persons were baptized by Brother Thomas H. Jeys.
THE addition of eight to our ranks at Silver Creek, N. Y., under the labors of Sister Lulu Wightman, is reported by Brother H. D. Church.
THE state agent of Wisconsin says: "I am told that our churches never had such interesting missionary meetings as since they began selling the SIGNS."
ON a recent Sabbath day thirteen persons were baptized at Reno, Nev., by Brother S. Thurston. There have been eighteen added to this church within a few weeks.
MEETINGS in a schoolhouse at Abilene, Texas, are bringing forth fruit. Brother O. Glass tells the Reporter that five persons had come out for the truth, and there was still a good interest.
OUR Australian contemporary journal, The Bible Echo, starts out its fourteenth year with an entire new dress, a double initiative number, handsomely illustrated, and a good prospect before it.
BROTHER KALAKA, Basutoland, South Africa, writes that many of the natives are desirous of uniting with our people, and that they are calling for missions to be established among them.
ENCOURAGING work is reported at Trinity Mills, Texas, where Brother J. N. Sommerville has been laboring. They have a Sabbath-school of forty members, and are about to organize a church.
A SISTER at Scranton, Pa., writes to the Keystone Gleaner: "I sell 50 SIGNS weekly; am having good success. Of the Quarter-Centennial number I have sold 296 copies. I sold 94 in one day. I have had some blessed experiences in selling the SIGNS and feel it is God's message to a sin-sick world."
A LETTER from Southern California to Brother S. Thurston states that through one copy of the Quarter-Centennial SIGNS a man and his wife have accepted the truths it contained, and are now attending one of our churches regularly. If these two hold out faithful unto the end, it will repay that effort times without number.
A MEETING held at Ellicottville, N. Y., January 13-15, is thus noticed by one of the town papers: "The meetings held in the Adventist Church, as announced in our last issue, will furnish minds with material for pleasant recollections for time to come. This was Elder Thompson's first visit here, and the timely instruction he gave will insure him a hearty reception among our citizens in the future . . . . Elder J. W. Raymond was in attendance and took a part in the preaching and occupied the pulpit of the Presbyterian Church Sunday evening, contrasting Christian Science with the teaching of the Bible."
A REPORT in the Reaper from Brother E. D. Sharpe, of Boise, Idaho, says: "The Lord gave two of our sisters a burden to carry our literature into the saloons, and their work is being crowned with great success, so that in a few nights they sold so many papers that our club of papers were handled by them, and we had to increase the number to meet the demand."
THE Bulletin of the Battle Creek Church notes that Brethren E. J. Waggoner and W. W. Prescott, who have recently arrived from England, preached in that city January 14, Brother Waggoner in the Tabernacle and Brother Prescott in the Sanitarium chapel. These brethren came to America to attend the General Conference at South Lancaster, Mass., February 14 to March 21.
OUR brethren of the Cooranbong (N. S. W.) College have arranged for the construction of a new building—50x60 feet in size, and two stories in height. The ground floor is to contain a business office and five recitation rooms; the second story, a chapel, library, and principal's office. The building will be known as College Hall.
IN the Haven of Rest Mission, Fort Worth, Texas, the following testimony was recently given: "When I left Hot Springs, Ark., and started for Fort Worth, I heard that it was a good town for gambling and horse-racing. I expected to follow gambling, but I am thankful that I found the Lord here and gave my heart to Him. He has given me different desires. Instead of wanting to gamble, I want to lead souls to Christ."
WRITING to the Bulletin, Des Moines, Iowa, Brother S. M. Jacobs, superintendent of the industrial school and farm near Huntsville, Ala., says: "The work here is going forward. Interest among the colored people deepens. They begin to realize that we are not here for the purpose of beating them in some way, or we would not continue to take in students without a dollar, and in some cases help them to clothing, books, etc. Our barn, 50x74 feet, is nearly completed."
FROM the Keystone Gleaner we take the following reference to our Gospel Help Mission in Philadelphia: "A spirit of reverence pervades the chapel services. Nearly every man present bows his head, and many kneel at time of prayer. There are many earnest seekers for truth. They loathe their life of sin, but know nothing better. It is noteworthy that every man who has really been drawn to the Saviour, who has yielded himself to the Lord, has almost immediately found employment. Some time ago an officer brought in a colored man in a drunken condition. He proved to be from the West Indies, and had come ashore from his ship, which was at anchor in the harbor. At the officer's request we took him in. He was given a bath and put to bed. But we were soon awakened by his yells and cries, for he had an attack of the 'snakes.' He was taken from the bedroom and his cot set up below, where he slept all right. The next morning he accepted an invitation to join us at prayers. After some talk we read the Scriptures together, and he prayed with us, seemingly making a full surrender to God. With a Testament, containing our address, in his pocket, and with praise to God on his lips and joy in his heart, he returned to his vessel."
JOSEPH LAMBERT
By Joseph Lambert
Battle Creek, Michigan
When you write, please mention the SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
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W. D. BEEBY, 118 W. Sixth Street, Leadville, Colo., wishes a good supply of SIGNS and Sentinels, post-paid, for missionary work.
H. M. CAMPBELL, box 563, Fulton, Callaway County, Mo., returns thanks for past favors, and requests further supplies of any of our papers or tracts, English or German, sent post-paid, for missionary work.
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A. R. Hill, Combs, O. T., requests any back numbers of the Signs, Sentinel, Instructor, or Little Friend, post-paid, for missionary work.
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By Editor
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The number of subscriptions required to entitle you to a scholarship in Union College, Healdsburg College, Walla Walla College, South Lancaster Academy, Mt. Vernon Academy, and Keene Industrial Academy, is 140. One hundred subscriptions will entitle you to a scholarship in the Southern Industrial School, at Graysville, Tennessee. These subscriptions must be accompanied by the cash, $1.00 for each subscription, and must be sent to us direct.
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Lessons by Mail on Medical Electricity or How to Use the Battery
By Prof. G. L. Abell
By Prof. G. L. Abell
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Learn how to use the battery and treat yourself. Many diseases are quickly cured by the proper application of electricity. The course embraces the treatment of every organ and part of the body. The lessons are written in plain language and are illustrated. Course, five dollars. Send for circular. Address,
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