Jay Gould
Henry George: Political
Dangers (Chapter 2 of Social Problems,
1883)
[16] As for the great railroad managers, they may well say, "The people
be d--d!" When they want the power of the people they buy the people's
masters. The map of the United States is colored to show States and Territories.
A map of real political powers would ignore State lines. Here would be a big
patch representing the domains of Vanderbilt; there Jay Gould's dominions would
be brightly marked. In another place would be set off the empire of Stanford
and Huntington; in another the newer empire of Henry Villard. The States and
parts of States that own the sway of the Pennsylvania Central would be distinguished
from those ruled by the Baltimore and Ohio; and so on. In our National Senate,
sovereign members of the Union are supposed to be represented; but what are
more truly represented are railroad kings and great moneyed interests, though
occasionally a jobber from Nevada or Colorado, not inimical to the ruling
powers, is suffered to buy himself a seat for glory. And the Bench as well
as the Senate is being filled with corporation henchmen. A railroad king makes
his attorney a judge of last resort, as the great lord used to make his chaplain
a bishop.
[17] We do not get even cheap government. We might keep a royal family, house
them in palaces like Versailles or Sans Souci, provide them with courts and
guards, masters of robes and rangers of parks, let them give balls more costly
than Mrs. Vanderbilt's, and build yachts finer than Jay Gould's, for much less
than is wasted and stolen under our nominal government of the people. What
a noble income would be that of a Duke of New York, a Marquis of Philadelphia,
or a Count of San Francisco, who would administer the government of these municipalities
for fifty per cent. of present waste and stealage! Unless we got an esthetic
Chinook, where could we get an absolute ruler who would erect such a monument
of extravagant vulgarity as the new Capitol of the State of New York? While,
as we saw in the Congress just adjourned, the benevolent gentlemen whose desire
it is to protect us against the pauper labor of Europe quarrel over their respective
shares of the spoil with as little regard for the taxpayer as a pirate crew
would have for the consignees of a captured vessel. ... read the entire essay
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related themes:
wealth concentration
monopoly
railroads
latifundia
power
corruption of government
special interests
wealth from land appreciation
land appreciates
unearned increment
windfalls
land value as common property
rent as provisioning for community
privatization
theft
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