AMERICAN PLUNDERERS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1279, 16 January 1883, Page 3

AMERICAN PLUNDERERS.

; :Tho New York correspondent of tho ' Sydney Morning Herald' writes : "Welook ihto' the future,'and seetlwt, many things which arc now tolerated will sooner or later become absolutely intolerable. ; The greatest of .'these -is - the presence in our midst of men with fortunes such as have never been known before in human society—who.. display, indifference to tlie public interest. The groat.capitalists are practically at, constant and perpetual feud with the com T nihility in which they live. They increase their wealth by every conceivable form of gentlemanly roguery, and protect themselves by corruptly controling the public Legislatures. Everyone knows tliis, ( and yet while, as at present, there is enough and to spare for all, the people at hirgo do not care to'engage in a crusade for the limitation in some way of the dangerous powers, of enormous riches. Mr Yanderbilt, in jthe few years that have elapsed since the death pf his father has. .turned -his; hundred millions of inheritance into four times that sum, and this vast fortuite produces as much annual, revenue t as would double that aiho'uht' invested' .in the public funds of Europe. The schoolboy ;is-tauglit : that Ctesar's peculations in Gaul during several years amounted to tea millions of our-present money. Even the lesser'of '.our two groat'-lubiiharies,' Mr Gould; lias' m'atM morsi'; than that'.' in . six 'months j)y,; .a({rqit' manipulation of the stoc.k:y.market, -Monopolies; and' iconstahtly being' .foi-med-(rrftnd' Successfully—to, reduce yet further the ! lirca' in the influences '•of an open market can be felt. Already coal,' oil-, bread, meat,, matches, gas, find nearly, ail the other staple necessaries of life pay toll to such combinations. During- the last month two iiiore articles'have .been added ; to the list—--fish ;aiicl indiavubber. .The latter is a curious instance of the power of evil to 'propagate itself over' - a constantly-', widening realm. The supply of manufactured rubber articles has long been regulated by a close union of two or three score of established producers. They have, however, tempered extortion with decency—owing mainly (o the unwieldly size of the ring—and have . only made us pay 10 or 20 per cent, above the natural price. The raw rubber has been collected in Central a'nd South America, and has passed through the. hands of a few great 'Americans aiid English houses. 'J'hase latter conceived .the. idea of a " corner" —for'-ii year or two at any rate—of the. raw rubber market, Having secured all the possible sources of supply. they have advanced the price more than 50 per cent., aud the manufacturers, after consultation, have reluctanly consented to pay as required. But the latter talk now of establishing in the near future their own channels of . supply, and as soon as that is done, we shall, without doubt,' see thepresent" corner" created ipto the dignity of a permanent, monopoly.