In this war the government of the United States had little time to wait and choose, materials had to be had and many things at once had to be done, no matter what the cost.

Soon scores of rich men and rich firms were on the spot to enter into contracts; contracts for this and contracts for that were speedily entered into, and a large fortune in each case realized.

Before this war the rich firms counted; but when it ended there were hundreds of ponderous and pompous millionaires. They had been for years in lucrative positions and now--their brain a wonderful workshop--they were looking in all directions for the investment of their capital.

So they went to mining, manufacturing, and digging oil wells, and above all railroading. With fertile brains they saw that through skill and labor, and with government aid in lands and loans if needed, they could stretch railroads across this continent from ocean to ocean and a network of the same throughout the States. Their heart's wish has been realized.

Now their iron horses cannot be numbered, with trains behind a mile long, darting over hill and plain like shooting meteors, as if imbued with the power of miraculous life.

These money lords have turned to monopolists. They not only monopolized mining, railroading and oil-wells, but they control interstate commerce. By special privileges granted them long since, they have become so powerful that through them legislatures, Congress and other political bodies live, move and have their being.

Small firms that try to raise their heads in trade of any kind in competition with these magnates, are crushed out. Almost all the business of this country is put in motion or stopped at their bidding.

They are using their power in restraint of trade and they go under the appellation of "trusts." The tariff is a great bonus for these trusts; it carries in its wake the proper restraints in aid of them to the injury of the masses.

They have introduced such a craving after wealth in this country that it has become a fashion, and has taken solid hold of all classes from the money lords to the dudes and snobs of society. This systematic rush to get rich fast produces not only robbery and murder but a nation of nervous dispeptics as well. The mansions these magnates erect for themselves outlive the nobility of Europe, and none but their like frequents them. Except on business relations, they associate with none but their own kind and perhaps smart and intelligent officials.

There is about as much rank and caste in our country, say what you may, as in Europe, and it is of a worse type; for in Europe it is not so much in money as in ancestral blood, while here money makes clean cut character.

So this frenzy after wealth has corrupted many of our lawmakers from Congress down, hence lucrative positions are bought and sold. Scarcely any but the liberally wealthy can secure a paying off. The man that pays the most goes to Congress. They are forced to spend their thousands to get there. Now all that these trusts need is to get a score or so of the smartest and most crafty lawyers in the upper house of Congress who are to see to their interests and who are expected to pile patch upon patch on every bill from the lower house intended as an expose of the trusts until it would take one well versed in political regime to see its meaning; and thus many may vote for it blindly. This bill may and often does turn out in its workings to be precisely what these trusts wanted. These trust lawyer legislators continue on this line soon to be come millionaires on $5000 a year. These evils are only a wave in our evolution.

Now while these trusts combines make millionaries of themselves and their smart helpers, they have helped to make this country what it now is. They, with their electrical and steam plants, make business boom.

What should we do now without them?

Don't they make our net-work of railroads, dig our canals, so as to make passage quick and easy? Besides we do not have to consume a week to have ten bushels of sweet potatoes to Norfolk, through mud and mire to sell them.

So this whole country is more prosperous than ever before. Monopolies, besides being a bane, are sometimes a blessing.