earth from the domination of brute force; it is the inherent idea that
the founders of this Republic sought to embody in the Constitution. But
Liberty must have as a complement unhampered opportunity," are his
opening words.

"The man who is dependent upon another for his livelihood is not capable
of enjoying real liberty, or of attaining happiness. When the men of a
nation are debased to a position of minor importance, where they can
only act as servants, they lose the stamina necessary to make them good
citizens. This condition now prevails in the United States.

"My own experience will exemplify this statement.

"Forty years ago I attained my majority. I was a citizen of the state of
Pennsylvania, and considered that I was a freeman. By the death of my
father I had come into a fortune of fifty thousand dollars. I lived in
the oil region, and sought to engage in the oil industry. To this end I
purchased land contiguous to a railroad. On my holdings a well was
located which yielded three hundred barrels of oil a day.

"No sooner had I begun to operate my well than the agents of the Oil
Trust, which had then but recently sprung into existence as a menace to
individual refining, came to me with a proposition to incorporate my
well in the Trust's system. The well was capable of earning a net profit
of seventy thousand dollars a year. The Trust offered me a paltry two
hundred and thirty thousand dollars for my plant. This I refused to
accept, for the actual value was one million dollars.

"Then by crafty insinuation the agents of the Trust intimated that
unless I sold my property and accepted inflated stock in the Trust and
allowed my well to be absorbed in the system, I would find myself
opposed by the mighty consolidation. Still I refused to abrogate my
right to conduct an independent business.

"Failing to allure me by their offers, which would have proved valueless
in the end; or of intimidating me by their threats, the agents reported
to the office of the Trust that I was obdurate and must be disciplined.

"Accordingly pressure was brought to bear on the railroad over which I
sent my product to a market. The railroad discriminated against me; it
gave the Trust a rebate on all oil shipped over the road and made me pay
the full schedule rates. Even against this detrimental condition I was
able to sell my oil at a small profit.

"I might have survived the unequal struggle had not the 'pipe line'
system been intro