r of the few by
impoverishing, humbling and enslaving the masses.

The age of feudalism has given way to an age of democratic liberty, but
there is many a feudal feature left in our statutes and many a feudal
doctrine is enunciated by our judges and learned expounders of modern
jurisprudence. In his decision in the Iowa tariff case Judge Brewer
said:

"I read also in the first section of the Bill of Rights of
this State [Iowa] that 'all men are by nature free and equal
and have certain inalienable rights, among which are those
of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring,
possessing and protecting property and pursuing and
obtaining safety and happiness,' and I know that while that
remains as the supreme law of the State, no legislature can,
directly or indirectly, lay its withering or destroying hand
on a single dollar invested in the legitimate business of
transportation."

Had Judge Brewer taken the pains to read on, he would have found in
section 2 of the Bill of Rights the following:

"All political power is inherent in the people; government
is instituted for the protection, security and benefit of
the people."

It is strange that the learned Judge failed to see the difference
between "men," the creatures of God, "by nature free and equal," and
"possessing certain inalienable rights," and corporations, the creatures
of man, having no rights except those which the State sees fit to give
them. Had the learned Judge perused the whole of the document to which
he refers, he would have found in article VIII, section 12, the
following provision:

"The General Assembly shall have power to amend or repeal
all laws for the organization or creation of corporations,
or granting of special or exclusive privileges or
immunities, by a vote of two-thirds of each branch of the
General Assembly."

It should thus have been plain to the learned Judge that in Iowa
corporations have not human or inalienable rights, and government was
not instituted for their special protection, but for the protection,
security and benefit of her people. Nor should it be otherwise.

The corporation for pecuniary gain has neither body nor soul. Its
corporeal existence is mythical and ethereal. It suffers neither from
cold nor from hunger, has neither fear of future punishment nor hope of
future reward. It takes no interest in s