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of Tom L. Johnson we do not know. But this we know, that it was this human quality in him, this love of his kind, that sent him into the people’s fight and kept him in it to the end. It was this which made him turn aside from money-getting, this which made him forego the keen pleasures of mechanical pursuits, this which made the loss of wealth and of what men call success, the loss of health, yes, of life on earth itself, seem of small account to him. And because he loved much, he lived much. No one who reads his story can fail to realize that he lived more in almost any ten years of his adult life than it is given to most men to live in a long, long lifetime; nor can they fail to see that his living was a complete and constant giving—a giving of that greatest gift within man’s power to give — HIMSELF .
    E LIZABETH J. H AUSER .

“The man who is worthy of being a leader of men will never complain of the stupidity of his helpers, of the ingratitude of mankind, nor of the inappreciation of the public.
    â€œThese things are all a part of the great game of life, and to meet them and not go down under them in discouragement and defeat is the final proof of power.”

INTRODUCTION
    T HE greatest movement in the world to-day may be characterized as the struggle of the people against Privilege.
    On the one side the People — slow to wake up, slow to recognize their own interests, slow to realize their power, slow to invoke it. On the other, Privilege — always awake and quick to act, owning many of the newspapers, controlling the election and appointment of judges, dictating to city councils, influencing legislatures and writing our national laws.
    What is Privilege?
    Privilege is the advantage conferred on one by law of denying the competition of others. It matters not whether the advantage be bestowed upon a single individual, upon a partnership, or upon an aggregation of partnerships, a trust — the essence of the evil is the same. And just to the extent that the law imposes restrictions upon some men and not on others, just to the extent that it grants special favors to some to the exclusion of others, do the people suffer from this evil.
    These law-made restrictions and benefits are many, but substantially all may be grouped, in the order of their importance, in the following five classes: land monopolies, taxation monopolies, transportation monopolies, municipal monopolies and patent monopolies.
    The greatest of all governmental favors or special privilegesis land monopoly, made possible by the exemption from taxation of land values.
    The special privileges growing out of conditions created by our local, State and national tax systems are so far-reaching and disastrous in their effects that one might devote a volume to the discussion of this division of Privilege, and then not begin to compass the question.
    Under transportation monopolies come the governmental favors to railroads and to those enterprises dependent upon the railroads, such as special freight lines, sleeping-car companies, express and telegraph companies.
    Municipal monopolies consist of rights and special privileges in the public streets and highways which in the nature of the case cannot be possessed by all the people and can be enjoyed only by a few. Under this head come the franchises which our cities grant to street railways, to water, gas, electric light and telephone companies, and in these lie the chief sources of corruption in municipal life.
    Patent monopolies are the last distinct survival of a policy which once had a very much wider application and which in every other case has been abandoned because it was recognized to be unsound. At one time it was common enough to reward public service of almost any kind by the grant of a trade monopoly. Soldiers in war were tempted by the prospect of such a grant and often got it as the result of a victory. Statesmen were tempted and were often rewarded in the same way for