to us are prevented from doing so."

"It sounds well to hear you tell it," said Eliza. "But the minute
the coal patents are issued you will buy what you want, then
freeze out the other people. You expect to control the mines, the
railroads, and the steamship lines, but public necessities like
coal and oil and timber and water-power should belong to the
people. There has been an awakening of the public conscience, and
the day of monopolized necessities is passing."

"As long as men own coal-mines they will sell them. Here we are
faced not by a question of what may happen, but of what has
happened. If you agreed to buy a city lot from a real-estate
dealer, and after you paid him his price he refused to give you a
deed, you'd at least expect your money back, wouldn't you? Well,
that's the case of Uncle Sam and the Alaskan miners. He not only
refuses to deliver the lot, but keeps the money, and forces them
to pay more every year. I represent a body of rich men who,
because of their power, are regarded with suspicion; but if they
did anything so dishonest as what our Government has done to its
own people they would be jailed."

"No doubt there has been some injustice, but the great truth
remains that the nation should own its natural resources, and
should not allow favored individuals to profit by the public
need."

"You mean railroads and coal-fields and such things?"

"I do."