Poems (Geisse)/"Trusts"
"TRUSTS."
Beware of gluttony! That hackneyed phrase
Has been repeated in a score of ways
By men renowned for wisdom and for truth,
Who sought to warn misguided age and youth,
And show the sin, the wretchedness and woe,
The countless ills that selfish greed can sow;
For greed, alas! in every land and age
Has cast a blot on history's fairest page,
And still it rules, and still its slaves obey,
Despite the boasted progress of to-day,
Despite Religion, which has sought in vain
This monstrous sin to conquer and restrain—
This sin which triumphs by the blackest arts,
Debasing and embittering human hearts;
Which never once the qualms of conscience feels,
But in the name of "Trusts" both cheats and steals.
"Trusts," corporate bodies which like cormorants seek
To glut their greed by preying on the weak.
And call it "Trade," a very clever ruse
For knaves who seek a plausible excuse,
And seize upon the plea of "Competition"
When the wronged laborer offers his petition.
For selfish greed, as everybody knows,
Cares nothing for the poor man or his woes,
But only seeks to gather, gather in,
Regardless that such gluttony is sin.
Has been repeated in a score of ways
By men renowned for wisdom and for truth,
Who sought to warn misguided age and youth,
And show the sin, the wretchedness and woe,
The countless ills that selfish greed can sow;
For greed, alas! in every land and age
Has cast a blot on history's fairest page,
And still it rules, and still its slaves obey,
Despite the boasted progress of to-day,
Despite Religion, which has sought in vain
This monstrous sin to conquer and restrain—
This sin which triumphs by the blackest arts,
Debasing and embittering human hearts;
Which never once the qualms of conscience feels,
But in the name of "Trusts" both cheats and steals.
"Trusts," corporate bodies which like cormorants seek
To glut their greed by preying on the weak.
And call it "Trade," a very clever ruse
For knaves who seek a plausible excuse,
And seize upon the plea of "Competition"
When the wronged laborer offers his petition.
For selfish greed, as everybody knows,
Cares nothing for the poor man or his woes,
But only seeks to gather, gather in,
Regardless that such gluttony is sin.