The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1865-11-17
litter Going to Market.

litter Going to Market.
lfthere is power in curslng, the specu-
lators will soon come to grief No house
keeper goes to market without imprcca-
tions loud or deep upon their heads. 1t
is the only relief. We are all powerless
together in the hands of the men who con-
troll the money of the country and SO are
able to hold all kinds Of supplies in bulk
till they get their own price. Articles
for general housekeeping now average
some eight or ten per cent. higher than Il
year ago, when gold ranged from 255 to
270. \ short crop, as in the case of fruit,
accounts for the high price of some arti
cles, but not of flour, coal and the most
general and essential staples. The high
prices of these articles comes from sheer
extortion. Under the name of speculation
it passes as a respectable practice, but ii
is in fact absolute robbery. 1t differs only
in the manner OF it from the business of
the hlghwayman who presents his pistol
and demands Your money or yoHr life.
The one uses brute force, the other the
power of capital. The one breaks the law
and exposes himself to the punishment of
q ielon; the other robs under cover of
law and goes unwhipt of justice. The
commercial ro5ber is lntinltely more to be
dreaded, for he sits quietly in his counting
room and takes money out Of the pockets
of hundreds OF thousands, and brings hun
yer and misery and crime upon many
households, with no exposure of person or
character, while the hlgilwayman can rob
but one at a time. and does that at the
risk of life. Ii the race of inspired proph-
cts had come down TO our times, what Il
theme for scathing denuuciation would
they find in the legalized robbery which
| impoveriShcs and di>hcartens whole COM
munities OF hard working people, and yet
takes the chief places in all the Synagogues
without rebuke. Might not our religious
teachers find it salutary to turn aside for
time from lamentations over the hcathen,
who worship the best gods they know, and
and scatter little wholesome damnation
among the servants OF Mammon, who in
Christian sanct,laries offer robber for burnt
offering If We had the knack Of it, and
were duly authorized, there is no mission
we could undertake with so hearty a rel
ish.
The railroad companies, infected by the
spirit of the prevalent mania for exorbl-
tant gains, have also gone into the grab
games and put up their lreishts so that
the expense OF transportation is in many
things the chief element Of cost The
crop of corn is immense this year, and ii
it sells in Iowa for 80 cents per bushcl ;
here it is from l,2O to Sl.5o Cannot
the railroads bring it at less than dollar
per bushei! st Louis papers say that
business in flour is almost entirely suspend
ed by the eXtravagant rates of freight pre-
vailin., and these exhorbltant ircight>
add largely to the prices which consumers
here are now paying. The common car
riers share the plumber with the specula-
tors. At Chicago, grain has been boarded
and stored in such quantities that it i,
heating and rotting III the warehouses
vet the spectators refuse to release theil
grasp and sell for even the present prices.
Ii halt of the precious grain rots Oh theil
hands they know that they can compe
the people to pay them as much for what
is left as the whole is worth. As to the
coal plunderers enough has been said, ant
without avail There is no honest reason
to be given why coal should be more thai
two-thirds as high as it now is. Accord
ING to the gold rate, articles Of genera
consumption should now rule at least for
ty per cent lower than a year ago, extra
ordinary cases excepted. They are, il
fact, nearly ten per cent higher. The diff
ference Is just 50 much plunder by the spec
ulators, and on how vast Il scale it is Cal
only be measured by the consumption o
the nation. Fortunes are every day tax
en- by the cormorants out of the earning
of a hard worked and hard taxed people
If lynch law were a remedy, a grea
many lawabiding men would torego thei
scruples and 90 in for the reign Of vigi
lance committees There is nothing t
be done but to scold and bear it. Bu
the people know that they are robbed, AM
they should let Congress know, most EN-
phatically, that they expect OF them til
most prompt and effective measures 70
bringing the currency back to sound ba
sis and so reducing the power OF the com
, mercial robbers now praying upon help
less community. Springfield R'publ'can.
o. Look at the date following YOU