Charles City intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Floyd County, Iowa) 1864-1866, 1866-02-15
MisttlIalrp.
From Correspondence of the Chicago Tribune
From Minnesota.

OwAroNNA, Mimi, Jan. 10, 1865.
Were yon ever in town afh icted
with the railroad maniai Ifnot, come
an in this section Of country and see
a spectacle fit To make the gods laugh.
Whole towns bitten and rxbid. Each
positively sure Of al least four roads
cen,aring within their own city lin
i.s," and, Of course. making that the
future metropolis. Lots selling by
the foot are not uncommon where,
ten yeaas ago, the foot of white man
was quite uncommon. And elevators
Of 100. 1000 bushels capacity are be-
ing built, while the cars are not yet
in sight. II all indicates, Of course,
the mighty energies and fast progress
zion OF this ofFshoot Of New England;
but the mad excitement and tumultn-
ous haste of the people over what
must como Of necessity in it's own
rood time seems almost absurd. II
must be akin to the chicken pox, itch.
and the measles in the verdancy OF
childhood, necessary evil before
reaching the dignity of boots and
brooches, and much safer when through
with Young. There are here in over.
flowing abundance all the elements
Of future greatness soil, and
mineral wealth-which will no doubt
make it one Of the finest States in our
Union but there is great danger that
it's growth will be retarded and its re-
sources crippled by this wild and in
discriminate building Of castles in the
cir, on the strength Of promises of
railroad managers as to the location
of roads, when, in fact, the course Of
scarcely one of them is definitely de-
termined upon. 1t seems strange
that the lessons Of the past are not
needed. and in the same decade in
which it has taken the ruins of four
companies 10 complete one road 1.-THE
McGregor Westerly and in which
Lacrosse farm mortgages" have i'm
poverished whole counties, there
should be found men blind enough to
repeat the same folly and run the
same risks. The railroad monopoly
Of the Northwest. combined with the
packet swindle on the river, has bled
this State terribly the last two years.
and the feeling it has engendercd to-
ward Chicago, can assure you. is no,
at all in her favor. Naturally inclin-
ed to give her it's trade, it cannot do
90 except by submitting TO extortion,
and that ii will not Unless some
thing 10 done TO remedy this evil by
your merchants. they may expect
another year tn see almost the entire
pr0du of this vast region borne by
them on the broad bosom Of the father
of waters 10 their most hated rival !;
aud the lines of trade once established,
Chicago may find il extremely difficult
To win back what is now her own.
st. Louis you may be sure will not be
idle. and this opportunity Of adding to
her own commerce and diminishing
yours will he improved to the utmost.
Aud why should she not Is there
any justice, any decency, in demand
ing 50 cents for carrying bushel Of
grain 500 miles. one half of it by wa
ter! No doubt to those who have the
handling Of the profits such state Of
affairs is extremely satisfactory but
to those who suffer by it, the farmer
who pays more for transportation
than he puts into his own pocket. the
merchant whose freight bills are lar
ger from Chicago here. than from
New York TO Chicago. and the jobber
of your own town. whose trade it is
destroying. it is not SO amusing. A
free people we are truly, when mon
opoly. the smallest end Of minority.
can Thus trample under foot the rights
Of q whole people and tax them at
their will! | am true Sucker" and
feel the deepest pride in her chief city
and in her institutions but this night.
mare to industry. this monster among
enterprises which has been engender-
ed ia her midst, is blot npon her
fair name, ." worm eating / the bud. /"
and threatening omen Of future evil,
which I cannot think Of without
shame. Look to your laurels ere