North Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1867-current, 1869-04-14
killing the Goose.

Allun8 the GOOses
Under the caption " Killing the
Goose that lays the Golden eggs" late
number of the Buffalo Express contains
the following article -
There seems to be some encourage
ment to believe that all along the line
of commercial intercourse between the
n rth-wcst and the Atlantic seabcard
the people concerned in that immense
traffic arc waking up to realization of
the necessity for cheapening the trans
mission of western produce to it's mar
kct. 1t is certain that at each point in
the chain the dealers and forwardcrs and
handlers of the produce in question are
very much alive to the overcharging at
every other point, and now if their mu-
tual expostulations will only react upon
ole another; to bring about sort of
consolidated conviction on the subject,
it is possible that they may come to
cree all around upon general conces-
sions and common effort to diminish
the taxes on commerce.
The fact is, they are all miserable
sinners" in the matter. The grain
which starts from the western farmers
t. be sold at New York is charged too
much for railway transportation to Chi
cage or Milwaukee; it is charged too
much again for handling by the eleva-
vators at those cities it is charged too
much again for handling by the eleva-
tors at Buffalo it is charged too much
for tolls on the New York canals; it is
ch Urged twice the freight on those
canals that it need to be because the
state will not enlarge their locks to per-
nit the use of larger boats; it is charg-
ed too much again for handling at New
York city; and so, at every step in its
progress from the producer to the con-
sumcr it is oycrtaxcd at the expense of
both. Not one of the intermediate par
ties having to do with it is innocent of
the wrong. They have no right to throw
accusations at one another. They are
guilty altogether, and between them
they are killing the goose that lays the
golden eggs into all their baskets. New
York finds her proportionate receipt and
export of grain diminishing year by
year, and so does Buffalo. Chicago
watches with alarm the beginning of
shipments down the Mississippi. These
high charges for transportation and
transfer are taxing western grain out OF
the Eur ,pean markets in the first place,
and driving it into other channels in the
second To-day's rich profits for the
elevators and the shovellers, and the
railroads and the banks, which make
advances, and the State, which collects
tolls, are eating up the to-morrow's bu
siness of the whole of them. 1t is a
blind, fatal policy from the beginning
to the end of the string, and the wonder
is, not that there are now signs Of a gen
cral waking up to its folly, but that il
should have been persisted in so long
But there arc touches of human natur,
which make the whole world kin, ant
this sort of greedy foolishness is one O.
them. If there is any consolation il
such companionship, the subjects o.
western dcnunciation in this matter a
Chicago, Buffalo and New York, may
be pleased to know that New Orleans il
similarly provoking the wrath of St
Louis and doing its best, as the latte
accuses, to turn back the movement o
brcadstuffs, which we of the lakes, upor
our part, have been exerting oursclve
with good deal Of persistence to pusl
into its hand.