The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1872-03-01
"somcthing 10 ThinI. About"

Something 10 Think About"
| EDITOR POsr: Your reply to my article IN
| your last issue does me IN injustice which nln
sure you did not intend, aud with your purms-
sion | viii try 10 set myself right, and Mt the
same time, with that trNnkncss which you like
50 well, ! viii cndcalOr 10 show that some Oi
the arguments You u'r urc not u. sound ~ they
might be, You say "it we wished to make thi,
paper grow IN the grace and favor Of the mn>,r,
at the expense Of other and more important in
tcrc,ts, We would exhaust our limited COM
mund of language in giving the railroads 'iit,'
on all OCCASIONS" Now, my political economy
and my democracy teach me- that honesty, in
trgrity and wisdom have their seat and center
with III" masses, and that MI ohcrlnterc,t, are
secondary to theirs, Again, you relate how low
~" prices OF corn, wheat and meat were before
the railroads were built. Why, my dear sir,
there are men among Us who can remember
when good rifle gun in hi, country was worth
rs much n II tine tract Of land, and It /, u mat.
Ter Of history Tint on" Of the most valuable Of
the Dlrkt0wn copper Mines was once sold for
n pct bear. There mglIt BE- something in this
argument about lnt.r Iro'd prices, If II " re
not for the trrt III the p,op'r', money huiI
these roads: but when III. trrt j. taken into
consideration there i hot much oi ii left. Tor If
the money which the people voted 10 the roads
was the cause Of their being built, the people
arrccltnlny entitled To thcrrrdt and >hond re.
ccNr the benefit, Again. You say the consumer
pays the tariH, True, but where the consumer
can choose between two tariffs VIII he not take
the lowc-tE Or, in other words, if the freight,
on corn or other gram from the west i ~ low
ns 10 make ii to the interest Of the consumer to
buy bis supplies in the wet will he not buy
them thcrrE
But my chief design in this communication is
to ,ct myself right, not TO reply 10 your ~ gu
mcntN. ! did not say that discrimination in
frcght~ was the sole cull>r Of hard times. .uid
it was one culI,c, and still think 50. am not
an enemy to our rNilrOnd>. and further do not
know Of any man that Is their enemy. Every
intelligent person knows that our great system
Of Internal Improvements. while It cost Us mil.
lions Of dollars, has been Of lncnlruablr benefit
to Us. ! am specially the friend Of our great
East Tennessee line, whose employees from
the President down, know to bcclcvrr GENTLE
men. But bclicyrt that these mammoth corpo-
rulOn> are no better than individuals. and il
they will not ito right believe they ought to be
made TO do right. | design to makcno war on
the railroads: ! simply attack principle the
discrimination in irclght' against our own pco-
pie whose money bought the very iron upon
which their ears run. i'm doingth made any
incorrect statements, was mi,iniorm"d that i
all. would not do them injustice II knew II,
and II have done them injustice or should dO
80 will gladly make the dmcRde hoHOrdIic
whenever nm convinced Of my error. But
hear grave charges made against the roads in
regard to the difference between through and
way irrghtS, and il they IRE not true would
like to knoWit For instance. am crcdbly in
formed that wholesale merchant Of Knoxville
went North, bought stock Of goods, had them
marked to himself At Nashville and then made
arrangements with his con>lgnur 10 telegraph
and haze the goods stopped at Knoxville. The
agent ut Knoxville tried to make him pay
Knoxville ncights, but the merchant insisted
on paying Nashville rcight- ~ the goods were
marked and billed to that point, and he finally
succeeded in getting to pay freight ON hi goods
to Nashville instead Of Knoxville, and made
thereby about three hundred dollars Was
this right? Was it just; You will agree with
me that the people Of East 'rcnnc>srrHrr greatly
interested in sustaining the wholesale houses nj
Knoxville. but how are those houses to compete
with other cities where they have to contend
against such discrimination, in the important
matter Of lrcights? | do not Of my own
knowledge know how true this rircum-
>tanc" l.. but Am satisfied that it can be- pro-
ven. Indeed, our merchants have often inform
ed me that they could make money hv hHvng
their good, bought North shipped TO Nashville
and then shipped back to Fest Tennessee; and
have heard Of instance, where goods were
shipped 10 Chattanooga and then shipped back
up the road TO say" freight,
But "a little lunhcrin justification of myself
did not intend H. convey the idea tNt thrrord
shipped fright from London fora lr,, amount
O! money than they charged from Mouse trr,E
or Athens, bat for "a Ices amount in proportion
to the distance, and thi, difference suppose j.
made to prevent freight from That point being
shipped by the river to Chattanooga. II Til,
4 Ii florence i plrtIp ~ lH,, Ilt ly
since il was made. Again, - INGREDIENT ot thu'-
lesion Informed IN" today th1t thr freight On 20
hu~hr Of corn from that point 10 At ntH It th..
time is l6 cents. You say it t. the sane from
Knox HE to Atlanta. 'hurIr>lun i ~ mil :
below Knoxville. Does the road haul corn
from Knoxville to Charleston for nothing, or
does it charge the rlrmcral Chnrl",ton tor haul
ing his corn 70 miles further iii IN il actuHlly
does haul il? The ,icur@ia roads portion OF
freight ON bu,hcl Of corn from Knoxville
must be the same rs ON - hu~hcI of corn from
Charleston. The discrimination then must be-
ON the part of our road. Now. | have shown
in my last weeks article that lG cents freight
on a bushcl Of corn from Knoxville to At
lanta compared with the freight on the sane
article from st. Loll> j. IN ovcrclnrgc Of about
cents and q little calculation will convince
my one tht even il it j. worth IL cents to ear
nv Il Ia hrl If corn from kEox,ill" to Ail.nla
II ccut-. But know Tint III the hlamr i, not
with the Tennessee r." Id> @nd while ilu tr,tr
with our own great line, hCrnu.r most i'uIirr
with il ] am Tar from rcnstlrlnG il above Others;
for presume that its management j. ~ honest
md wise rs my in tn" state. But IN maxi
in" war upon u principle. our people built
these roads, and Will" a few men have managed
to get Il controlling Interest in them. the people
till have strong claims upon them. and II they
can carry lrcightS from the West o. North for
low prices they ought 10 dO the same for Us.
When the great system Of Internal improve
mcnts was established by act of the LEGISLATURE.
passed February nth. $50, the right 10 amend
the act 20 A. TO protect the people was reserved.
and ON the 23d day Of November, 1850. an act
amcndatOry Of that act was passed, by Whicha all
our railroads are prohibited under heavy pen
atty from discriminating in iright~ against the
interest Of any city, town or place in the state;
and brlicy" that il can be easily established
that every road in the State accepted benefit
under thi, later act
But have already extended this article too
far aud must close. repeat. however. that di,-
elimination in ircights is one cause Of hard
times, and in the future may vcntilatc this
subject II little more. For the present | only
wish to add tina, the 10th section Of the act of
23d of November. lSGj, j. good reading for all
4ur people, and | respectfully call attention to
it. JUNIUS.
Symptoms Of Cn!arrEr.
Indisposition to exercise, difficulty Of think
ing or reasoning, or concentrating the mind