The Rock Island daily Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1872-1873, 1873-10-21
Let the People Cease Following Parties, an
Dsmolish the Tariff swindle.

IN. NJ. Grosvenor In the Atlantic MONTHLY
Three men meet in room in New ork. |
They are not called kings, wear no crowns,
and bear no sceptres. They merely rep
resent trunk lines Of railway from the
Mississippi 10 New York. Other points
settled, one says, las TO the grain rate
shall we make it fifty from Chicago
Agreed crops are heavy, and we shall
have enough 10 do.
Business finished, the three enjoy sundry
bottles of good wine The daily papers
presently announce that "the trunk lines
have agreed upon a new schedule of rates
for freight, which is, in effect, trifling in
crease on grain, from forty five to fifty
cents from Chicago TO New York, with
rates to other points in the usual proper
ton" The conversation was Insignificant
the increase "trihing." But to the farm
ers Of the Northwest it means that the
will Of three men has taken over thirty
millions from the cash value Of their pro
ducts for that year, and five hundred mil
lions from the actual value Of their farms.
The conversation is imaginary but the
startling facts upon which II Is based are
terribly real, as western farmers have
learned. The few men who control the
great railway lines have it in their power
TO strip western agriculture of all its earn
ings,-not after the manner of ancient
highwaymen. but by high handed defiance
Of society and law, the rush OF swift steed,
the clash of steel, and the stern, 'Stant
and deliver" The bandits of moderI
civilization, who enrich themselves by tn,
plumber of others, come with chests full o
charters Judges are their friends ii no
their tools, and they WELD no weapon NOR
alarming than the little pencil with whicl
they calculate differences of rate apparent
Is so insignificant that public opinion won
ders why the farmer should complain
about such trihes. Yet the farmers hay
complained, and, complaining in vain hay
got angry When large bodies Of men &c
angry the results are likely TO be import
ant, though they may not always prov
beneGcient The farmers movemer
threatens a revolution in the business {
transportation, il not in the laws whic
protect investments of capital Ii seen
strange. no doubt, 10 those who do NJ
know that a change of one twentieth Of
mill per hundred pounds in the charge Il
transportation per mile. may take hun
dreds Of millions from the actual value
farms. 1t can neither be eomprehende
nor intelligently directed, without fu
understanding Of the conditions undo
which agriculture exists in the northwes
ern states, and Of the power which ii
railway has eXerted and still yields for III
development or destruction of that gre;
industry.
About 100000 bushels of wheat |
100000 tons of hay, and lOl2OOO,Ot
bushels of cereals are annually produce
by eleven states, having in 1870 a populi
ton Of II, $4,000. In this statement, a.
the term Northwestern States whe
used in this article, Kentucky and Nilsson
are included with the former free states
the Mississippi valley. Had these stat,
consumed in proportion 10 their popul
tinn, there would have remained a surplI
Of eighty-one million bushels of cereal
Though the consumption per capita
greater Of cereals other than wheat in th
region than in the whole country, over tv
hundred million bushels of grain are r
ceiyed yearly at seven chief points of shi
ment from the west, while a large quanti
besides goes directly 10 consumers at u
east and south, without passing throup
either of these cities. Probably eight mi
lion tons of grain, besides hay and 9TH
products Of the farm. 60 forth from III
fertile region each year IN search Of dista
markets
bNNdu0' AllN ilho 10 ~ Nh'A iila'i7s ~
tant markets control in great degree Il
price Of the whole crop. As the water }
hind dam never rises far above the lev
Of the overlooking sheet, so the prices
products largely exported do not rise mu
above the export price, less cost of trar
portation TO the port Of shipment TIL
this is true Of wheat of which we expo
about one-sixth, is well known of 9th
grain and Of hay we export comparative
little, and yet the surplus
the west is so large, and {
demand at the east for consumption
shipment so essential to a profitable sale
the crop, that the eastern markets ri
prices, not only of the quantity forwardt
but Of the entire product A very lar
proportion Of the corn crop is consumed
the west. Yet the average of month
quotations for the three years, 1869, Is
and 1871 at New York Chicago, and q
cinnati, the difference per bushel and I
GENITAL, and the summer rate for freig
per GENITAL from Chicago and Cincinnati
New York all in cents compare as follow