New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-10-27
THE FARMERS WAR.
ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST THE
RAILROADS.

1
pruIpING ROADS THROUGH UNSETTLED REGIONS
| .nvANTAGEs OF THE ELEvAroRs-IHE MIME
sofa FARMERS SAID TO BE BETTER OFF THAN
THE Observation-Disclosures EXPLAINED.
! IrRoM THE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE THBUNE.I
WNoNA, Mimi, Sept. 25.-It is the fashion OF
Western farmers this year to make war upon the
railroads, and those of Minnesota except such as
are still begging Eastern and European capitalists
to come ont here and build them road TO market
have as much fault TO find with railroad manage
ment and ilroad charges as any have met. FOR
the purpose of Learning the exact relations OF the
railroads to the farmers and ascertainiDg how far
the present war is just one have, since came 10
Minnesota, talked with many of the most ntell-
gent farmers listened TO a speech on the subject by
the Hon. Iguatius Donnelly, and called upon the
officers and managers Of the leading railroads OF the
State.
The whole railroad system of the State is
wrong said a Ramsey County farmer and member
of the North Star Grange. with whom was con-
versng on this subject the other day. " Our roads
arc all Credit Mobilier organizations conceived by
rings. bailt by rings, managed by rings
You know the system. lot of men get TO-
gether and secure charter for railroad, and get
land grant. They take the bulk of the stock them
selves paying nothing for IT, and raise the money TO
build the road by issuing mortgage bonds which are
sold in the East or in Europe. Then construction
company is formed, the stock of which is generally
held by the managers of the road, and which makes
large sums Of money out Of its contracts which are
taken at exorbitantly high rates. Again, the man.
ayers have the power Of determining where all OF the
towns along the road shall be situated and they buy
ND the land at those points at the minimum price,
and hold it at greatly advanced rates. These are
what are known as the "town-slte rings" When the
country begins to be settled and the farmers have
crops 70 send to market, then these same men form
wheat rings They contract with themselves for
speca rates of freight for drawbacks and rebates
SO that they can outbid other buyers until they have
driven them out Of the market, and then they pay
Just what they choose"
THE WHEAT RINGS"
Sometimes these wheat rings operate on ROADS
that are feeders of those they are interested IN and
not on their own lines For instance, am told that
last wear an agent of the Milwaukee and st. Paul
road tried to make a contract with certain shippers
on the Sioux City road to ship their wheat east from
St. Paul over the Milwaukee road. When the shlp-
pers refused to do this, the Milwaukee road sent I'D
its own agents to buy, and after that nobody else
could afford to ship grain at all. am toiu tna'
other roads do The same thing. The farmers of the
State complain of unjust determinations the rail-
roads carry freight from distant competing points
points Finally. on some of the roads where there
is no connection the freight charges are exorbtant
These railroads as you know, have received all
sorts of aid; they have been granted millions OF
acres of the most valuable lands worth at least SIX
dollars an acre they have also, in many instances
received aud from the counties and towns through
which they pass, and we think that tue people nave
n right 10 ask and expect different treatment from
them than though they entirely built with pri-
vate capital
Ihave in the above paragraphs condensed the con
versation of two or three hours, and have repre-
sented substantially the complaints made by tho
majority of the farmers with whom have talked
few of them. and among the number might men
ton Mr. Paiste, the Secretary OF the state orange
admit that the railroads are generally serving
the people as reasonably they can be expected TO-
have also omitted to report conversations IN re-
gard to transportation east from Milwaukee ana
Chicago watering the stock of the great lines east,
and the pooling" of their earnings these are
questions of general interest affecting the entire
farming population of the West and Northwest,
while / am now considering the relations Of the
farmers and the railroads of this State.
COST OF BUILDING ROADS IL NEW COUNTRY.
In reply to these complaints an officer of the -.
Paul and Sioux City road said that it was not worth
while to discuss the system 10y which all railroads
are now built in country. He thought that 1t
had been settled beyond all question that II would
be impossible to raise the capital to construct road
out into an unsettled country il the old way by
stock subscriptions. No capitalist would put large
sum of money into such a railroad unless he could
have better security for his interest than certiti-
cate of stock and if it were not for the system
planned of Minnesota would have very few railroads
to-day and its farmers would either be entirely be-
yond the reach of markets or, what is more proba-
BILE would not be in the State at all. Besides, on
some of the roads stock had been paid for,
dollar for dollar, and no returns had ever
been received The people knew all
about the system when the roads were binding
and then was the time to protest But the farmers,
on the other hand, were more anxious to have the
roads constructed than the owners Of them were to
build them and the who dared 10 suggest re-
striction that would have delayed the work day
would have been hoOted ont of the State. Taking
the roads of the State generally, he thought that
they had been built economically as il was posi-
bic to build them under the circumstances. table
prepared from the report of the Railroad Commits
soner showed the average cost of all the roads III
the State to be a little more than $4,000 mile.
Anybody must understand that it will cost more TO
push road out into wilderness than to construct
il through thckly settled country.
LAND GRANTS ONLY OF PROSPECTIVE VALUE.
"As for the land grants" he continued the out
cry against them in the East is utterly senseless.
The Railroad Commissioner of this State estimates
their value at six dollars The fact is, they
have no present value 1T is entirely prospective.
OF course they help to sell bonds but that is
because il is supposed that they will be worth
something some time in the future. Take the Sioux
City road; we had to build the first hundred miles
without any land grant to speak of 1t runs up the
Minnesota River where the lands had already been
A fba and CIR riuo MI