Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1873-10-09
The Farmers Movement and the " Dis.
honest Element.o

nopOly and It's handmade, speculative
swlndllng, to say that So the farmers
movement In connection with the estab-
llshment of oranges has had much to
do IN precipitating this crash" But
what If the allegation be true? What
II, instead of being merely one of the
causes which have precipitated a
crash" that must, in the inevitable ma
ture of things, have come sooner or
later, the farmers ''efforts to restrict
the railroads in their exactions" be the
sole and only cause which has precipi-
tated the crash -?
Let us take this roaring bull fairly by
the horns, and not seek to dodge it by
amy sort ofevasion. WHAT'S this ''crash,
and its meaning? The London Times
told the whole story when it said 50 1t
as an effort OF the fiscal system to get
rid OF Its dishonest elements" 1t is,
then, an honest and earnest response of
the fiscal system to the farmers move
ment, which is an effort of the political
system, that includes the fiscal system,
to get rid of its dishonest element.
Tie dishonest element in the fiscal
system is admirably represented by the
Jay Cooke sort of tinanciers, though the
genesis of the dishonest element is found
far behind all such persons, In that finan-
cial lie of the Federal Government which
says that a promise to pay a dollar Is
dollar. And who are the Jay Cookies ?
Men whose business activities consist in
obtaining money under false pretences.
The Northern Pacific railroad scheme
was only one In q thousand huge conf
dence games" to enable swindlers to get
something for nothing. The very same
organ of monopoly and swindling which
asserts that the farmers movement has
done much to precipitate tho bursting of
the monstrous bubble of fraud and de-
ception, confesses the truth in words
deprecating the "fever of excessive
speculation which has given rise to so
many vast and ruinous railway schemes,
professedty undertaken sDith the object
Of Developing the resources of the
country, but really no more than in
.genious deuices for the accumulation Of
e,aOrOnaus fortunes for their projectors"
such accumulation, it should be added,
to complete the truth, being phOliy at
the cost OF the labor industry OF the
country. The whole process consists IN
taking something from ren who have
labored for it and giving it to men who
have not earned it. Any person from the
rural districts who, on visit to New
York or Chicago, has been relieved of
the contents of his pocket-book by
genteel-appearing but vulgar swindler
called q confdence-man" has had an
individual experience of that mode of
developing the resources of the
country" which the Jay Cooke contra
ternity, aided by the Federal Govern
ment, have been practicing upon the
whole American people ever since the
passage of that measure of uLspeakable
scoundrelism, the so-called ''legal-tender
act"
The Northern Pacific railroad was
projected by ring of confidence swind
lers for the purpose of swindling the
people out of nearly 10O, 600, 900 acres of
land, by building railroad Ito be also
owned by the swindlers) with money to
be earned and paid by the people who
were to be thus swindled. The Union
Pacific and Central Pacific and Kansas
Pacific, and the Lord hardly knows how
many other so-called national high
ways" had proven successful swindles
of the same Kind the Northern Pacific
swindlers were encouraged by the sue
cess of the kindred gangs. They would
build railroad two Thousand miles IN
length, through "howling wilderness
where not In half century could a rail-
road be made toreturn single farthing
on its cost but they would "develop
the resources of the country, which
means that by persistent lying and mis-
representation they would induce people
to go into that wilderness and buy back
at six dollars an acre the land which an
incorruptible Congress had voted to the
swindlers for nothing Cor for few shares
In the swindle judiciously placed where
they could do the most good }, and give
them five bushels of wheat for carrying
one bushel over their road, and thus pay
the whole cost of the road out of the
earnings of their dupes "the people"
and take their places among the grand
est money nabobs of the earth, own
Government, and be regarded as pub
lie benefactors !" To carry out this stu
pendous confidence swindle, the "confi-
dence men" got charter authorizing a
capital of 100000, 900, but requiring
only $1,000, 900 to be subscribed, and
only ten per cent. of that amount to be
actually paid in, making an actual avail
able capital of only 500, O00-not fifth
part of the cost of surveying the route
But unlimited power to issue bonds
would furnish the money, which the
dupes who were expected to pay six dol
lars an acre for the wilderness, and five
bushels of wheat for carrying one bushel
to market, would pay, principal and in
terest, out Of the products of their Ia
Der. So, these pattern Tigg Montagus
proceeded tc ''shove their bonds on
every money market In Christendom
where they could hope to find man
with more money than mother w.t.
Their course of procedure was charac-
teristic of the men and the fraudulent
scheme. 1t was especially in religious
publications that their lying advertise
ments were to be seen. 1t was under the
seeming patronage of Young Mems
Christians Associations that these
sharpers pioasly recommended Northern
Pacific bonds to their customers as
"better than Government securities y