Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1873-05-31

OUR DUTY TO OURSELVES.

ore being trammclled and Distracted In
every effort which 10 made by our people
for their successful development is fact
too apparent to m observing eye TO admit
Of any doubt whatever. If we are sur
rounded and bedged in by barriers calcu-
lated to imprison our fortunes and re-
strain the FREQ expression OF our CONNER
cial and agricultural growth, which is
manifest fact, admitted by every one who
has devoted single hour TO the oontem-
plation Of our prospects and surroundn gs
there is evidently duty devoying upon
us 10 overcome these distractions and to
open up the highway for our advancement,
in all those interests which will give to our
State her true standard in the scale Of
commercial Importance.
Tho first thing to be done is for as to
ncquaint ourselves thoroughly and under
standingly with our condition, both as n
producing and consuming people and
having done SO, having ascertancd the
difference between our products and cen.
sumptions, the way to our deliverance at
once becomes easy and open to all who
may desire to work for the great good of
the whole country.
In meeting this first demand Of the
question just propounded, we conceive
that but few of our citizens will be long
engaged in the labor incident to ascer-
tanning whether our consumptions exceed
our products or not; but should there be
any doubling Thomas among us, any so
blind that they can not see, we win simply
state for their benefit that Texas to-day is
far ahead of any State in the Union in he 7
productions, both as to quantity and va
riety. or course we must be understood
to mean that for every acre of our lands
cultivated, the annual yield of our har-
vest will exceed in proportion that Of any
Of our sister States. This fact being I'M
derstood and appreciated, will naturally
suggest to any thinking mind the discrep-
ancy between the proportiouato profits
realized by our people, and by those who
inhabit the countries lying north of us.
That Chere is difference, and a big one,
every person at all acquainted with the
commercial transactions of this State is
ready 10 admit.
To harmonic these differences, to regu-
late tho rugged surface of commerce and
bring the rights Of traders to an equitable
level, go that every advantage may be off
set by disadvsn tages, and pice versa, is the
one great end to which Texans should
bend their efforts, nor cease them not un-
til success should crown their aims with
its imperishable laurels. The first ques-
ton we naturally ask ourselves after un.
derstanding all these facts is, why they
are so. To apply the question, and ask
why Texas, with its magnificent yields of
cereals, is unknown in the grain markets
ofihe North, at once brings us face to face
with the issue which stands in the way of
our advancement and blocks up the aven :
ues Of our foreign acquaintance, and at
the came time suggests the necessity of
some action on the part of our people CAL
culated to reverse the order of affairs, and
to equalize our rights in just proportion
with those enjoyed by the trading esmen,
Of other sections.
We are to-day race of servile slaves,
who labor and toll with willing, active,
hands for the aggrandizement of railroad
monopolists, who reward us with oppres-
sions almost equal to "a practical confsca-
ton of all our worldly goods.
i've IF
state that for every pound of freight
shipped from st. Louis to this place the
railroad companies receive three dollars
per hundred weight. This we have paid
not because the charge was just one, but
because we were compelled to DO so by
the railroad kings who are already con-
templating the plausibility of run ming the
whole government through the influence of
their accumulated gold. This exorbitant
charge falls heavy upon our merchants,
who expect to realize their indemnity for
the outlay from the sturdy farmers Of the
country, the fast friends and patrons Of
all home institutions.
But reverse the course of TRANSFORMATION
and let us see who pays the cost Of car
riage, If any there be. The products prep
er of this section are wheat and corn. The
former commodity sells in this market at
from eighty cents to one dollar per bushel.
The weight is, say sixty ponds, which, at
three cents per pound, would cost, deliv-
cred at st. Louis, just one dollar and
eighty cents, or nearly twice the origina,
price asked and paid in this market when
purchased. With corn, weighing almost
as much, the ease is even worse; and yet
we live, calmly and quietly, without one
word of complaint falling from our lips,
while the financial life's blood of the
country is being sucked away by the vam-
pires who control the railroad interests of
the country.
This arrangement, this great wrong and
undeniable fact, calls for thought and ac-
tion Mt the hands Of our people, and az the
harvest time is almost upon ne, we hope
they will begin ct once TO undo the evil
nd cease not to fight this pslpsble oppres-
sion until Texas shall stand equal with
all other sections in the transportation of
her products.
DUTIES DEvOLVING UPON Us.