The Placer herald., 1873-08-09
HOUSE AND FA RIM.
FARMERS DECLARATION or INDEPEND.
CNCE

The farmers of the West have declares
their independence in the language whicl
follows, and held, July 4th, ratification
meetings all over the West. We give th
text of their declaration as matter of gen
eral interest and record.
When in the course of human events j
becomes necessary for class of people, suf
fsring from long continued systems of op
pression and abuse, to rouse themselve
from an apathetic Indifference to their owl
interests which has become habtual; to as
sumo among their fellow citizens that equa
station and demand from the government
they support those equal rights TO which tLt
laws Of nature and natures God entities
them; a decent respect for the opinions ol
mankind requires that they should declare
the cause that mpel them to course sc
necessary to their own protection.
We hold these truths to be self-evdent,
that all men are created equal; that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable rights; that among these are
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
are instituted among men, deriving their
powers from the consent Of the governed;
that whenever the powers of a government
become destructive of these, either through
the injustice or inefficency Of its laws, or
through the corruption of its administrators,
it is the right of the people to abolish such
laws and institute such reform as 10 them
shall seem most likely to effect their safety
and happiness. Prudence indeed will
dictate that laws long established shall not
be changed for light and trihing causes
and, accordingly, all experience hath shown
that mankind are more disposed to suffer
while evils are sufferable, than to right
themselves by aboshing the laws to which
they are accustomed But when long
train Of abuses and usurpations, pursuing
invariably the same object, evinces u desire
to reduce people under the absolute des
potism of combinations, that, under the
fostering care of the government, and with
wealth wrung from the people, have grown
to such gigantic proportions as to over
shadow all the land, and WELD an almost
irresistible influence for their own selfish
purposes, in all its halls of legislation, it is
their right-it is their duty, to throw off
suct tyranny and provide new guards for
their future security.
Such has been the patient sufferance
of the producing classes Of these States,
and such is now the necessity which compels
them to declare that they will use every
means save resort to arms to overthrow
this despotism of monopoly, and to reduce
all men claiming the protection of American
laws to an equality before those laws,
making the owner of railroad as amenable
thereto as the everest beggar that walks
the streets, the sun and air his sole in
.beritance."
The history Of tie present railway mo-
nopoly, is history of repeated injuries and
oppression, all having in direct object the
establishment of an absolute tyranny over
the people of these States unequaled in
any monarchy of the Old World. and
having its only parallel in the history of the
medieval ages, when the strong hand was
the only law, and the highways Of com
merce were taxed by the feudal barons,
who from their strongholds, surrounded by
the armies of vassals, could levy such
tribute upon the traveller as their own wills
alone should dictate. To prove this let
facts be submitted to candid world.
They have Influenced our executive Off
GERS, to refuse their assent to laws the most
wholesome and necessary for the public
good, and when such laws have been passed
they have utterly refused to obey them.
They have procured the passage of other
laws, for their own benefit alone, by which
they have put untold millions into their own
Golfers, to the injury of the entire COM
g,1orcio1 opd ind urtr;oI of tho
country.
Tney have influenced legislation to suit
themselves, by bribing venal Legislators to
betray the true interests of their constitu
,ents, while others have been kept quiet by
the compliments of free passes.
They have repeatedly prevented the re-
election of representatives, for opposing,
with manly frmness, their invasion of the
peoples rights
They have by false representations and
subterfuge induced the people to subscribe
funds to build roads, whose rates, when
built, are so exhorbitant that in many in
stances transportation by private conveyance
,is less burdensome.
They have procured charters by which
they condemn and appropriate our lands
without adequate compensation therefor, and
arrogantly claim that by virtue of these
charters they are absolutely above the con-
trol of legal enactmen's.
They have procured law Of Congress by
which they have dispossessed hundreds of
farmers Of the homes that by years of toll
they have built up; have induced others to
mortgage their farms for roads never in
tended to be built, and after squandering
the money thus obtained have left their vic
Tins to the mercy Of courts over which they
held absolute sway.
They have obstructed the administration
of justice by injunctions procured from
venal judges, by legal quibbles and appeals
from court to court, with intent to wear out
OR ruin the prosecutor. openly avowing
their determination to make it SO terrible for
the public to prosecute them that they will
not dare undertake it,