The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1873-02-01
Corn For Fuel The Transportatiou
Queseion.

Q0oot1oo.
~~Osn h sellieg income parts Of
the w st q prices which do not
pay the expense Of cultivation. A
correspondent In Central Iowa
writes us that the article is q drug
there At 13& cents. In some other
sections Of that State II is even
cheaper, 30 cheap, indeed, that it
lie used. where timber is scare and
DEAR, for fuel. In some instances
It has been economically used for
fuel id manufactures. Such facts
as these are well calculated to.
arouse the i'm patience OF tue people
at the failure TO realize cheap trans-
portation. While such use of an
important article { + food may. per
haps, be juAtifiahle under certain
emergencirs, az, for instance,
where the supply is SO supersbun-
dant that there is practically no
o. her use for it, and where fuel is
scarce and bears an exorl,itant
price, yet in a world where there
arc hungry people and all the food
produced is needed for human sus-
,enance and comfort, the hahitual
burning ofCorn az fuel cannot be
heard It with indifference In a
country like ours we may know
that it implies something wrong in
manage ment, and the first impulse
toward investigation will naturally
he in the objection of our transport
tation system. Corn that can be
bought in Iowa at 10 10 20 cents
per b. slicl, costs 65 10 80 cents by
The time j, reaches the scaboard
markets. the difference Of SO to 60
cents representing the transporta-
lion ald incidental charges illus,
il an Iowa farmer has FIVE hundred
bushels of Germ which he desires
20 send to the seaboard, it will cost
him about the home value OF four
hundred of them TO get the other
hundred to the purchaser. Unless
this evil can be speedily remidied,
by means OF more ample transpor-
tation facilities. there is danger of
q serious check to agricultural de-
velopment During years of pro-
life crops, like the past year, mil
lions of bushels OF grain are de-
etroYed and wasted at the West,
because it cannot be got to market
for reasonable sum. This condi-
tion of things hiss at length arrest
ed the attention of tho representa-
tive inen OF the country. and the
inquiry has already been instituted
as to whit means ought to be
adopted to cheaper transportation.
The railroads have grown to he
stupendous monopoIies, and tax
the people of the whole country
and OF Gil clatses more heavily than
the federal government can ven
ture to tax them. A railroad that
costs twenty millions Initiates its
stock to forty, fifty or sixty mil
lions, and then demands fares from
the travelling public and rates ot
freight from our farmers and mer
chants to pay interest on the in.
fated or watered stock. This is a
more burdensome and iniquitous
than the government imposes, and
goes tar TO rttard the development
and business of the country. The
railroads, like the great rivers, are
the arteries OF commerce among
the States, and Congress has, nc
doubt, the power 10 regulate their
charges. That, at least, is the
opinion ofsome Of the ablest mem
bcrs of both branches Of Congress,
and they seem to think that herein
lies the remedy for the state OF
things complained of. Others
again look to the Improvement Of
the numerous water courses as The
best means for solving the trans
portation problem. The very fact
that railway freights are estimated
10 be eight times as costly as waite,
carriage, 10 perhaps the strongest
argument in favor Of availing our
selves Of the means which nature
has SO generously placed at oul
disposal for relieving the gorge OF
one section, and the dearth Of an.
other. The cl,eapening of trans
portation through the utilization o.
the water routes, would no doub
compel 3 chcapen:Dg OF railwa,
charges. II was the question o
cheap transportation that attractes
the attention of the. far-reachins
statesmen when the Republic wa.
in its infancy. and which led to thu
digging OF the Erie Canal. Thi'
City and State, and the then ''fa
West" bordering on the grea
lakes, received an impetus iron
that commercial artery, which pro
duced untold prosperity, and b!
which millions are now being benc
fitted. The best way, tEen, t
cheaper transportation, is to i'm
prove and utilize the various waite
lines, following this up by radi
cal reform in our railroad system
The feeling on this subject has be
come very strong in the West. lie
the East heartily cooperate in
matter which affects tho materia
interest OF every section of tn
Union.
The Fables Of Zambri, the Parse'