The interior journal. [volume] (Stanford, Ky.) 1872-1881, 1873-02-21
The Railroads and the Farmers.


The Railroads and the Farmers.
Prom the Cincinnati Enquirer.
There is no longer need 10 assert the
power Of railroad monopolies. Two men
controlled for years s70. 900, 900 in Erie,
owned Courts and Legislature, and for
one black day held the finances and com
mercial interests Of the American people
in their merciless grasp, and only when
the hundred millions which Boutwell, had
boarded were opened on wall street did
their power waver. Two men have long
been credited with owning the State Of
Pennsylvania and large interest in sew
eral other States. a manager in the
Chicago and Northwestern Railroad
Company, when away from home, boast
ed Of having carried a measure through
the Legislature Of one Of the great
States Of the West with sl46. 900. Four
years ago a single man in Congress, who
was at the same time a railroad monopo-
list, with the facinating finger Of bribery
touched the willing palms Of the foremost
christian statesman in the land. handled
q hundred millions Of dollars, partly
stolen from the Government and partly
gulled out Of stock holders.
In the New York Legislature = few
years ago. when some men wished to
make raise they introduced a bill
initiating against the schemes Of Fisk
and Gould. Their purses would straight
way be made plethoric and the bill be
forgotten. When men in Illinois became
limited as to their private exchequers
they only needed to propose a measure
touching that sensitive monopoly, the
Transportation Company at st. Louis.
which owned the Mississippi river a:
that point, End st. Louis monopolis,
would .s,.e the first train Cor Springfield.
Illinois. The process of acquiring this
tremendous power is very simple An
enterprise, new sad feeble. needs aid.
and readily gets il f-on the funds and
tie laws Ct en- eu:srpsisins Comncn-
wealth. When t:.e corporations becomes
strong. ani needs fewer favors, it gras,s
more.
The insstiate greed Of rril-oad corpo-
ratioas in the West affects chiefly the in
teros;s Of the most important class Of
producers Of values in America-;he
farmers. A Western State State char
tors railrosd, nominating in the bond
certain limitations to the rates Of tariff
en- f-eights which the company may ex-
act or receive, and the company present
ly defes the Legislature and puts Up it,
rates fifty per cent Governor Austiu,
Of Minneacta. in his recent message an
nounees that the legislation Of the session
Of 1872 is openly disregarded and deied
BY the railroad companies which have
right of way through that State. Ex-
orbitEnt charges for transportation are
made. which fearfully depress the com
mandirg interest Of Minnesota, the agri-
cultural. The farmers thus get the low
est prices for what they sell, and pay the
highest prices for what they buy. As
We are essentially an agricultural peo-
pie. and rs the interest Of the farmer is,
and for many years will remain. the
most considerable feature in American
political economy, the interest Of the
farmer the most important producer.
should be the first to be protected. But
the railroad companies throughout the
Great West and Northwest, in violation
alike Of their charters and of justice, are
paralyLing the foremost industry of those
States and Of the country by excessive
rates of transportion. This is done, of
course, by n tsw men to enrich them
selves. Men can ship goods from the
Mississippi river to the Atlantic Ocean
for the price charged on some of these
lines where there is no competition for
carrying the same goods hundred and
fifty miles.
What is true in Minnesota of the rail
road corporations, according to the testi-
mony Of Governor Austin, is true in
nearly all the States of the Northwest
And not only do the monopolists elevate
the regular rates beyond the limits al |
lowed by law. but they impose the fast
freight" fraud upon the Western produ-
GERS. They cannot possibly take freight,
they protest, unless it goes on one of
these fast trains at advanced rates. And
thus an additional exortation is practiced.
When few owners of railroads are liv-
ing in palaces. and thousands of farmers
ON the prairies of the West are burning
corn for fuel because they cannot ship it
at profit at the freight rates demanded,
there needs no ghost come from the grave
20 tell US that high-handed outrage is