Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1873-08-06
The Farmers War.


railroad presiden,, gives a very lucid ex- ,
plantation Of the main features Of the con- 4
test gong on between the farmers and the
railroads:-
The Chicago, Alton and St. Louis rail-
road is one Of those most effected by the
new law in this State, and having boon
party to the suit argued before the Su-
preme Court Of tho State, IN which Judge
Lawrence made his decision declaring the
law Of 1871 TO be unconstitutional, its
officers have studied the whole railroad
problem with greater care than those OF
almost any other road. To one Of them
am. therefore, indebted for much valuable
information bearing upon the present con-
troversy. lie agreed with others with
whom / have convcrsed, both railroad
men and farmers, that one Of the chief
causes of the present movement" among
the farmers is the extraordinary abund-
auco of the crops, during the past two
years, the consequent excess Of grain sup
ply over the demand, and necessarily low
prices. "Then," he continued "there is
$ anothc, fact which the farmers will not
admit, though it is nevertheless true, that
tho high prices during the war have en-
gendered expensive habits among the
farmers, of which they knew nothing be-
IS fore When horse or mule was worth
two prices, and bushcl of corn or oats
'e three, the silk dress got into the family,
and they don't know, now, when hard
:, times have come how TO get it out. Then,
too, the railroads made money, and
n though their freight charges were high,
the farmers did not complain. We'll, when
nd they began to be short of money tho far
mers looked about for somebody to blanc
" for it, and seeing that the railroads took
g. considerable percentage for the transpor'
tation of their grain, they naturally, often
Q without stopping to reason, jumped to the
conclusion that it must be all tho fault o.
V the railroads that they we're not more pros
or porous. This idea has been famed by the
politicians and demagogucs who don
j. have a pound of freight to transport in {
year, until the excitement has grown to h
10 what you sec. Several attempts hav'
been made to regulate tariffs by law, bu
the railroads took no notice Of them, unit
they finally got tired of contcsting tn
- matter in the courts, and concluded actu
ally to make their schedules as this las
: law requires them to do, abandon certai
- :, classes Of business, as they will be oblige
to do, and let the farmers see what the re
suit will be. So on tho LIST of this mont
the railroads of the Slate generally raise
-, their rates I'll tell you by and by VIII
:. this was necessary, and VIC arc now b'
~ ~ ginning to see the working of the ne
49,, law"
}Dt In answer to further questions he SAT-
, ;f "We don't know yet how the execute
,o,- of the law will affect US but, even vii
hr, the increased rates, We shall probab
Ok. make less money than under the old ono
ara Tho effect upon many kinds of busine
IN along the different roads will, if the Ia
~, is enforced, be very disasterous. Tai
,,d the coal mining business, for instanc
u,d along the line of the Rock Island roa
!. Here is one man whose mine is 6l mil
,,,u from Chicago, another whose mine is II
-. miles ont. another who is IA miles ava
,n,d and q fourth whose mine is 1876 miles oil
v Now. all these men send their coal
=. Chicago the cost Of mining Is about t
,;tv same at each point IF the railroad Co
.stic papy must increase its freight charges
tb. each one of the ten stations between
oor first and the fourth mans mine and is |
Zoe allowed to take the last mans coal
1a Chicago about as cheap as it does the fir
you can very easily see what tho res
noli- will be-the man who is nearest Chica
fol- will under sell the other three, ard
, of stroy their business. Again, the Michig
nell, Central buys coal in the central part
gton this State; but if they don't have SO
Ugh special rates which will be cheaper Il
345 what is paid for single carload taken
ears, same number of miles to way-stati
made their coal will cost SO much that they
,OOe have to buy it elsewhere. The same
, on true of tho miller's business. There
re a numerous points on our road where tn
nd are mills in which wheat is ground up
with then sent to Chicago or st. Louis to N
stood ket. Now the st. Louis mills govern
ut q market there, and We have been in the h
, and it Of giving the milers along our line ch
heat rates, SO that they could afford to cont
in the business but under this law
r.,s are considering we are forbidden to
,nch" this, and the mills will either have 10
Some or find a direct market to New Ycrk.
g oa | said that l should suppose tina
would he belter for the producer to