The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1873-08-14

tatiOn QucstiOn---An Interest
ine Letter from q kansa
Farmer.
sEDcwIcx, HARVEY Co, Kansas
July auth, ls73. J
Mr.. Editor. Matters have bee
very quiet here this summer. Me
have about quit dying with the
boots on. Since the Blenders lei
Southern Kansas we have not had
first class sensation. The peopl
have been quietly at work making
their crops, and have met with yer.
general success. The trouble OF Inv
ing in country where all are farm
ers now begins to be felt. Everybod.
has produce to sell; but who is t.
buy! II we had money to buy th'
thousands Of Texas cattle that arr
now seeking purchasers, we might
perhaps, solve this question. The
great leading products of the country
are corn and grass. The cattle would
convert these into commodity o.
higher market value. A commodity
that would bear shipment to mar
ket. 1t is said that there are
10000 head now awaiting shipment
from Wichita; and that very few have
yet been shipped for want Of a market
But | Judge they are beginning &c
move now. for | was in Sedgwich
yesterday, and train Of forty cars
driven by two engines, and loaded
with cattle passed through.
| received, recently, letter from
Iowa, holding. this language: 1.-The
Changers are rampant here. So far
they have done themselves more
harm than good, as freights are high.
er now than they were before. There
is no telling where it will all end
but another civil war seems proba-
ble.' Permit me, Mr.. Editor, as an
outside spectator to give my views
of this matter.
! anticipate no civil war from this
movement. We have had enough OF
that to satisfy the present generation
But the same class of men who bro't
on our previous war are busy trying
to manipulate the Grange movement
so as to advance their personal inte-
rests. Several Oranges have recent
" been organized in our county, and
all the worn out politicians who have
lost hope Of official preferment other
wise have suddenly turned farmer
and joined the grange. Let me ex-
hort my farmer friends to watch these
jealous farmers, who never hoed a
hill Of potatoes or raised an ear Of
corn in their lives. The man who
will play farmer merely for the sake
If Office is for sale; you cannot trust
lin. | propose to scratch all such
James when ! 60 to the polls.
1t seems to me that little quiet
york would be worth a world of
'lus.cr in settling this matter of rail-
DAD tariffs. The present rates of
reight l believe are IS cts. to 81 per
undred for freights from the Miss
ssippi to the Atlantic, and the roads
ave all they can carry at these rates.
,et it is claimed that freights might
e carried that distance at profit at
0 cts. per cwt. Suppose freights
we're suddenly reduced to that figure
y force of law. Who does not see
hat many things now excluded by
heir weight, would be forwarded for
shipment, and the amount of freight
doubled, perhaps quadrupled, and
the roads would be unable to carry it.
What then: Do men proooseto COM
pei the roads to carry more than they
are able? Regulating prices by law
is matter Ct doubtful expediencv
at best. The effort has long been
made to regulate the rate Of interest
on money by law, yet the law is gen.
orally disregarded. The law of sup
ply and demand governs in this mat
ter as in everything else. II the rate
Of interest on money canno, be regu-
lated by law think the attempt will
be futile in other matters. II freights
are really too high the proper rene
~ would be to build one or two
main trunk lines Of double track
Dad exclusively for freight, from the
Mississippi to the Atlantic, to be ulti-
nately extended across the continent.
let these be built under the au.
plces of the government, govern
nent contributing one.half the stock
vhen the other half is raised by pri-
'ate subscription. Let the charter
# these roads fix maximum for
reights, reserving the right to the
government to reduce that maximum
$ it might be expedient. Having
hus proven, by actual experiment
hat freights can be carried at cheap
ates. and provided for the increased
mount of carrying to be done a.
hose rates, government might sue.
require other roads to carry
It corresponding rates. If not, cheaI
narrow guage roads could be built a
eeders, and refractory roads could b.
dispensed with.
But why be at the pains to solv,
this question at all. We are not un
der bonds to send our wool, flax an,
cotton, our iron, copper, lead, hide
and lumber to Boston to have Their
manufactured, to send our whea,
corn, beef, pork, poultry, butter an
eggs there to feed the operatives; an
then to buy back the manufacture
article, and pay, on an average, tie
times as much for it as we get for tn
raw material. We shall always b
poor while we do business in this wa,
We get the market price for our ra,
material, but throw away nine time
as much because we are too rhriftles
to do our own manufacturing. 1t
the old story of the Englishman VIII
sold the fox skin to German for
groat, and bought back the tail for
shilling. England has learned bette
than to do that thing. New Eng
land and the Atlantic slope general
has learned the lesson, and the Miss
isslppi Valley will have it to lear
before we have worked out our tru
destiny.
Farmers that have reliable HON
markets are masters Of the situation
but they cannot be independent Will