The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1873-11-01

Quilt, kcC IL US uOuc ny pIANdtC SHtCa
prise. Our past experience should !.
make US cautious in entering upon any !!
system of internal improvements. |
It was suggested in a meeting OF !!
Changers in Boston not long since,
that the only practicable way by which
the people could hope to escape rail- |
road exactions was for the Govern
ment to buy up and assume control of
all the railroads in the United States.
This would be most unwise and dan
gerous. Leaving out of view the in
crease it would make in our already
burthensome public debt, it would put
into the hands of the party that at the
time be in control of the Government.
patronage that might prove most
dangerous to the liberties Of the peo-
pie. Put our vast railroad lines, ex-
tending into every section Of the I'm
ion, and the two millions of employees
necessary to control them, into the
hands Of any administration, and it
might continue itself in power for an
unlimited time. The patronage of the
Government is already too great, and
not be extended.
The Indiana farmer, from his geo.
graphical position, with the advantage
of the lowest freight rates that can be
secured for him, must, for years at
least, lose largely by his distance from
markets and the length of the lines
over which his products must pass to
reach them. From recent speech of
Senator Morton take the following
instructive statistics: In 1870 Penn
sylvania had of domestic animals of all
kinds 5,OO6, $50; Indiana SSH .69. In
the same year the Pennsylvania farm
er produced of grains of all kinds Co.,
AGO. 900 and the Indiana farmer 79,-
$50, 1000 bushels. For these products
the Pennsylvania farmer received
$1S3, ,46, 600; the Indiana farmer but
$122,914,OOO. 1t will be seen by this
statement that Indiana, producing
5O5, 600 more animals and 1900, 900
bushels more grain than Pennsylvania,
receives over $6l ,OOO, 600 less. While
our principal markets and large man
ufacturing interests continue on the
seaboard, we cannot hope to obtain
the same prices for the productions of
our farms that are secured by those
nearer to them. These disadvantages
can be overcome only by building up
manufacturing interests and securing
a large body of consumers at home,
| Why may we not make steel and iron
in Indiana? Our coal measures cover
one fifth part of the State, and are
quite half as large the coal area of
Great Britain and Ireland. Our coal
beds are $500 square miles in extent,
and, according to the opinion Of the
best informed, are peculiarly adapted
to iron manufactures. These coal
fields are yet almost untouched, and,
if We are to rely upon the estimate of
Professor Cox, should we consume a
million of tons year, itwould require
1000 years to exhaust the supply. It
may be true that we may not be able
| to obtain large supplies of ore from
bring it from abroad? The iron man
| ufactured on the Alleghanies is, al
most all of it, the product of ore
brought from Lake Champlain, Lake
Superior and Iron Mountain. Missouri.
i We can reach these iron fields as easi-
ly and as cheaply as can the manufac-
turer at Pittsburg. D.. -
|, Why is it we send our wool to man
ufactories in the East, pay the cost of
| its transportation there and back, the
, charges Of the commission merchant.
the profits of the Wholesale dealer
/ there and of the retail dealer at home,
, when, by building up home manufac-
/ | tories we could save ourselves this
, trouble and cost? We ought to be able
! to have our fieeces put into fabrics at
| home and escape all outlay, except the
cost of manufacture alone. Our South
ern States, lying upon our very border,
!, furnish over eighty five per cent. of all
t the cotton produced in the world, and
| yet we send it to Lowell and Manches-
7 ter to have it put into fabrics. Why
: can not this be done in Indiana? II
= may take time to build furnaces and
| fOrges, to start looms and spindlcs, but
2 we may hope to accomplish all these
} by patient and we'll directed effort
: With a proper development of these
t home industries our farmers may hope
: to secure as large prices as those Q.
e New York and Pennsylvania, and ]
e know of no other way by which this
e result can certainly be accomplished
e am not one of those who believ,
Q that labor and capital are necessarily
e antagonistic, and yet money does no
y need the fostering care Of legislation
It while labor may. Money is property
: to be sure, but it is radically unlik,
e any other in many important respects
r, 1t is an invention springing out of
:, necessity. 1t is simply measure O
d values and its legitimate use is, to ia
; cihtate the exchange of commodities
d Without the authority of the State o
l. Government, to make coin or emf
(. bills as money is a crime Mints cal
n be established and a currency create,
j. only by the State or Nation. In it
!. origin it was not intended as an articl
s. of traffic. By all governments its US
l. has been circumscribed and regulated
to- by law Whilst any other propert
E. may be sold for the highest price tina
.r can be obtained for it, statutes hay
s. always existed regulating the price t
to be paid for its use. All exactions, be
v yond rate of interest fixed by law ar
lie usury, and in many instances the tax
n ing of usurious interest has rendere
I'd the contract void. Money being til
ns true representative of all values, a
I'd the people need it, and this universs
s. demand gives it a power 40 other proI
lie erty possesses. Depreciate it and e7
W erybody suffers loss. The monopt
n lists can hoard it and more easily an
he certainly get up corners" on it tina
j. can produce gamblers on grain. Graf
IT, is perishable, and must of necessity
h. reasonable time be put upon the ma
g. ket; but money may without hazard
he retired from circulation until it sui
ly the monopolist's convenience to put
Of afoat. Its ownership should as tn,
n Of other property receive the equ
protection of the law, but reason an
mt experience teach that it is both unwi.
ap and dangerous to grant it special an
ed exclusive privileges. The Nation
n Bank system gives the people an e,
a cellent and almost indispensable Gu
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