Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1873-04-10

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TAE QUESTION.
All over the great West the agricul'
tural portion Of the people are alive
and active In the work Of securing BY
some means the cheapening Of the
cost Of transportation to the seaboard,
and thence to all the world, Of its pro.
duce. It IS an enterprise fraught, n
we trust with immense benefits to oul
people, and to tho people Of the whole
country ~ well. The broad and fer
tile prairies Of Illinois, Wisconsin,
Minnesota, IowA Nebraska and Kan-
sas have for two decades been the FL
dorado which the farmer farther east
has sought, and these States, fully util-
lied, comprise granary from which
the world might subsist.
Fifteen years ago the great desider-
atum with all these States was to get
railroads to carry their produce to mar
ket. Enthusiasm itself ran wild to see
the iron horse, with its long and well
laden train of cars, whistling by the
doors of our farmers and through our
towns. We labored, We expended Of
our money and our time, as people,
all over this goodly State Of ours, and
where energy and money did most
abound, there success attended tho ef.
fort. In our own Iowa roads have
been multiplied wonderfully, and yet
there is abundant room for more and
more are every year being built, as
win continue to be the case. By these
great wealth and population have been
added, as if by magic, to oil these
Statcs.
While the above named States have
gained wonderful advantages from the
railroads already built yet the roads
themselves have fallen to q large ex-
tent into the hands Of the great capi.
talists Of the country, and consolida-
ton has become SO common, Of thro'
lines TO the scaboard, that the wrongs
and the extortions they practice upon
all our people has Justly awakened
public sentiment, and the voice Of the
people is heard In the National halls
Of legislation. The people Of the
West demand, and they are detsrmin. !
ed to have, either by railways or By
water, communication which will not
cost three-fourths Of the value of the
articles transported oget them to mar
ket. To secure this no State legisla-
tion will bring 1t about, but It becomes
necessary for the National Government
to take hold Of the work, a. It IL now
doing, or taking the preliminaries
therefor, and BY artificial connection
Of water courses by canals and rail.
ways owned or controlled by the Gov
ernment, make cheap channels for the
expectation OF our produce, and the
importation Of needed articles. All
preconceived nofinna which atand In
the way Of the consummation Of snch
results will surely give way and the
march of progress towards enlarging
the facilities for communication smong
the people, including, as we believe, the
telegraph postal system, or something
akin to II, will certainly be among the
accomplishments Of the near future.
There are dangers to the progress Of
the movement now being made to
bring about the desired end, and we
ftly close this artele by quoting from
a leading agricultural paper Of the
Northwest, the Prairie Farmer, its
language in setting forth one of these
dangers;
sIf allowed to do SO, politicians will
rend it in fragmcntr before next falls
election. Journals In the interest of
party are already attempting to ride
the machine straight into one or the
other Of the party camps. The move
mont knew no party in the beginning;
it knows no party now, save its own,
and it would seem that it should new
er know any other. Keep it on its lew
ell way, and no party will hope to win,
or even to exist, without all the re-
forms asked for inscribed upon its BAN
ners and pledged In Its platforms. No
candidate for Office can hope for cleo
ton, or to live out Q reasonably long
political life without pledging himself
-and carrying out the pledge, too
to eternal opposition 10 monopoly
abuses, to Credit Mobiliers, to salary
grabs,' to further land slides and to
be in favor of official integrity and
economy, and exact Justice to all in the
management Of public affairs"
4.