Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1873-05-13
Cheap Transportation.

The Farmers Convention in Mem York
Permanent 0rganiizatio,s- xfaoption .,
Resolutions, dc.
New York, May THE farmers, Cheap
Transportation Convention reassetnbied this
morning. The constitution and by>laws were
reported by the committee appointed to draft
them. 1t provides that the organization shall
be known as the National American Cheap
Transportation Association, whose objectshali
De the cheapenine and equalization of railroad
transportation routes throughout the United
States. 1t provides for u SD bordinate associa-
tlon!sln each State, and regulates minor mat
ters Tor the guidance and government Of the
national and State associations. The commit
tee on permanent organization reported the
following officers:
President, Josiah Quincy. of Boston; Sec
rotary, 81. II. Ferguson, Troy, N. Y; [Here
follows list of the Vice>Presidents-Jo ohm
A. Thomson, Esq, being named as the Vice.
President for West Virginia
The repor. of the committee was approved
The chairman of the committee on resolu>
tions made q report. The resolutions, as
amended and adopted, declare:
"That i. is the duty of the hour and the
mission of this association to obtain from Con-
gress aud the different State Legislatures such
legislation as may be necessary to control and
limit by law, within proper constitutional and
legitimate limits, the rates and charges of ex.
listing lines of transportation, to increase,
where practicable, the capacity of our present
water ways, and to add such new avenues, both
water aud rail, as our immensely increased
internal commerce demands. so that the pro-
Queer may be Jointly rewarded for his honest
toll, the consumer have cheap products, and
our almost limitless surplus find foreign mar
kets at rates to compete with the world.
s'Thas cheap transportation. both of persons
and property, being most conductive to free
movement of the people and the widest in
terchange and consumption of the products
OF different parts of the Union, is essential to
the welfare and prosperity of the country.
"Ihat constant and frequent association of
the inhabitants OF remote parts of the United
States is not only desirable, but necessary for
tho maintenance of homogeneous population
within tho vast area of our territory
"That the best interest of the different
parts of the country also demand the freest
possible interchange of the industrial pro-
ducts Of the varied climates aud industries of
the United States so that breadstutfS, textile
fabrics, coal, lumber, iron, sugar and various
other products, local in their production but
general in their consumption, may all reach
the consumer at the least practicable cost of
transportation, and that arbitrary and un-
necessary tax levied by the transporter over
and above fair remuneration for Investment is
burden upon the producer and consumer
that it is a part of wise craftsmanship to re-
move.
'That certain leading railroad corporations
of the country, although chartered to subserve
tho public welfare, aud endowed with the right
OF eminent domain solely for that reason, have
proved themselves practically monopoies,
and become the tools, of avaricious and I'M
scrupulous capitalists, to be used to p'under
the public, earich themselves and impoverish
the country through which they run.
THAT many of the railroad corporations
have not only disregardcd public convenience
and prosperity. hut have oppressed the citizens.
brihcd our Legislatures and dcfied orr exec>
u:ives and, judges, and stand o-tlay the most
menacing danger to American liberty and to
republican, government.
THAT the present system of railway mans
agement having failed to meet the Just ex-
pectat"ns and demands of the long, suffering
people. must be radically reformed and con-
tr"lled Ivy the strong hand nf the law, both
State and national, aud railway corporations
compelled to perf"rm their proper functions
as servants aud not masters Of the people
''That to this end we invoke the aid Of all
fnrminded men in all the States Of the Union
in excluding from ethe halls of legislation
from our executive offices and from the bench
all such railway officials, railway attorneys OF
other hirelings as prostitute public Office to
the base uses of private gains.
''That leaving the different sections and in>
terests that desire cheap transportation to work
out the problem in such manner as thew
may deem best, we earnestly invoke their
careful consideration. their energetic action,
and their resoluic will in regulating and con-
trolling the rates of transportation. aud Civ
ing remunerative wages to the producer and
cheap products to the consumer. nntaxed by
unearned charges for their carriage
THAT we invite the people Of the various
States to organize subsidiary associations
State, county and town-to corporate with
the national association that the power to &C.
complish the purposes desired rests absolutely
with the suffering millions. Relief is now
within their reach and control. United ac-
| tion and the near future will give, as certain
as its need, for all time aud the good of all,
the true solution of the problem of cheap
transportation"
On motion, committee was appointed to
draft an address to the people, The conven>
tion then adjourned to meet in Washington in
January, 1871, at the call of the executive
committee.
INGERsoLL's LIFE OF GREELEY.-We call
attention to the advertisement of the ''Lifo
and times of Horace Greeley work of which
J.. D. Ingsrsol is author, and the Union Pub,
fishing Co., publishers. We judge from the
table of contents, and advance sheets of this
book, to be issued May lst., that it will be
the Life of Horace Greeley which the people
will above all OF hers want. 1t is full graphic,