The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-02-24
The Problem of Cheap and
Ample Transportation.
Statistics of the Immensely In
creased Production.
RAIL AND RIVER ROUTES.
The st. Lawrence and The Erie Canal-M0n.
trcal and Manhattan.
The Farmer in Politics-A National Grange
Realization Of the Jefsrsonian Farmers
Rspublic''-What the Movement Con-
templates and May Achieve

hepuDuc WAT the MOVomouV COu.
templates and May Achieve
CHICAGO. H., Feb. II, 1873.
The HERALD In Its leading article OF the LIST
inst. on 'Cheap Transportation and the Necessi-
ties of the West" wherein was clearly indicated
the power Of Congress under the constitution to
interfere and regulate the prices to be charged for
freight, and the suggestion conveyed that trunk
freight lines from the prairies to the seaboard
should at once be built, has struck popular chord
in the West and given the agitation increased
strength and a new direction Much of the local
agitation, as your correspondent has already had
occasion to show, was only due to the regular an
nual clamor always raised when there Is large
crop, or when the improvements OF the st. Law
renee water route is under discussion. The aspira-
tons OF candidates for ofice DESTROYS OF
obtaining the support Of the rural members
were also credited with q share OF the agitation.
But beyond and underlying all this was the indls-
putable fact that each year, with its gcometrically
increasing corn crops, was bringing the time rap
idly nearer when tho present imperfect system
must be swept away, and, In its stead, system
substituted under which 1t will be possible for what
leaves Iowa bushel OF corn 10 arrive In New York
something more than half peck. Both sides-the
farmers and the railroad men-had their friends
and advocates In the Western press, but so plainly
was 1t to be that the course OF these journals
was indicated and inspired by interest that their
advocacy carried with it no weight When, how
ever, the HERALD-which from its position as
journal above the necessities Of organship, and
beyond the considerations OF cheap applause ana q
few weekly subscribers-stepped into the field and
took sides with the people, an impression was at
once created that the time had arrived when In
the interests OF the country at large not OF class
clique or corporation,
THE GREAT RAILROAD PROBLEM
had to be settled. And not alone in the immediate
matter of fares and freights and the providing of
additional and adequate facilities for transporta-
tion but the still more momentous problem was
coming up for solution-whether the national gov
eminent had the power and pluck to deal with and
control the railroads. rendered more formidable
year by year, as great companies become gigantic
combinations. and corporations were created
which made sovereign States their washpot and
threatened to cast out their shoe over the national
government ITSELF
In your correspondents previous letter he gave
briefly the views Of the railroads and farmers with
some extracts from the annual messages Of the
various Governors, all tending to show the hold
which the question had obtained upon the public
mind. Having since that writing visited Indiana
and Western Illinois, SO as to obtain the views Of
Eastern and Western producers, prepared statis-
tics Of various descriptions bearing upon the sub
ject, and having had conversations with railroad
men representing both the Eastern and Western
roads,, grain dealers and editors of the agricul-
tural press, he feels comparatively sure that this
letter will be sufficiently exhaustive to render
further correspondence unnecessary, save as sue
Cesslve events arising msy demand to he recorded
as matters OF news.
IMMENSE INCREASE OF PRODUCTION.
The immense increase OF production has aston.
shed all observers during the past three years. and
any who intelligently views the situation will
conclude that this volume already vast will be gi-
gantic by 1876. The States Of Iowa, Wisconsin and
minnesota are rapidly attracting immigrants. They
have oil caught the railroad fever, too, and hun
dreds of miles OF new rails arc being laid annually
not in trunk lines, but in feeders, which, striking
of from systems already in existence, open up and
tap new and fertile districts. In Iowa, for in
stance, new, large and thinly settled State,
eighty-nne counties out OF ninety have rail-
roads running through them. Again, the Northern
opened vast fertile tract for settlement and
cultivation. And all the productions Of this
Chicago and must be- brought to chicSSe While ie
she controls such trunk lines as the Illinois Central
Chicago, Burlington and quincy, Rock Island and
Pacific, Northwestern and st. Paul roads.
The produce OF this area OF country will be al
most exclusively corn The wheat-growing belt
seems to recede at the same pace that civilization
advances, and the cultivation OF that superior
cereal to be confined to newly broken country
The fact is on record that the wheat acreage and
crop in Illinois Is not only not increasing relatively
to the population OF the State, but that it is really
decreasing. But take the corn crop. In 1871 the
receipts at Chicago were Al, $50, 1888 bushels, the
greatest ever known. In 1872 they amounted to
0S7 bushels an increase Of considerably over
thirteen per cent, while the receipts for 1871 were
S0000O0 OF bushels, or twenty-three per cent over
those of any preceding year. In two years the
corn receipts have sprung from 49, 100000 bushels
to Al, 900 bushels AT this rate, or, rather in
view OF the present prospects, 1t would seem as II
the annual receipts at Chicago would surpass
sEvENTY-Two MILLIONS OF BUSHELS
OF corn by the time Of the celebration OF cur ma
tional centenary.
The shipments from Chicago last year were as