Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1873-05-15
Burning Corn.


was being burned up for fuel be-
cause railway companies charged
SO much for carrying it 10 mark et
that it BECAME OF no particular
value to the farmers, were receiv-
ed with many doubts, and some
journals did not hesitate to pro.
nounce the whole statement 70
nance Of the prairies. Some of
the more thoughtful ones, how
ever, resolved to ascertain what
sort Of foundation the story rested
upon, aud accordingly dispatched
correspondents TO various corn
centerS of Iowa, Illinois, Kansas
and Missouri, and are now not only
convinced OF the thorough genu
ineness of the statement that corn
was being freely used by the
farmers for fuel, but that manu-
facturers absolutely buy corn in
vast quantities and burn it in their
furnaces. One of these papers
states that its correspondent in
! Central Iowa writes that corn Is a
drug there at l23 cents. In some
other sections of that State it is
even cheaper, SO cheap, indeed,
that it is used, wher, tim Der Is
scarce and dear, tor fuel. In
some instances ii has been eco
nomicalIy used for fuel for manu-
factories. Such ia is as these are
Will calculated TO arouse the i'm
patience of the people at the fail
ure to realize cheap Transports
ton. While such use of an i'm
portaDt article of food may, per-
haps, be jusri6abl- under certain
emergencies, as, for instance,
where the supply is SO superabuu-
dant that there is, practically, no
other use Tor it, and where fuel is
scarce aud bears an eXOrbitant
| price; yet in a world where there
are hungry people aud all the food
produced is needed tor human sus.
tenance and comfort, the babituaI
burning CT corn for fuel cannot be
heard of with indifference. In a
country like ours we may know
that it implies something wrong
in "a nagement, and the first im.
pulse toward investigation will
naturally be in the direction Of
our transportation system. Corn
that can be bought in Iowa at 10
to 20 cents per husbel, cUsts 65 10
so cents by the time it reaches the
seaboard market, the difference of
80 To 60 cents representing the
transportation and Incidental
charges Thus, it an Iowa farm
er has 500 bushels of corn which
| he desires to send to the seaboard,
it will cost him about the home
value of 400 of them to get the
other 100 to the purchaser. Uu.
less this evil can be speedily rene
died, by means of more ample
transportation facilities, there is
danger of a serious check to agri.
cultural development. During
years of prolific crops, like the
past year, millions of bushels Of
grain are destroyed and wasted at
the West, because it cannot be GOT
to market for a reasonable sum.
This condition of things has at
length arrested the attention of
. the representative men of the
country, and the inquiry has al.
ready been instituted as to what
means ought TO be adopted to
cheaper transportation. The rail.
roads have grown to be stipend
. Gus monopoIies, and tax the PEG,
pie of the whole country,and Of
all classes more heavily than the
Federal Government can venture
to tax them. A railroad that
costs twenty millions initiates its
stock to forty, fifty, or sixty mil.
/; lions, and then demands fares from
the travelling rublic and rates of
freight from our farmers and mer.
chants to pay interest on the iii.
f1ated or watered stock. This is
a more burdensome aud iniquito US
tax than the government imposes.
The farmers movement in Iowa