Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1873-04-05

may expect ut no distant day to OK
perienco some Of the same kind OF
demonstrations that are now aggi-
Eating our northern brethren. The
used by the Journal in
favor Of cheap transportation is as
applicable here as in the West, and
for that reason we publish tho ar
ticlo entire:
The widespread and, we might almost
call 1t, spontaneous movement OF the
farmers Of the West to rid themselves OF
the excessive burden of railroad combina-
ton, and secure cheap transportation, US
without parallel in the usual calm ana
ouieiude which have heretofore character
lied that large, substantial and orderly
class of our fellow citizens. Excitement
about topics calling for legislative reform
has almost uniformly originated IN, ana 10
u great extent, been confined to, the large
towns and cities, where daily newspapers,
the intrigues of shrewd and ambitious
politicians, and tho facilities for collecting
public gatherings, combine to render the
populace more eXoitable than in the rural
districts. 1t takes question OF FAR more
than ordinary magnitude to arouse the ag-
ricultural class to take the initiative In
the work Of agitation and reform, as II Is
doing at present with startling energy,
especially in the great States OF Illinois,
Iowa and Minnesota. The agitation means
business; the farmers are terribly IN earn
est. Certainly the situation of this class
is calculated to awake tho profounde"tt
sympathy; for the great oppression OF
which they complain so bitterly has been
imposed on their necks by the managers oil
the great lines of railway transportation
built entirely by the subscription OF hard
earned money out of the farmers pockets,
by the self-imposed taxation of farmers,
and by vast donations Of lands which, with
q liberality of doubtful wisdom, they gave
to the railroad corporations out OF the her
itage belonging to themselves and their
children, Now, since the roads have been
built and the officers Of the corporations
have intrenched themselves within then
franchises, the very class of men whose
subscriptions and votes gave vitality. te
the roads are selected as their chief victims
of oppression. The stock which they hold
in some of the roads is greatly below par
and Yields trifing dividend, if any. In
other words, the business has been SC
managed as to lead the farmers to believe
that their stock was without value, and tc
sell it for nominal price. On all th'
roads the rates of transportation, which
were the chief consideration in building
them, are SO high that they almost eat up the
crop by the time i: reaches the great mark
cts. The farmer works hard 'thro' the year
and after sending his crop to market
by railroad finds that after deductlng the
charge for freight he has received aoou
the wages of day-laborer, and nothing
at all for the capital he has invested IL
the farm and its stock and improvement is
He sees something more than this whil'
his railroad stocks. which he usual.
owns in small amounts, brings him no in
come, or perhaps has been sold for mer
song to come speculator who wants TO Vot
| it at directors election, he sees railroad
officials amassing vast fortunes, living II
princely style, and known in popular par
lance as railraod kings. Tom Scott live
like an Eastern prince, and dictates u
legislatures, while the farmers, who's
m oney gave him all his wealth and powe
stripped of their crops to pay extravagan
freight bills, begin to realize in their owl
fate the fable of the rustic who was bitter
by n frozen serpent which he had brough
| TO life on his hearth-stone. Take, for ex
ample, the remorseless plundering con
tracts by which farmers and manufactur
ers are bled for the sake of privileged OF
fcials. We quote from the New lor
Tribune OF, the 22d inst: =,
"Ex-Vice- President Archer's freigh
contract with the Erie Railway, as ex
planned in yesterdays Tribune, has been
| the subject of very general discussion In
railroad and business circles. The lac
that he had such contract was very gen
orally known, but few realized the enor
nous sums paid to him. From prominen
ex-oiiicials and clerks of the Erie railwa.
Company it has been ascertained that hi
percentage on the freights handled b,
him averages $40 per car load, orSsOO
900 per annum.
| sItis rumored that, in order to get thi
contract, he was obliged to diviae receipt
with several officials of the Erie railwa
in the freight and Their departments.
The $80O,000 percentng which wen
into the pocket Of Archer and the official
in the ring would pay the freight bills
great many patrons Of the road, and
only ono of many similar swindles.
No wonder, then, that the farmers
the West are rallying for self'protectio
with the battle cry of Cheap Transpor
tationP No wonder that thousand ban
ners are flying in the winds, inscribe
"Cheaps transportation No wonde
that many aLle speakers are addressin
mass meetings of farmers, whose cry 70
Cheap Transportation is as intensely ear
nest as the cry of the masses in Grea
Britain for cheap bread in the day
of the corn law agitation. The final sue
cess of this great agitation for reform i
neither doubtful nor dis tant, for the caus
of the Western farmers is the cause OF tn
farmers Of the whole country, and it is es
sentially reasonable and just. The trans
portation of farm products at the cheap
J est rates is daily becoming more and NOR
| n matter of vital interest to the mechanic
! and workingmen and tradesmen who con
/ sumo, as we'll as to the farmer who raise
these products. In number as well as IL
intrinsic Importance the agricuturalists
whose toll supplies all other classes will
daily food, constitute the very foundation
of civilized society, and in the prosperit,
of this class is wrapped up that Of ever.
other. That the railroads have acted, AM
are now acting, an important part In tn
development Of the country is freely ad
mitted. They are among the most valua
BILE agencies in the progress OF modern
| civilization. But it is equally true tina
they we're designed to he the instrument
in the hands of the people and not thei
rulers. 1t was the people who construed
ed them, with their money, or with the'
public lands, which we're bought ms Louis
| lana, New Mexico and California wer'
with the blood and treasure Of the peopf
Let the agitation for cheap transports
ton 20 forward until il shall have achie'
ed a complete triumph over the graspin
ambition Of the corporations which oppo'
it, until the railroads of the country sha
have become in fact as we'll as in nan
the useful servants instead of the master
of the people who made them.
Acknowledgment 81
Mn. EDrroR.-On Wednesday the
inst..a anmber Of the ladies of the Ba
list church of this city called on the pa