Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-06-05
SECOND DAY.
Some new delegates were admitted.

| Some new delegates were admitted.
| report was adopted providing for the So
Letting of the cooperation Of all the farmers
| clubs and agricultural societies in the country;
| and that each society and clab be entitled to
| one delegate, no matter how small the club,
and all State agricultural societies to two dele
| gates the entrance fee to be fixed by the Com
| mittee on Finance.
| Several resolutions relating to transporta-
| ton, etc, were offered and referred.
| Resolutions in favor of the Morrill, land
! grant bill, and providing for the appointment
! of q committee to memorabilia Congress in its
! behalf, were debated and laid on the table to
| be called up at the pleasure of the Congress.
The resolution condemning the Eight-hour
| law and requesting Congress to repeal it was,
after discussion, voted down by large major
| ity.
A resolution to appoint q committee of
three to confer with the railroads, and solicit
| the usual reduced fare courtesies to the mem
! bers of the Congress, was debated aud finally
| defeated-3O to 26-many not voting.
The Committee on Transportation made the
| following report:
The cheap transportation of persons and proper
! ty Is national necessity. Our country is i'm
mense, and Its climate productions and wants very
| varied and diverse in its different parts The emf
nert thinker, DR.. Draper, in his Civil Policy Of
America, has stated that he regards cheap trans
portation, even looking at it simply as means of
| commlngling fraternizing. and unifying our popu-
laion, a. a national necessity. Even more true, if
possible, is the statement that the great
| est good of the of the peo-
pie is to be subserved by furnishing all
articles whose production is local, but whose con
sumption is general and necessary, at the lowest
Northwest produced 100000 600 bushels of cereals
| in 1870 bushels for every man, woman and
child of its population and enough, properly disu
| buted, to feed the whole 400OOOOO Of the nation,
while the East had not grain enough to last her
more than three months of the year and the four
Southern States of South Carolina, Georgia. Ala
/ hnnn and do ,;rnI = Inn Ma =.
| more grain than they grew. Pennsylvania has ex-
| haustless mines of coal. Massachusetts, with her
immense factories, has none. The Southern States
have soil eminently adapted to the production of
| cotton and sugar, articles sought and needed by
all portions of the more Northern States
Missouri has her immense mines of iron,
| where. The Pacific Coast has her mines, her
wheat and her minerals valuable to all. To fetch
and carry these raw products, and the secondary
products OF the manufacture from producer to
consumer, at the lowest cost, is the most worthy
| and most desirable object of the day 1t will re-
move an oppressive burden that now rests like an
incubus upon the producing interests Of the coun
| try, and give cheap food, cheap fuel, and cheap
! clothing to the people everywhere. In examining
INTO this subject find that in the first place the
present avenues for freight and transportation are
lnsuf1clent or At least as now organized and oper-
ated do not do their proper work Our water routes
are obstructed by falls and rapids that not over
come; by shoals and sand bars that are not re-
moved, and for months Of the year are bIockaded
by ice or by low water. The railways, being used
ooth ioi passenger ana 1relgn1 transportation,
Of freight, and both water and A railway
routes are blocked by an insuffciency Of
warehouses, elevators and other modes of
transferring freight at our principal inland and
seaboard cities. We find, moreover. that rates
charged by transportation companies exorbi-
tant, as compared with the necessary cost, and are
even prohbtory in their character at points remote
from the great markets. While Mr.. Quincy and
Mr., X: H. Ferguson have demonstrated that it i.
possible to carry bushel of grain from ST. Louis
or Chlcago to the seaboard by rail for cents and
we oeleve 10 cents per bushel is ample to do So
the statistics show that during the last five years
the charges for such carriage have averaged over
81 cents from Chicago and over 81 cents from ST.
LOUIS, or from three TO five times the necessary
COST. Inc rates by water, whilst considerably
lower are sull much above the necessary cost, and
IN he northern part of the country not in opera
ton during the winter season The charges of eieya
tors and other warehouses have many points been
also eAoroant and oppressive. Thus, In seasons of
plenty the producer finds the price of his products
reduced 9eiow me cost Of production, and in
warranta6le and unbearable prices for the neces-
sares OF life. Not only this, but inasmuch as the
seaboard prices. except in cities Of local scarcty
Tx the producers prices at his own locality the re-