, 1873-10-30
PRlCE.LEGlSLATl0M.

s1n Whom public officer is granted certain
powers and dutios, which the people caunot do
without and cannot buy elsewhere, it Is bcst tllat
tho grantor aay what pay ho may accept for his
services, except, OF course ho .be President of
the United States. But, when the channels Of
commerce are as open to competition and multi
plication as tho harveBt-lolds and factorios that
food them, or the markets thoy supply with
vonaibles, tho price to bo paid per pound, bushel,
or passenger, for carriage by those channels,
onght, and in tho Anal solution Of the trans-
portation problem, will bo, left equally open to
control by that law which is above Legislatures
and fundamental to tho highest typo Of transfer
aa woll at traffic, tho law OF supply and domand;
FREQ trade.
Legislnting grain, lumbor, cattle, and humane
ity acroBs the country at statutory price,
eyincea Judgment for hand-sleds in summer,
and wheelbarrows for tile medium Of commune
cation betweon production, manufacture and
consumption. 1t smncks of a parental hand Of
State laid. upon individual iutereats with the
warm affection Of the step-mothor who blisters
her hand to "bastc tho child she loves not,
but asaumoa authority to regulate.
Why would it not bo equally wiao for legis1a-
tive wieoaores to fix the price at which potatoes
shall be sold, as the prico ut which
they shall bo cartcd by rail from cors-
try to city? The power to do tho
lattor Inns wrapped within it the power to perpo-
trato the former stroke Of despotio meldling.
And the actual onactment OF legislative rates
not fur or tho germ OF inclination to pin tho
| eating-prico to tho potato itself. Why not
further develop this theory. Of uniformity by
enactment, in opposition to tho natural law Of
| variation to meot the supply and the demand,
and put d .prico for future years. not only on
potatoos, but all articles Of consumption, that
| oyory man may know In ndvance tho cost Of
future life, and decide whether it be best to stay
| their joint-and-soyerai uoBe to the root OF tho
| mattor-the potato hill land say how much it
Hhall produce each yenr, ~ we'll as how much it
alal! cost to got its product. to fnarkes!. This
would afford tho farmer sure basis upon which to
| figure his future profits and lossoH, and doter-
| nlino, to day, how soon ho would be rich
enough to join tho church and purchase pillow
in Abrahans bosom. At the same time, 1t might
whether the pooplo shall cut the Early-Rore
tuber or the Peachb|ow with butter or gravy,
and what proportion OF tho moaly csculent is es~
so1ltial to go0d hash.
and uufathomab1e folly into which the theory Of
regulating transportation by Legislative en-
actmont Inevitably leads in praotice II applied
to analogous interosts Competition must ulti-
msoy severn the income Of tho 1al1Sa an and
it's line, as 1t docs every other branch OF
'business that is mado profitable only by
the application OF personal brans and hard
work. If 8 pushing tradesman strikes for tue
frontier settlomentt, opens bis dry goods aud ana
groceries in q sod hoyel, and, over docr-skin
stretched upon poles for counter, demands
for his truck many times itB value, should tho
Territorial Legislature convene to mark down
Until rival booth slnli 'bo oponed. people will
probably pay too much or 80 without. Yet tlie
tradesman. With $50 invested, ia "monopo,-