Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1873-01-03
THE GREAT RAILROAD QUES-
TON.
Letter from Hon. Samuel Shellabar.
ger OF Ohio.

Letter from Hon. Samuel Shellabar.
ger Of Ohio.
FoRTYSEcoND CONGRESS UKlTRD STATES.
House OF REPRESENTATIVES,
WAsHINGToN, ID. G., Dec. Is.
To the Editor of the Boston journal of Com
n'erce'
DEAR SIR:-I received, to-day,
your letter abiding to the bill in.
troduced by me, amendatory of the
act Of Congress, 18th of July, 1866,
which act Of 1866 authorizes rail
road companies of the States "to
carry passengers, ireights, etc, on
their way from any State to another
State, and to receive compensation
therefor, and to connect with roads
OF other States, so rs to form con-
tlnuous lines for transportation of
the same, to the place of destina-
ton" You are kind enough to ask
my views upon the whole subject Of
this bill. 1t is because this great
subject has assumed an importance
which is certainly immense-pro-
badly vital-to the material inter.
ests ofall the people that l have
been impelled to bring it, if 1 can,
to the attention of Congress, and to
attempt the initiation Of such in
vcstigation and measures as may
lead to the assertion by Congress of
whatever powers the Constitution
has given it for the protection OF
commerce among the several
States" And it is because of the
great practical and also the legal
difficulties which are involved in
the regulation of these instrumen.
talities Of commerce among the
States that | have been anxious that
the press. and the business and legal
mind of the country, rs well as Con-
gress, should at once enter upon its
consideration. l am certain there
is not in Congress, as there is surely
not in my own mind, any feeling
of hostility to the railroad interests
of the country, but, on the contrary,
there is the same feeling expressed
by the President, in his recent
message, that these roads have been
and are to be, fproperly conducted,
of incalculablc value to our country,
and that they are to be dealt with,
in all our laws and policies, as such.
But on the contrary | know that the
rapid tendency of these great cor
poratiOnS to combine and CONSOLE
date their immense power, and thus
to destroy all healthy competition
to impose their own, and often OPP
pressivc, charges and discrimina-
tons, upon all internal commerce
and intercourse-to control and sub
sidizc the courts and legislatures Of
the State, and to crush out all pro-
ducing and other interests deemed
adverse to their own-has become
national calamity so appalling that
all thoughtful men, not under their
influence, regard it as the danger
most threatening of all, not only to
our prosperity, but to our continued
existence as a free republic. While
| think there is often cxaggeration
and falsehood uttered rs to these
corruptions and other wrongs in
flicted by the railroads, yet it would
be criminal to disguise or to fail to
act upon the palpable facts i'll the
way Of oppression and outrage to
which they are, more and more, sub
.jecting us. In answer to an I'M
official circular letter sent during
the last session Of Congress to all
parts OF the republic, l receive in
formation showing the most cruel
and intolerable determinations and
exactions made by these common
carriers. Yet these corporations
derive their right to exist from the
grant of the people, and out of their
public domain. The results of
these expressions are seen in fruits
like these: Millions of bushels of
"bread' are to-day being either
burned for fuel or else are rotting
in the fields of the West; and at the
same moment the humane in the
city of New York are organizing
charities to give one, perhaps last,
Christmas meal to from 10000 to
$4,000 men, women and children,
whom they describe as without
work and without bread, and as
selling or pawning first their furni-
turc, then their clothes, then their
children's clothes, and then accept
ing starvation as the last resort.
Is it your opinion, sir, that, when
such state ofatfairS is largely caused
by facts like those just uttered by
the Commissioner for Iowa (Mr.
Robert Lowry in the Centennial
Boards recent meeting in New
York, when he declared, "the crop
of corn in Iowa is immense, but it
costs five bushels to get one to the
seaboard." y
"Thcy are burning corn for fuel in
school-houses, churches and resi-
dences." Will the people long en-
dure it? Do you think that when
tHC CONSTITUTION CVIIllutHuS luul
Congress shall CIRCULATE commerce
among the several States" so as to
secure the common and best inter
ests of this entire people, as one
that people will long stand
by and see tens ofthousands of their
starving for bread ut one
end ola huge and voracious monopoly
and those at the other perishing for
the other necessities of life, and all
this because railroads will not in
tcrchange,exccpt at cxorbitant rates,
the commodities which are per-
ishing for want of consumers ut the
place of production?
This is but sample fact out of
thousands of kindred ones admon-
ishing our people what is the mag
nitudc of the next problem we shall
be compelled to solve in the interest
of this vast continental nation. And
the solution will, fear, be neither
quick nor easy. BY far the most
formidable obstacle in the way of
its just and speedy solution will be
in the enormous intimidating, pur-
chasing and corrupting power which
these corporations will employ in
the elections, the Legislatures,
courts, and other operations and