The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1873-04-03

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The following comments upon
the very vital question: of cheap
transportation we take from the
Courier-Journal of the 26th ult
This question, now affecting soscn
Sitively the people of tho great
West, is becoming q sort Of cpl
demc among the patrons of the en-
tire railroad system Of the country.
We feel it here in Texas, and unless
some deliberate action in the inter-
est of reform is soon taken by the
railroad companies of this statc,we
may expect ut no distant day to OK
perience some Of the Same kind of
demonstrations that are now aggi-
tating our northern brethren, Tho
argument used by the Journal in
favor of cheap transportation is rs
applicable here as in the West, and
for that reason we publish the ar
ticle entire :
CHEAP TRANSPORTATION.
The widespread aud, we might almost
call it, Spontaneous ,movement OF the
farmers Of the West to rid themselves of
the excessive burden of railroad co mbina-
ton, and secure cheap transportation, IS
without parallel in the usual calm aud
ouietuIe 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, and to
q great extent, baen confined to, the large
towns and cities, where daily newspapers,
the inirgues of shrewd and ambitious
politicians, and the facilities for colleating
public gatherings, combine TO render the
populace more e1cilable than in the rural
districts. 1t takes question OF far more
than ordinary magnitude to arouse thoag-
ricultural class 10 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 proioundeot
sympathy for the great oppression OF
which they complain so bitterly has been
imposed on their necks by the managers Of
the great lines of railway transportation,
built entirely by the subscription of hard
earned money out ofthe farmers pocket',
BY the self.imposed taxation of farmers,
and by vast donations of lands which, with
| liberality of doubtful wisdom, they gave
to the railroad corporations out ofthe 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 their
franchises, tho very class of men whose
subscriptions and votes gave vitality to
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 trihing dividend, il any. In
other words, the business has been 30
managed as to lead the farmers to believe
that their stock was without value, and to
sell it for nominal price. On oil the
roads the rates of transportation, winch
were the chief consideration in building
thcm,a are SO high that they almost eat up the
crop by the time /. reaches the great mark
cts. The farmer works hard thro the'year
and after sending his crop TO market
by railroad finds that after deducting the
charge for freight he has received about
the wages of day-laborer, and nothinG
at oil for the capital he has invested N
the farm and its stock and Improvements
He secs something more than this; while
his railroad stocks, which he usually
owns in small amounts, brings him NJ IN,
come, or perhaps has been sold for ner'
song to some Spectator who wants tovott
1t ct directors election, he sees railroaa
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 70
legislatures, while the farmers, who's
M oney gave him all his wealth and pcwe
stripped Of their crops to pay extrayasan
freight bills, begin to realize in their owl
fate the fable Of the rustic who was bitter
by frozen serpent which he had broush'
TO life on his hearth-stone. Take, for