Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1873-05-16
The Transporti0n Convention.

The Transportion Convention.
The Farmers and producers
Convention, which was held in New
York, May 9th and 7th, was we'll at
tended from all parts of the country.
A permanent organization was eff
fectcd under the title of the Nation
al Cheap Transportation Associa-
ton. Among the names of the Of
ticers Of the association appears
that Of Col. L. A. Thomas, of Iowa,
as one Of the Vice Presidents. The
following are the resolutions adop-
ted by the conventions:
WHEREAS, The productive industries
of the United States, plantation and farm,
mine and factory, commercial and mer-
camille, are not only sources of all our
national and individual wealth, but also
elements on which our very national and
individual existence depends; and,
WHEREAS, All national products are
fruits of labor and capital, and as neither
labor nor capital will continue actively
employed without an equivalent measure
bly, just; and,
WHEREAS, The great national indus
tries are only sustained and prospered by
the interchange of products of one sec
ton of the country for those of another;
and,
| WHEREAS The existing rates of trans
portation for the varied products of the
Union from one part of the country to
another and to foreign countries, as well
as the transit cost of commodities requir
ed in exchange, arc in many instances
injurious and to certain interests abso-
lutely destructive, arising in part at least
from an insufiiciency Of avenues; and,
| WHEREAS, The great national want of
the nation today is relief from the pres.
ent rates of transit upon American pro-
ducts; therefore, be it
Res0lced, l. That it is the duty of the
hour and the mission of this association
to obtain from Congress and the different
State Legislatures such legislation as
may be necessary to control and limit by
law, within proper constitutional and le
Ultimate limits, rates and charges of ex
listing lines OF transportation; to increase
where practicable the capacity of our
water ways, and to aid such new avenues,
both water and rail, as our immensely
increasing internal commerce demands.
SO that the producer may be justly re-
warded for his honest toll, the consumer
have cheap products, and our almost lin
itless surplus find foreign markets ut
rates to compete with the world
| 2. That cheap transportation, both of
persons and property, is most conducive
to free movement Of the people; that the
widest interchange and consumption of
the products of the different parts of the
| Union Is essential to the welfare and
prosperity of the country.
| 3. That constant and frequent associa-
ton of the Inhabitants Of remote parts of
the United States is not only desirable
but necessary for the maintenance of a
| homogeneous and harmonious Dopula.
ton within the vast area of our territory.
4. That the best interests of the diff
ferent parts OF the country also demand
the freest possible interchange of indus
trial products Of the varied climates and
industries of the United States, so that
bread stuffs, textile fabrics, coal, lumber,
| iron, sugar, and various other products.
| local in their production but general in
their consumption, may all reach the con-
sumner at the least practicable cost of
transportation, and that an arbitrary and
| unnecessary tax levied by the transport.
| cr over and above fair remuneration
| for his investment is burden upon the
! producer and consumer that it is the
part of wise craftsmanship to remove.
b. That certain leading railway cor
porations of the country, although char
tered to subserve the public welfare, and
endowed with the right of eminent do
main solely for that purpose, have proved
themselves practically monopolists, and
become the tools of avaricious and un,
| scrupulous capitalists, to be used to plum
der the public, enrich themselves, and
imp0verish the country through which
they run.
6. That many Of the railway corpora
tons have not only disregarded public
convenience and prosperity, but have OPP
pressed citizens, bribed our Legislatures,
and defied our executives and judges, and
stand to-day the most menacing danger
to American liberty and to republican
government.
Z. That the present system of railway
management having failed to meet the
just expectations and demands of long
suffering people, must be radically re-
formed and controlled by the strong hand
of the law, both State and national, and
railway corporations compelled to per-
form their proper functions as servants,
and not masters, of the people.
8. That to this end we invoke the aid
of all fair minded men in all the States of
the Union in excluding from the halls of
leg islation, from our executive Offices,
and from the bench all railway officials,
railway attorneys, or other hirelings who
prostitute public office to the base uses
of private gain.
8. That leaving different sections and
interests that desire cheap transportation
to work out the problem in such manner
as they may deem best, we earnestly in
woke their careful consideration, their
energetic and their resolute will in rcgu-
lating and controlling rates of transpor-
tation, and in giving remuncrative wages
to the producer and cheap products to
the consumer, untaXcd by unearned
charges for their carriage.
10. That we invite the people of the
various States to organize subsidiary as
sociations, State, county and town, to
co operate with the national association
That power to accomplish the purposes
desired rests absolutely with the suffer
ing millions, and relief is within their
reach and control. United action and
the near future will give as certain as
its need for all time and the good of all
the true solution of the problem of cheap
transportation.