The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1874-10-02

to the people; but, as the agent and rep
resentative of the people, it must be held
superior to monopolies, which, in them
selves, ought never to be granted, and
which, where they exist, must be subor-
dinate and yield to the government"
That, you see, is one of the founda-
ton stones of our order of Patrons Of
Husbandry, or what We call grangers.
I would say, as far as that goes, that l
am about as good granger as there is
in the country. [Laughter] Not only
as good a granger, but about as old a
granger as any Of you.
We find that that the grangers have
tried to regulate railroad freights. Take
the condition of things as they now
stand. When the farmer has paid for
carrying his produce to market, has paid
his taxes and other necessary expenses,
he has but little left from his year of
toll. We have been dealing in false
theories, and some Of our principles are
equally false. Let us see what this
amphlet-which Is one of my messages
to Congres5-has to say ON the subject
of freights.
"The Constitution confers on Congress
the right to regulate commerce among
the. several States. It is Of the first ne
cessity, for the maintenance Of the I'm
ion, that commerce should be free and
unobstructed No State can be justified
in any device to tax the transit of travel
and commerce between States The
position of many States is such that, If
they were allowed to take advantage of
it for the purposes of local revenue, the
commerce between States might be in
juriously burdened, or even virtually
prohibited. 1t is best, while the coun-
try is still young, and while the tenden-
cy to dangerous monopolies of this kind
is still feeble, to use the power of Con-
gress SO as to prevent any selfish imped-
iment to the free circulation of men and
merchandise. A tax on travel and mer-
chandize, in their transit, constitutes one
of the worst forms of monopoly, and the
evil is increased if coupled with a de-
NAL of the choice of the route. When
the vast extent of our country is con-
sidered, it is PLAN that every obstacle
to the free circulation of commerce be-
tween the States ought to be guarded
against by appropriate legislation with
in the limits of the constitution"
As far back as 1865 these doctrines
were submitted to Congress. l merely
call your attention to these things to
show you that some of US were looking
after these matters before the patrons OF
| Husbandry were heard Of.
We are talking about farmers and
mechanics, but don't understand me as
making war upon other classes. \ GER
tain variety of classes is necessary. We
know as general proposition, that most
representative b. les are controlled by
men of a certain profession, but the law
yer, when we'll experienced and an hon.
est man, makes one of the best of legis.
lators. Lawyers are indispensable to a
community; doctors are Indispensable
and ministers are Indispensable. 1t is
not good policy to array one class against
another, nor do believe it right to leg
islate in favor of one class as against an
other.
Some have an idea that to be called q
farmer or mechanic is a letting down
What would our government be but fol
them? They constitute the foundation
upon which this mighty fabric rests. L
is altogether a mistake to try to elevate
ourselves upon pride of estate, or upor
what our father or mother may hav,
BEEN If you see a scion running bacl
to hunt up "stock" you may conclude
that that scion has not much stock of hi.
own. Laughter We talk about 'self
made men," There are very few self
made men; but, if you depend on some
one else making you, as a general propo
sition, you'll never be made. laugh
at is worth that makes the man,
And want OF it, the fellow"
You have heard how our great mer
came up. You might go to your owr
State, and I could enumerate some o
our most distinguished men who were
farmers and mechanics. Go back to ole
Rome. When anarchy and confusion
prevailed they had to go out into the
field and get Cincinnatus to bring order
out of chaos. He was a farmer. We
find mechanics even among the apostles
of our Savior. Paul was tent-maker
and he was a very smart man, and wrote
epistles which are referred to to this day
as models of composition. Go back tc
the Greeks. Take Archimedes, the
great geometrician of ancient days. He
was practical man and found, after ma
ny experiments, that by the use of sur
glass he could burn the enemy's ships
and we find him declaring that if he
only had fulcrum upon which to res
his lever, he could move the world. IL
was a carpenter-one of those men who
walk around with rule sticking out o
his pocket. (Laughter.l Why, I could
spin out list of this class of men a
long as bill in chancery. Adam, on
great father and head, the lord of tn,
world, was tailor by trade, Laughte
and applause.] "Adam and Eve whel
their eyes were opened, knew they wer
naked, and sewed fig leaves together ant
made them aprons"
| That is the first we ever heard of tail
ors, and do not see that-without in
tending to be personal-any one need b.
ashamed to be called a tailor, nor tha