The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1874-11-04
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The NgFiistttHs Gazette.
WEDNESDAY, NOV. i, 1874.
RAILROAD MATTERS.
RAILROADS AND THE GRANGERs

RAILROADS AND THE GRANGERS
The present system Of railroad man
agement calls down upon itself the just
81, wrath OF the honest farmers; and while
many of them in. the prosecution of a
hostile opposition to the railroads, have
-r~ been controlled by a too vindictive spir-
Ia it, yet the views of many of the milder
III grangers must commend themselves ia
81. EorablY TO every justice-loving citizen of
the United States. There is nothing
Ell truer than the oftTepeated assertion that
the industry of the country is dependent
c77 upon the railroads; and it's success in a
lsilarge measure depends upon how well
blbthey are managed and controlled. If
a, the railroads are run fer the benefit of
IL stock-gamblers and INSCRIPTIONS specu-
p lators, the masses of the population of
1.-the county must suffer. Nothing in
IL the world is more true than this.
MIA writer in the New York Tribune quite
--slrecently, treated upon this subject
Vac very ably and very forcibly. He raises
point which we think has not been suf-
Efficiently insisted upon. 1t is: The dis
-zEtinction made in tariff rates between
E.11hzough and local freight as bearing on
1.-The question of justice to the farmers.
81 The railroads, besides being run for the
benefit of. a few managers are often run
for the benefit of the terminalcities The
natural results of this has been the rapid
growth in wealth of few cities, and the
destruction or decay of the intermediate
towns. This writer insists upon the well
known fact that it costs the manufac
Oh
~ over the whole length Of railroad than
part of it. 1t costs as much to ship from
the middle of a road to either end as
1szffom one end to the other. The freight
from ocean to ocean is less than if car
ried half way.
s- The injustice of this system must be
apparent to any one who can read, and
can see with open eyes The only pos
sfbIe statement in its favor is the addition |
al wealth it brings into the managers |
hands by successful competition with /
other roads; end against this insignifi-
cant sophistry are arrayed the demands
and the interests of the vast industy of a
great people 1.-THE farmer" says this
writer, "has toiled behind the pillow and |
the reaper piling up the golden harvests
in hope of transforming his humble cot
tage into a home of beauty and enjoy
ment If he has failed, the frescoed pal
aces of railroad kings reveal the cause.
The railroad kings can borrow countless
millions at or per cant. in the cities,
while the farmer or mechanic can rarely
get loan for 10 or 90 per cent. This
state of things is the natural result of
the present railroad system. Where did
Gould get his $50, 200, OOO9 Vanderbilt
his $40, OOO, 900? Scott his $50, 900, 600?
and the rest of the railroad Kings their
$4,000, 900 and $4,000, 600? Did they
plow it out of the sOds of the prairies?
Did they dig it out of the mountains?
Did they fish it out of the sea-"
There is but one answer to these in
quiries, and that answer is a universal
one. 1t comes from the heart of a
great people, whose pulsations are main
ly to the time of justice and right be-
tween man and man. 1t demands that
an end shall come to these wrongs, which
during the past two decades have grown
80 enormously, and so unchecked of JUS
tice What the solution of the problem |
will be, it is not within our province to
foretell; but that it must come and will :
come with the advance of intelligence,
and the growth of education among the
sons of toll, is an event whose coming is
as certain as it will be revolutionary.