The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-06-16
CoLFAX ON THE GRANGE.


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COLFAX ON THE GRANGE
HE SPEAKS HIS sENTIMESTs-A DEFINITION
OF THE OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES GOOD POINTS.
The following Letter from Schuyler Col
fax appears in the South Bend Tribune OF
this week.
SOUTH BEND, IND, June2, ls74.-On my
return home from speaking tour, re-
ceived your kind note. in which you state
that you are requested by the committee of
arrangements of the patrons of husbsndry
OF Wabash county TO invite me to address
grange picnic for tbat-ceunfy. to be held
near North Manchester on the 18th. would
with great pleasure accept this invitation
with which i have been honored. but for
an engagement of some months standing,
to speak on that very day at a col
lege commencement at Olivet. Mich.
Entirely removed now from political posi-
ton or political candidacy, / can say, with
out demonstration of my motives, that
the evils which the grange organization was
primarily intended TO correct or modify,
were pointed out warniugly by me in q
Fourth OF July Grafton two years ago, be-
fore the organization had attained its present
prominence. But have always recognized
that there are railroad rights as well as rail
road wrongs, and thas this great question
must be settled on the basis of right and
justice, and upon those principles Of equality
which. have been potential in the settlement
of all the great questions confronting us i'm
our great history, Thus, while all must
acknowledge their great usefulness In de-
veloping the resources of the nation, and
opening vast areas of our interior to settle
ment and improvement, we all see plainly
that railroads can no more do without the
producers than the producers can do without
them. And all should concede that, as rail-
roads can only be built by the exercise Of
the states right of eminent domain, under
charters public Highways granted by the
people through their legislatures, they have
no more right to denounce seasonable legisla-
tive supervision than ferries or turnplkes
chartered by the same authority. And If the
miller who grlnds wheat can rigbtfully be
limited by the state i'm his tolls, why cannot
the railroad which brings the wheat to his
mill to be ground? The just ground on
which all just men can unite is, that
RAILROADS SHOULD BE coNNoS cARRIERs
for all on common grounds, and at equit-
able rates, without favoritism or unjust
discrimination, and on the Just basis of
reasonable rates for the people and reason
able profits for the companies" remem-
Der many years ago how a distinguished
English statesman was criticised for pro-
position that their great railroads should run
third class trains, mornings and evenings,
for laborers, ETC., at q penny 1.-TWO cents) per
mile. He was lampooned as a
demagogue and as visionary the
orist But these parliamentary
trains" as they are called, were found,
when at last reluctantly established, to be
not only the great accommodation for the
poor that was claimed for them, but also
amongst the most profitable to the COM
panies of all their trains. Two things in
your organization have struck me as specially
nm sf.sn h. ID. -
wives and daughters to membership, en-
HANGING, doubtless, the social interest of
your meetings, and
BECKoNING WOMAN ONWARD
to wider spheres of usefulness in the commu-
nifty and, secondly, the frank and outspoken
declarations of so many of your oranges
as to intemperance. the enemy of the work
ingman and the bane of society. l trust
your organization will never speak with an
uncertain voice on this great evil of the
century. For all experience proves thai,
where drinking shops decrease crime and
pauperism with their consequent taxation
decrease, comfort and happiness in the
abodes of thu poor incresse, and law and
order, peace and quiet, industry and thrift,
more generally prevail. Your demands,
too, for
INCREASED ECONOMY
in public expenditures and greater watchful-
ness as to public monies, cannot fail to do
good. When you proceed from generalities
10 details you will find that, besides strict
scrutiny as to national appropriations, you
will need quite as watchful care as to home
taxation. Gov. Hayes of Ohio, one of the
best governors that state ever had, proved
years ago, in message that attracted too
little attention, that unrestrained local taxa
ton was the heaviest burden, by far, the
taxpayer had to shoulder. And this is
so completely within your power, locally,
have great hope of benefcent results
in that line from your organization. Not
being member of your order / am not sure
that L understand yVur exact position as to
"middlemen." If yorS object ri to economic
as tar as possible, buying with cash from
manufactures or their agents, at their lowest
prices, instead of on credit at higher rates,
and thus saving the heavy percentages that
the credit system absofbs from the honest
poor, that is certainly laudable.- But mid
dlemen. as a class, are as necessary in the
operations of trade and commerce and
business, as lawyers are in law,
and doctors i'm medicine, and need
special education and adaptation to
their work. Ifyou could abolish all middle
men with their experience. you would have
to educate and train up middlemen out of
your own ranks TO fill their places. And,
as we cannot buy dress patterns for our
wives direct from the Manchester mills, we
must recognize that agents who contract at
wholesale, and taking all the risks of ship
ments and sales, retail goods to us. are to a
large extent, necessity. But no one can
objectto the policy of buying and selling
direct for cash in hand as far as it is feasible.
have not room in a letter to enlarge upon
these and other points l might have dis
cussed more at length, If able to accept your
kind invitation. / am respectfully and
truly yours, SCHUYLER CoLFAx.