Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1874-01-08

chinery. 1852
Eggs and Butter. 709, 445
Household Goods and furui-
ture. s7,42(
Merchandise ................... 800, SIC
| Money realized to II. II. on above
freight, $40, 1915; money received by
Il. II. for freight delivered at Pella du-
ring the year 1873, So, 1901 money
received for tickets sold during same
year, $40, 9GO.65; total, Sllo,33l.3l.
1t is certainly not unfair to state
that not more than one-third OF the
railroad business Of the county is done
at PeIla. Large amounts Of our stock,
grain, etc, are shipped and our goods
received at each Of the towns Of Otley,
Monroe, Prairie City, Des Moines, In
dianola, Charlton, Abba, and some
minor points on the G.. b. IL @. road.
Suppose the amount paid at Pella to
be one-third what is paid by the peo-
pie of our county for freight, tickets,
l
etc, although some claim that it is
only about one-fourth-and here we
have an annual expenditure for rail-
road transportation Of 1891 ,O83.93.
Here is foundation for serious reaec-
ton. How can we reduce this burden?
Right here many are gravely at fault
in their reasoning. Some conclude
that railroads are nuisances-that they
cost every community more than they
are worth and that we would better
have no railroads, and haul our goods
from the Mississippi in wagons as of
old. The great effort made is to re-
duce the amount paid to the railroads,
but each year it increases as our prod
ucts and consumptions increase. And
yet the railroad company to whom We
have been paying 80 much money is
not enrched-is bankrupt, and forced
to sell its road for far less than its orig
inal cost. Our error is just here, and
in this, AS we earnestly believe; if our
ground is not tenable we shall feel
obliged to anyone who will demon
strate our error.
Instead of expanding our whole
force in denunciation OF railroads, and
endeavoring to reduce the cost Of our
transportation, we should give Mt least
half Of our strength and energies to
the solution Of the probem--if it be a
problem-How can we either rid our
selves of using this costly transporta-
ton in moving our products to maket,
or so change our business as to make
better profits on what we ship? Our
transportation now costs us, including
hauling to and from depots, half
million dollars annually. If we can
increase our profits in some way to
that amount, the problem is solved,
and the burden 10 lifted-what the
left hand pays out the right hand
gathers as fast.
Suppose we havea railyaod, east and
west, through the center Of our coun-
ty; we have our coal mines develop
ed we have miners and manufactur-
ers enough at work to consume our
grain, beef, pork, hay, small produce,
in fact all the products of our farms
Now let us see what has become of our
burden.
We export nothing but coal, and Of
this one article we ship say 100000
bushels. We lease our mines, raise
our coal and ship 1t, say to Northern
or Western Iowa, at n total cost OF not
more than ten cents per bushel. 1t is
sold there for 40 or at least 35 cts. Our
net profit Is Is cts. per bushel, which
will give us OH our annual product a
profit of just a half million dollars,
which balances cur former yearly
transportation bill--for freight both
ways, hauling to and from depots and
also our passenger fares. Then we
have saved half as much In conse~
quence of having IL home market and
having our goods ana implements
manufactured from our own materials
right at home. Such ends are within
our reach within very few years,
probably before we can perfect rail-
road tariff law. Are we acting fully
the part of wise men? We want q
railroad tariff law---we must have it
but then our tariffs Must he paid
While we work for a tariff law, we
should not forget that we want rail
road, the development Of our mines,
the building up and encouragement of
home manufactures, aud the making
of home market, worse than we do
the law.