The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1874-07-30


the argument No. Says the Repub.
lican party: You have got the sans
right to haul your wheat to New York
in wagons that you had when Daniel
Boone first came to Kentucky, and you
have acquired no new rights since.
And this from the party that liber.
ated the slaves of the south and now
deliberately insults the white men Of
the north.
And what remedy do they suggest
This:
"Under favorable conditions, indeed. the
carrier may demand and receive more than
fair share of the profits of production.
the producer makes but ten per cent, while
the carrier makes fifteen or twenty per cent,
it is very easy and perfectly legitimate for it
to say to the company The work you do
can be done for less money; we will pay you
for your road what it will cost to build such
another, or you may keep your road and we
will build another So the people are not
helpless against exorbitant charges"
Instead of the people regulating rail-
roads by law, we are told that their
only remedy is to ''buy the road - and
run it themselves, or s'build another
road"
On this principle We will expect 10.
Wheelock to declare next winter that
the law, now on our statute books, regu-
lating the running at large of bulls,
bears and breachy cattle, is unconsti-
tutional and void. and that if the State
proposes to legislate on that subject, they
must first buy the said bulls, bears and
breachy cattle and own them!
And having thus demonstrated that
the people Of the State do not possess
the power to protect themselves. and
that if they had such power it would be
ruinous to themselves to use it, the ma.
tional committee continue:
"Another expedient is to build double
track between the Mississippi and the Allan
tic, over which any party may run trains,
and all trains to run with the same rate OF
speed. This is worthy of careful considera-
ton"
''This is worthy of careful considcra-
tion." That is good.
"There was a man, he owned COW,
And he had no hay to give her;
But gave her some shavings and softly said,
sider-cOw-cOnSider.'
''This is worthy of careful considera-
ton" Of course it is. But where
will this double track reach the Missis-
sippi. At St. Louis, or Keokuk, or Da-
venport, or Prairie du Chen, or La
Crosse, or St. Panl! Here is range
of six hundred miles. And how are the
farmers north and south Of this line to
reach it! They can't regulate the rail-
roads; and the railroads may refuse to
carry their grain to this central route,
or charge ruinous prices for doing so.
All! but we forget. The Republican
national committee tell us that the
farmers have perfect and indefeasible
right-one of the inalienable rights
guaranteed by the Declaration of indie
pendence-to haul their wheat 300
miles or more in their own wagons!
But the committee continue:
ga third expedient, and the most import
ant of all, is that proposed by the Senate
Committee on Transportation Routes to the
Seaboard That proposes to open or enlarge
several different water channels between the
Mississippi and the Atlantic"
This is the scheme to divert the com.
merce Of the world from an east and
west to a north and south line; and
send our wheat through the tropics to
heat and spoil before it reaches Liver
pool.
Every day for twenty years past
steamboats, have traversed the Missis-
sippi from New Orleans to St. Louis !;
and from St. Louis to St. Paul;
while sea-going vessels have connect
ed New Orleans daily with the
external world; and despite high rail-
road rates on the east and west lines,
to-day one hundred bushels of wheat
are shipped from Minnesota to Milwau-
kee and Chicago where one bushel is
shipped to St. Louis or New Orleans.
Why? Because the market for the
surplus is Liverpool; and our wheat
will take the most direct route towards
that point. It will not 60 1000 miles
out of its road, at the cost of probably
a months delay, simply to please the
Republican party. 1t may be said of
commerce. as it was said of the great
Napoleon, that che would shorten a
straight line to get at his object
No man can read the Republican
National Address,without becoming con.
WINGED that the party is now in the
hands of railroad men; that their pol
icy is show not to do it -" and that
they are the friends of the Monopolists
and the enemies of the people.
The Minneapolis Tribune says: