The weekly echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1868-1876, 1874-04-11
Ffom ths - Carolinian.l
I LganIiaaea - - ~

7 sEe.ts t-et ssat..
When we have gained a COM
plete contra Of the common car
riers of the country, and corrected
thsit abuses, we sill still fnd that
while our success has allepiated
our distress. it has not cured The
disease. Your President Is a ply
sician When he IS called upon
to prescribe for tie sick, his fi1st
step is to make d diagn0.is of the
case. He mast first know what
ais bis patient before he can un-
derstandinglY prescribe the. proper
remedies. 1T is 50 with the dis
order now affecting our produc-
ing classes. We must know what
ails us, or we cannot apply the
proper correction. a careful diag-
nosis of our case reveals the start-
ling fact that wa are terribly ex-
travagant in the use of our trans
pOrtation facilities. We are tax
.ing their capacity to the utmost,
.and in So dong We are oppressiyely
taxing ourselves. We transport
too much. Some farmers are ship
ping Off cattle at 244c. per pound,
and bringing back dried beef at
zoe. per pound. 0arolinians ship
cotton at l4c. per pound and I'M
port fine cotton thread at 20cs per
ounce. Nebraska ships corn to
Oswego at l5c. per bushel, and
imports corn starch 1T l5c. per
pound, and canned sweet corn at
l5c. PEI pint Virginia sells red
cedar timber to Massachusetts, att
SD per acre, and imports cedar
fpails at Sl2 per dozen. Louisiana
ships raw sugar at sc. per pound,
and imports confectionery mt twice
the price. Texas ships hides at
Sc. per pound, and imports boots
SIS per pair Carolina sends tim-
Der fof wagons to Philadelphia at
how prices, and imports wagons
from Indiana at Sl25 each. New
Hampshire makes, pine fish pack
ages OF high-priced material, aud
sends them to the cheap pine lands
lot Wisconsin, to put white fish til.
And 50 it is through an endless
list ot eBr products.
That is the disease which is eat
ing out our vitals. Producer and
consumer are too far apart Long
lines Of transportation and armies
Of trafickers absorb our substance,
us the sands Of the deseft diminish
the volumes of the walters OF the
rivers which hgw across them.
Manifestly the only remedy for
this evil is to bring producer and
consumer nearer together.
Why isaa piece Of land amid the
the IRON farnaces of Pennsylvania
worth enc hundred dollars per
acre, while the same quality can
be bought III Carolina f0r twenty
five dollars? ? piece of land
near the Lowell cotton factories is
worth one OF two hundred dollars
per acre. while the same quality in
Iowa would not bring five dollars.
Near New York city men make
money by tilling lands worth five
hundred dollars or more per acre.
Texas cattle raising viii not pay
the interest on one. twentieth of
that sum- Why this tremendous
difference? +? Simply and only be-
cause, in Pennsylvania, Lowell and
New York, tho producer and con
.sumer are close together. In Car
olina, Iowa and Texas they arc
apart aud their substance il con
.sumed on the road ta support an
army Of carriers and speculators.
Tie history Of the world and its
present condition hss established
this facs that an countries are
poor which export crude, raw ma
terial and import the manuEac
tured arsicIe and tho tendency 81
the people Is ah lhe time toward 4
condition af dependence, ro this
thele hayo been no exceptions, and
We would do wen Is heed the
warning and escape lie doom
Where te great ind0s,tieS Aeri-
culture aud Mechanics are equal