The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1874-07-30
WHOLE NO. 14lS.
cents per bushel is saving of thirty
millions to the people. 70


lie millions to the people.
~ Various expedients have been suggest
le ed for lessening the cost of transportation
In some of the States it has been propos
ed to place railway fares and freight
- under the control of the State The obiec
tlons to that expedient are so serious that
= 1T should not be embraced, if better one
!. can be found. This country is SO new
4 SO raw, and so undeveloped the demands
Tor capital are SO many and so urgent
: that any policy which would tend to
drlVe capital from US should be avoided
f If possible. The State is but the aggre-
gate of the people in the State
n The people are the purchasers of trans
: The railway companies have transpor-
+ tation to sell. -...sra.,e. ~. ,7eti6
2 % Ihe law also holds railroad companies
? to be common carriers, and so bound to
: carry for, all when the price is paid 1t
is now mooted question whether that
price shall be named by the Companies
or by the people-the sellers or the pur-
chasers of the article. Which of these
two, parties is legally authorized to fix
that pr ce is probably determined by the
laws under which the several companies
are organized; but which of them can in
fac fix it isia different question.
/
allowed to fix the price they may demand
| too much. Vendors of all commodities
are very apt to want all they can get On
the contrary if the people or their agents
1 hx the price they may set it too low
| Purchasers are very apt to want eommod-
lt1es as cheap as they can be had. 1t is
not probable that either party to the
! transaction would always hit upon the
| exact equivalent. The consequences of
In Cfoir< Il L q |l
injurious, if made by the people. Ifthe
company makes the mistake and charges
too much, no one is obliged to employ it,
The producer does his own carrying be-
fore the railway is built. He has the per
feet right to do SO after it is built So,
every companyis compelled by the laws
OF trade, even if municipal law is silent.
to carry products cheaper than the pro-
ducer can carry them, or hewill not have
them to carry The company must also
carry them at profit to the producer,
else the product will cease. The farmers
of Iowa will send no wheat to Chicago.
unless the roads will transport it at prices
which will yield profit to the producer.
The carrier must earn money for the
producer as we'll as for himself, else he
will soon have nothing to carry 1t is as
absurd for the railways to demand more
for transportation than the producer can
afford to pay as it was for the man in the
fable to endeavor to- get two golden eggs
each day from his .hen-the attempt to
do SO was death to the hem, zf,f =
Under favorable conditions, indeed the
carrier may demand and receive more
than fair share of the profits of produc-
lion. Where such is the case, when the
State finds 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 can do for less
money 1--WE will pay YOU for your road
what 1t 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
% On the contrary, if the people set the
price, and set it too low, the consequences
may be grayer.gs The company has no op-
ton. 1t must accept the price named or
not run. If the rates named will afford
. slight return on the capital, existing
may continue to run but no
more capital will encounter Like risks.
Ii the rates will yield no return, the road
cannot be run. Company and community,
n that case, are alike ruined This ex-
oedient seems to- be too hazardous to
ldopt, if a better can be found4c a3aS
Another -expedientsis- to build double
rack railway between the Mississippi
md the Atlantic over which any party
nay run trains, and all trains to ruin with
he same rate of speed, This is worthy
If careful consideration
The practicability of relief through gov
'rnmental action is being ascertained by
N able commission constituted by a re-
ent act of Congress. .- s7=-,- '.
A third expedient, and the most i'm
'ortant Of all, is that proposed by the
senate Committee on Transportation
Routes to the Seaboard" !" That proposes
o open orienlarge several different water
hannels between the Mississippi and the
atlantic; We invite. your earnest and
areful Consideration of that proposal
t is asserted that by an expenditure of
wenty millions per year for six or seven
ears new channels may be openedBhieh
1i1 lessen the cost of transporting the
rain product of the Mississippi valley
lone in the sum of $42, 100000 annually.
he figures are startling, but are far from
Improbable. The expenditure proposed
GEMS large, but compared with the re-
ources of the people it is trifling The
-ealth of the nation is not less than
hirty thousand millions. He who has an
state of thirty thousand dollars can not
e distressed by paying twenty dollars a
ear for six years. Besides, a nation which
as spent three thousand millions of
'easure and an ocean of life for peace
i'll not hesitate to spend $120,000,060
,r prosperity. a 44etTt a. -t-rr
But whatever may or may not be expe-
lent to be done, this much seems GER
hin: If the National Government is to
o anything whatever to cheaper trans
ortation, only the Republican party can
e relied upon to do it. The Democratic
arty has forsworn all such labors. Long
go they determined the Constitution
ould not permit the Government to re-
love an obstruction from harbor or
yer. 1t is vain to suppose they will find
ew authority to build canals or construct
always. But we are not left in doubt
to their present dispositions Two
otes given during the past session. one
the Senate on Mr. WINDOWS amend
ent to the river and harbor bill, and
le in the House on Mr.. McCrary's rail-
ay bill, will prove, beyond all doubt,
lat the Democrat, like the Bourbons,
ave learned nothing good, even if. they
ave forgot anything bad.
Upon all these considerations, for all
lese reasons, we think you should send
epublicans and not Democrats to the
ext Congress. If you cherish the deeds
the reeeEt past, and would not see
lem undone; if you respect the present,
Id would not disgrace it; or if you have
ope of the future, and would realize that
ope we urge you to send Republicans,
Id not Democrats to the next Congress.
John A. LOGAN, JOHN CoBURN,
A. II. CRAIeRN, ii. E. HAvENs,
II