The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1877-11-07

improvement such As our country mas
never known before. Respectfully,
JAMES b. MCREARY.
The other. Stde OF the q Question.
Col. Ingersoll, in his speech to the farm.
ers, touching the railroads, talked like
an attorney from the wrong side Of case,
making an .r post fdcto statement. Al
though his premises are taken from an
unfair tasis, he has managed to weave
in much sound reasoning that is well for
Changers to hear and regard This is
what he says:
Another idea entertained by most
farmers is that they are in some mystic
rious way oppressed by every other kind
of business; they are devoured by mo-
nopolies, especially by railroads. In my
judgment you are wrong The railroads
are indebted TO the farmers for their
prosperity the farmers are indebted to
the railroads. Without them the State
Of Illinois would be almost worthless
A few years ago you endeavored to regu-
late the charges OF railroad companies
The principal complaint you had WAS
that they charged too much for the
transportation Of corn and other cereals
TO the East. You should remember that
all freights are paid by the consumer;
and that it made little difference to you
what the railroad charged for transpor-
tation to the East, as that transportation
had to be paid by the consumers Of the
grain. You we're really interested in
transportation from the East to the West
and in local freights. The result is that
while you have put down through freights
you haven't succeeded so well in local
freights. The exact opposite should be
the policy of Illinois Put down local
freights put them down if you can, to
the lowest possible figure and let through
rates take care OF themselves. If all the
corn raised in Illinois could be transports
ed to New York absolutely free, it would
enhance but little the price that you
would receive. What we want is the
lowest possible local rate Instead of
this you have simply succeeded il helping
the East at the expense Of the West
The railroads are your friends They
are your partners. They can prosper
only where the country through which
they run prospcrs. All intelligent rail-
rosd men know this. They know that
present robbery is future bankruptcy
They know that the interests Of the
farmer and the railroad are the same
We must have railroads. What can we
do without them? In the olden times
when We had no railroads, we drew, as ]
said before, our grain two hundred miles
to market In those days the farmers
didn't stop at hotels. They slept under
their wagons. They took their own
food; they fried their own bacon they
made their own coffee, and ate their
breakfast in the snow or in the rain
Those were the days when they received
ten cents bushel for corn, when they
sold four bushels OF potatoes for twenty
five cents; thirty-thrce dozen eggs for
dollar, and one hundred pounds of pork
for dollar and half What has made
the difference
The railroads came to your door and
they brought with them the markets of
the world. They brought New York
and. Liverpool aud London into Illinois.
and the State has been clothed with
prosperity as with a mantle. 1t is for
the interest Of the farmer to protect every
great interest in this State You should
feel proud that Illinois has more rail-
roads than any other State in this Union.
Her main tracks and side tracks would
furnish iron enough to belt the globe.
There are ten thousand miles OF railroad
in Illinois more than in any other State.
In these roads millions and millions Of
dollars have been invested. To make
war against them is ,hort-sighted and
suicidal policy. They should be treated
fairly. They should be taxed by the
same standard that farmers are taxed,
and IN no other way. If We wish to
prosper. we must all act together, aud
we must see to it that every form OF la
Dor is protected"