Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1880-12-16
The Railroads and What of Then

part OF an article now attracting con-
siderable attenti )n, given IN the De-
cember number of Scritner, on the
power of railroads with the people.
The same subject in some of its pha.
ses has frequently been discussed in
the HERALD. The masses of the
PEOPLE actually know very little OF
the situation. It il difficult to con-
ceive that there gre half dozen bus
mess men of any kind in Grant
county who could be benefited by
voting into Office men who will be
more the servants of the great raiIro ad
corporations than of the people. Yet
it is quite probable that if one or
more Of those corporations which
had some project in view which
made it desirable for them to own or
control majority of the Legislature
four out of FIVE of the members of
either political party would step up
to the polls and vote for a man whose
nomination they had secured, and
who being popular man they would
have as little thought of bis being a
servant of theirs as they would that
he was follower of Mahomet. With
al! the class of men connected with
such great corporations as those we
write Of, there is ready understand
ing between themselves. They know
each other thoroughly. They work
by combinations. A wink with them
is more than an argument. When q
man is to be nominated for them his
name is at once on every mans
tongue as if by electric action. His
good points are peddled about as if
all men were agents for that pur-
pose. Our honest working farmers
are made the innocent vehicles to
convey from mind to mind the fair
but empty words that make him pop
ular. When he is nominated his
election is a matter of course, for it
is the practice of these corporations,
where there is known majority, to
forcstall and "cook" the nomination
only for the party which has GER
tain majority. They do not care
whether he is Republican or Demo-
crat. Each can favor the men and
specific measures of his party, but if
ne is likely to be elected they will,
unknown to the people, select a man
who will grind their axe. And while
these manipulators are SO easily unit,
ed and SO harmonious, the people are
rarely and with great difficulty unit
ed and harmonious on men Of their
own kind, and who will legislate in
their interests. Somehow they can.
not be made to know and understand
each other. They are confined too
closely to their farms, trades and
shops to become we'll acquainted
with men by association, and then
many will fall in with some blatant
like Pomeroy or Carey, and thus be
led entirely away from the objects
next their hearts. As long as the
men running our railroads and other
great moneyed institutions feel Sc
cure in their ability to thus delude
- 49, e .LinAss ur,r.
continue.
The great wealth and the vast
power of the railroad monarchs was
given them by legislation. The peo-
pie of the United States voted the
eighty or one hundred million dollars
into the pockets of anderbilt, the
millions into the pockets of J. Gould
and others. Nearly all the railroads
of this country were built by the
peoples money. Very few railroads
now In use ever had one dollar put
into them by the men who nominally
own them. They built them out Of
taxes legislated out of our pockets,
The aching bones of our laborers duo
up the earth, graded it and laid
down the irons, and the money paid
them was earned by the toiling men
on our farms, and in our cities and
villages. The part taken by the
nominal owners was to secure the
legislation which named them in the
charters, and authorized such private
use of public money. When thew
get the roads built by other peoples
labor and money they endow them.
selves with princely salaries and live
in lordly magnifcence off of the
money our industries continue to nav
them, using every year large quaint.
ties OF 1t to buy marketable votes or
purchase Legislatures to do Just what
the men who furnished the money do
not want done. And what is the
way out of the difficulty? Is it not
as plain as an axiom that if the peo-
pie build the railroads the people
should own them If the people
own them they have the right not
only to fix rates of transportation but
to fix the salaries of their officers to
say who they shall be and who shall
aud who shall not ride free. If four
men have more power by mere ipse
dirit than the Legislature of the ma
ton, where is our equality How
are we freemen \? Shall we 60 on
voting these men still greater power =?
Is there a way ont? 1t is true the