The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1881-06-04
Magnolia, May Fl.
Virginia Granger.
lecture Ivy G.. F. Cievenger.
A PATRoR.

The third clause OF the 9th section
of the Tst aftisle of the Constitution
of the United States reads as fol-
lows:
''Congress shall have the power
to regulate commerce with foreign
nations aud arriotg the several
States and with the Indian tribes"
Has Congfess been carrying out,
either in letter or spirit; as regards
inter State commerce, the duties SO
clearly laid upon it by the wise
founders Of OR Government? No!
is answered in thunder tones from
all parts. of our great country! The
National Grange unanimously says
no! State Oranges e1eryw here say
no! and Subordinate Oranges by
the thousands are saying no with
emphasis; and the Board of Trade
of New York unanimously says no!
To make Congress DO ats duty in
this respect, petitions were gotten
up at the last session Of the National
Grange which have been scattered
broadcast over the land for the sig
natures Of all who are willing TO
sign them. But simply signing
them will amount to but little unless
what they demand is enforced by
the ballot. Precisely the same
causes that have kept Congress
from enforcing that clause of the
Constitution will opetate with in
creased force hereafter, what are
those causes? Llrgelv, if not sole
lv, the money of railroads used IN
bribing Congress to refrain from
emf, rcing said clause against ther1.
If you doubt this; read Jay Gould's
testimony before the New York
Legislative Committee, III which he
confesses to the spending of ST.
100000 year for the pur-
pose of controlling the pri-
mary and the general elections, and
buying Representatives after their
election. The very makeup of
Congress and of the different State
Legislatures is proof that they are
largely organized by the money Of
railroads, are owned by them and
will naturally work for their inter
est rather than the interest of their
constituents whose ballots elected
them.
Senator Beck, of Kentucky, very
truthfully said, 1T is impossible to
have an honest Legislature, State OF
National, so long as representatives
are sent who owe theft election tC
or are personally interested in great
corporations or moneyed monopo-
lies. No matter whether they call
themselves Democrats or Republi-
cans, they are not the representatives.
of the peop4e; they are simply the
agents and attorneys of those VIII
seek by taxing the mas es to enrich
themselves whenever they owe
their election to monopo'ies or are
themselves interested in class legis
lation."
There is no hope of having jus
tice done the masses of the people
until the people elect their repre-
>entatives from among themselves
So long as they accept as their rep
resentative the candidate placed be
fore them by the railroads, who are
uniformly selected from their attor
neys or others that will do their
bidding, there is no hope of having
said clause of the Constitution en-
forced. The people-you, your
selves-are responsible for the
heavy extortions and unjust dis
examinations made by railroads
against your interests. Who have
you sent to represent your county
and your interests in our State legis
lature? Is he not the salaried at
torney OF railroad? On question,
affecting the interest of both YOU
whose servant you claim he tempo
rarily is and the railroad whose ser
want he has been tor many years
and probably will be for years IL
come, how, think you, would ht
vote? Who did you elect to repre-
seat you in our State Senate? No
tice the prominence of his name il
railroad matters, and ask yourselve'
! the question whether he would takt
care of your Interests as agains
those of the railroads? Who, b,
your ballots, was elected to repre-
sent you IN the lower House of tn,
National Legislature? Is he no
the head of an important railroad
Whose servant is he? 1t woult
be an insult to you and ref1-caio.
on your intelligence to ask you i
you expect him to do your interest
Justice, when to do SO conf cts witt
his railroads interests. And VIII,
have you recently elected, through
your State Legislature, To serve yo'
in the United State, Senate? n
less parsonage than the long recog
nizad head of another leading sys
TEN of railroads. Who then will b.
your servants and look after you
interests when the interests c
the real masters of your - ca lel
servants are at stake No won
der your interests are sacrificed
No wonder you are impoverishe
while the Goulds, the Vanderbilt
and the CARROTS are amassin
fortunes compared with whic
the tabled fortunes Of Cio