The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1881-10-20
SENATOR VANCE TO HIS CON-
STITUENT8!
A Review Of the Railroad Trou-
bles, and a Bold Blast
Against Monopoly!
God Save the
Right!
nNCLTnED Il

10 the Psopic Of North Carolina.
These n~onopolies spoken Of by Mr..
Culpepper, embraced wine. coal, salt.
starch, the dressing of meat in taverns.
beavers, belts, bone. lace. leather, pins,
aud even tue gathering Of rags. But
finally. tnelr legality came into n.
courts, and the great CrSe Of MppopnHtx
reported IN II Coke was Ge iied by
which they were declared utterly void
and so between the courts and Parli.
nent m~onopolics were finally over
thrown among tie British people, ami
cast out as a badge Of tyranny and OF
preston This was cuusummated Tx
the statute 81. James the l.. bv which
il wss declared that al monUpplies and
all commissions, grants, licenses char
tiers. and letters patent to any person or
persons. bodies polite or corporate,
whatsoever. Of or for the sole, buyiug.
selling, making, working or using Of
ANYTHING within the realm, were alto
gcther contrary II the laws of thr
realm, and utterly void. Thus lid or
ancestors. after great and long confirm
ed struggles free themselves and their
posterity from the course Of monopo-
lies. Though, by the spirit Of our in
stitutisns, their creation by Law is 20
longer permitted-exclusive privileges
being allowed TO nGne-yet ir Il differ
eut shape these same evils are comin.
heavily upon the American people
They might nov properly be called
~monopolies created by circumstances
upder the forms Of law-the Logical
extreme Of the laws respecting the right
Of property. Railroad companies are
chartered for the purpose of sccommo
dstion of the products OF industry
Their construction require. vast o~utlays
Of noaey-so vast as 20 be beyond the
reach of individuals, and even many
communities. The unequal distribu
ton Of wealth aIses An accumulation
of capital in our great commercial cen
tres. Ii wisely and legitimately appli
ed this j, one Of the greatest aids to
commercial prosperity, but IS accom-
panied with an immense power to IN
1ict injury. For want Of more benefi
cent channels Of investment this CAPT
tai in the present age has shown a
tendency to combine for purposes of
profit in the most dangerous and un
assailable forms of monopoly. Such .
combination will purchase all the lines
of railway in q State or within any
given territory, and by shutting off all
competition, hold the people Of that
territory practically at their mercy
This il as complete a monopoly as any
ever granted by the Kings Of France or
England, for if the communities thus
endangered are unable tn build compe
ting lines of transportation, no enact
ment OF any Legislature or exclusive
grant of any sovereign IN earth could
more effectually forbid them helping
themselves. Such is now the condl-
ton of the greater part Of the people
Of NORTH Carolina. A corporation
chartered by neighborisg State called
the Richmond and Danville Railroad
Company, having procured control of
the great artery of four State commerce,
the North Carolina Railroad, has gone
on adding road after read until they
have secured control of the Western
North Carolina; the North Western
North Carolina; the Charlotte, Colum-
bia and Augusta, the Atlanta and
Charlotte Airline: the ~Spartanburg
and Asheville; the Spartanburg and
Union and the Virginia Midland, and
are said to be treating for the remain
der in this region. By these means
they dominate the only remaining road
by which all that vast region west of
Raleigh can find a way to the sea for
its products. And now 5 region of
country embracing in North Carolina
alone a population of more than 800. 600
souls, to say nothing of the regions in
adjoining States, is under an ''astric-
ton as to every thing they sell abroad.
Three men, or ut most a half dozen,
compel these 500, 600 by force of cir
cumstances, as rigid as positive law to
ship and re snip everything by their
lines Of transportation at their own
prices. No ''Multure, '~'thirlage' or
''thralldom" Of the Middle Ages was
more memorable. Everywhere our corn
has to be ground at the lords mill"
Not a bale Of our cotton, not a pound
of our tobacco. not a barrel Of our naval
stores, not a bushel of our wheat, can
be sent abroad that these lords do not
first sit In counsel and determine how
much thereof shall be theirs. Nor car
a sack Of salt, or Of coffee, or a pound
o~f.lron, or anything else that our peo-
pie need from abroad he brought mo
them, without a levy oftheir ''multure.
One hundred and seventy Senators and
Representatives II the people meet
biennially in the city Of Raleigh,
and under tie solemnities of IN
oath and the responsibility OF
IN account to an outraged people,
if they do wrong, levy with their
utmost imDartiaIitv and Justice. LOCO.
600 annually upon the people, for the
support Of the government; then one
dozen men without oath, and no respon
sibility to anybody, in a distant day
without tho pride Of citizenship, from
time to time sit down and levy a tax OF
more than three times that which oar
Legislature imposes, and collect it by
distress. They levy it too without fair
ness or justice, making = man in one
community pay more for the sane ser
vice than one in another community.
and often making this difference be
tween men in the same community.
Truly they sup in our cup, they dip in
our dish. "Thess are the teaches who
suck our commonwealth, and they will
not bate III q pin"
Truly did Mr.. Justice Field. in con
strung the words "Involuntary Servi-
tude," in the Slaughter House cases,
say, lit is clear that they include some
thing more than slavery in the strict
sense of the term; they include also
sertags, vassalage, villeinsge, peonass,
and all other forms of compulsory ser
vice for the mere benefit or pleasure of.
ofbersp