The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1881-12-08
THE NEWS.
Address of senator Ingalls, Before the Mis-
souri, River Convention

| ST. J0sEPH, Nov. 30-The following
| address was delivered to-day by Senator
Ingalls, upon taking the chair as per
nanent president of the Missouri river
convention:
am profoundly moved By the CON-
| plimentary terms in which the partiality
of long friendship has induced Your
chairman to refer Ia nay public service.
and / should assume an indifference /
do not feel were 10 preiend 10 be indif-
| ferent to the gratifying demonstrations
with which the illusions have been re-
ceived by the convention. In conse-
quence of the necessity of my early de-
| parture for Washington, am here at
some personal Inconvenience. and am
chiefly moved to accept the distinguish
ed honor of presiding over your delib-
eratIonS by the desire to testify to my
cordial approval, to assure you of my
hearty cooperation in the purposes and
objects for which You have assem- bIed.
To assist and stimulate the development
of the vast water system of the interior
basin of the continent extending between
| the Alieghenies to the Rocky mountains,
from Manitoba to the gulf. has been the
one constant aim aud endeavor of my
| life. have
| no SYMPATHY
with those political economists who ar
/ t01 IAC POOE tnC fACu, Will TIC
empty and s0norouS demagOgery which
asserts that there is an irreconeilable
and an irrepressible conflict between
capital and labor, and that would make
indiscriminate war upsn corporations
as the natural enemies OF the people
| But confronted with many economic
| problems chief among which is that of
cheap transportation, and believe that
the solution lies, not in repressive legIs-
lation, but in competition between water
| lines and railroads.
Under the controlling power of con-
gress to regulate commerce betwt en- the
states, / have no doubt of the au-
of the authority of the government TO as
sumo either partial or complete control
of the great trunk lines of transporta-
| ton and to regulate the burdens that
are imposed upon the productive labor
| of the country. This can be done by es-
! tablishing uniform rates of freight, so as
to prevent unjust discrimination be-
! tween way and through carriage, or by
| an intelligent system of internal i'm
| provements. opening new or improving
old routes of transportation to the sea-
board.
The Atlantic communities, by their
SUPERIOR THRIFT
and vigilance, have secured advantages
which haye;enebled them hitherto 10 die
/ tate terms to the producers of the west.
4 They have constructed thousands of
miles of railroads, watered the stock by
/ countless millions of dollars upon which
the dividends are paid by the exorbitant
rates that the farmers of this valley are
| compelled TO pay for carrying the food
| without which their commerce would
languish and their populations would
| starve.
| The great carrying business of the
country is under the absolute control of
a few persons, virtually the dletators of
the industry upon whose edicts depends
the prosperity of the nation. By their
combinations they are enabled to fix
prices, control the supplies, create ficti-
| tious demands and artificial scarcity,
and thus disturb the whole basis of val
ues in the commercial world. With
daring and admirable genius, these
monarchs have devised and with
| INCoNCEIvABLE ENERGY
they have constructed system of high
ways the most wonderful known to man.
The capitalists of Boston have bored a
tunnel five miles long through Q noun,
tain of granite at an expense of S20,-
DOC, 900 10 reach this region without as
cending an Insignificant elevation OF
!, 500 feet, and 10 shorten the distance
but forty three miles.
/ New York has the Erie and the Cen.
trail
# WITH THEIR CONNECTIONS.
Philadelphia and Baltimore and other
Independent lines, built ut stupen-
dous cost, climbing tie mountains by
!. inclined plains or piercing them by tun.
nels; crossing great rivers by bridges
that are miracles of engineering skill
! all to persuade or produce 10 flow to
ntheir respective markets.
Il Ii they would share the expenses oi
transportation with the producer there
would be less cause of complaint, but
the rates are established high enough &c
pay interest on the bonds, dividends on
stock, the cost of operation, deteriora-
ton and waste of property and extrava
giant salaries of swarns of ornamental
officials.
Those who are familiar with
RAILROAD LEGISLATION
. and Jurisprudence of the last ten years
and reflect that these gigantic expendi-
lures are derived from the revenues oil
the roads, can readily perceive why corn
that is worth 81 in New York, only
brings 20 cents in Kansas, Missouri anC
4 Nebraska. But nature, so bountiful tC
us in all things, has not left us without
peaceful methods of redress. 1t is no
, necessary that we should use the rail
roads of eastern capitalists, nor pay
tribute into the Golfers of eastern mer
chants. This great valley, this grea
grain empire of the earth, has NJ
; natural connection with the At
lantic seaboard. Its rivers rur
south, and southwark flow the currents
Of its atmosphere. The gloomy noun
tain ranges that wall this valley interpost
| their eternal obstacles to this enforced
, intercourse. But We have an unequaleG
system of movable
NATURAL HIGHWAYS,
graded with facility of descent unal
terable by the skill of the engineer.
crosses no deflles to be spanned by cost
ly viaducts of massive masonry. Their
l | is no right of way to be secured By
avaricions proprietors of the soil; M
barrier to be pierced by tunnels or Il
be assembled by laborious engines drag
1 ging their reluctant trains. No expen
sive appliances of machinery are re
quired to provide the power to NOV
, the vessels that require transportation
D Nature has furnished the motive powei
in the momentum of the irresistible cur
rent that flows from the melting snow
Of the north, gathering force and volum
| as it descends through thousands of feI
tile leagues, its waves lnow almost IN
vexed by a keel from the mountains I,
. the sea.
These rivers and their
NAyIGABLE TRIBUTARIES,
twenty thousand miles in extent, an
: draining the great food producing are
e | of the world, are the natural outlet TO
| all the productions of the valley
through which they flow. They offer
q perpetual invitation to the farmers of tn
| west TO avail themselves of the cheal
and accessible transportation.
Already by the improvement of tn
p Mississippi, New Orleans has becom
accessible for seagoing vessels of th
largest tonnage. BY the removal of ten
e porary obstructIons and the improve
a ments of the channel it is not improbs
BILE that men now living will see oceal
steamships from Liverpool ascendin
|. the Mississippi and discharging thei
= teeming cargoes at the port of ST. Louis
4 The engineers in charge of westerl
rivers inform me that at a cost not 10 e.
coed $4,000 per mile q system of i'm
It provement can be completed which wi
\ provide permanent stage of twelve fee
of water from Sioux City to st. Louis
> nearly 500 miles-thus giving every a
e cess to all our products 10 foreign ma
o kets without paying tolls TO railroads
Il and il is such = comprehensive syi
tenn as this to which understand you
efforts are directed. But there is
ANOTHER ASPECT
of this question which has engaged m
o attention. With the reimbursement of th
= political forces of the country under Ii
r tenth census, the centre of power will /
!. transferred to this valley. The Interest
of the west and south are identical an
n they should be unified. Their ailianc
re upon all matters affecting thei
re material welfare is inevitable. IL the
, coalesee they will be inylncibl
They viii have majority of the pop
lar vote, majority of senators and re
IF resentativss, and q majority OF the ele
:. toral college We shall hold the pun
:. and WELD the sword Of the nation; an