The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-12-20
Railroad Cruelty and Coercion.
How the People Feel Toward the
Union Pacific.
Hauling Coal and Merchandise by
Teams.
LOGAN, Dec. 18th, 1858.

IL
:. forted. As matter Of fact they are no
, nearly in so bad condition as they ar
y in many parts of the Territory. Wins
= with railroad building, and the msrke
! opened to the good people of this vale,
by means of the Utah & Northern. il
the north. they have enjoyed period o
prosperity which quite exceeded thei
} expectations, and rather inclined
them to the belief that it would
3 continue indefinitely. The expec
tation was not an unre ason.
able one, and they might be prosperous
r to-day even, had their COL fden ce not
been misplaced, but they placed their
trust where all experience must have
taught them they had least reason fol
, confidence, and where they had no right
? to hope for justice-in q bloodless, soul
less and llfe-taking monopoly-the
Union Pacific railroad company. As
long as 1t suited that compsny-a com
pany which, almost since its commence.
meDt. has placed its iron grasp on the
throat Of every local industry, and
crushed the life out OF every struggling 2
enterprise which fell into its clut b bese
all went we'll; but when that road found
1t advisa5le--or rather, when it willed
that Nebraska, standing still farther re-
moved. should be placed on q footing
With Utah markets, and all geographical
distinctioDs-which, in justice to man,
to enterprises and to countries rightly
stand in favor ofthe nearest point
should be obliterated, that east ern pro-
ducers, with all the advantages they
possess as belonging to the east, might
be placed on competitive footing with
the poor Utah farmer; when it willed
thus, then the Utah 1srner had to suffer.
That is the fix Cache Valley ia in to day.
She has no outlet, neither
north nor south, st q paying
figure, and when the Union Pacific
agents are spoken to regarding the mat
ter, they calmly reply: You are treated
fairly; aid il not what are you gcing to
do about it? In other words, the company
keeps plunging its knife into the ribs Of
the people, and asks, "does il hurt you?"
And when the answer comes, "of course
itdoes," the sneering queery is: swell,
what are you going to do about it?"
With the period Of prosperity came the
desire to extend; heavy purchases were
made; new business houses were estab-
lished, and competition Was rife. Then
rsilrosd buildings closed down; and the
Union Pacific concluded it had been as
nearly honest with the reopIe of
Cache, as long as it wanted to be, 20 il
began that system Of robbery which this
county has known for years. in oneY gre i
scarce, people grew timi1, and actually
terly. As matter Of fact, they have
been worse eff hundreds of times than
they are to-day, but they have lost heart.
They have an sbundance Of grain, but
they don't want to sell, and they are not
obliged to. They might talk OF hard
times, if they were compelled to sell q. q
sacrifice; but as long as they can ssy, we
we will not sell unless we get the figures
we want, for the life OF me l cannot see
how they can complain honestly Of ''hsrd
times." There have been two or three
failures. but they are saloons and have no
serious effect.
Last winter The people of Logan could
get coal for 81 per ton. This winter the |
U. p. declines to sell it for less than So |
and 50; and whea people complained Of |
the price, they were told if they did not |
like it, they might see how they could do |
without it. As has already BEEN stated |
in your columns, there has been actual |
suffering here for coal. The result was the |
people Of the county, il . general m eet-
ing, decided that they wsuld go to the |
d. & Z. @. and arrange to have coal
delivered at Ogden, whittier thew would |
send for il by team. In ten minutes J
seventy-hve teams were raised, and ii |
was agreed that these teams should be |
given freight to Ogden and could haul |
coal back. At ths. time there was not
pound of coal in Cache that could be !
bought. Last Saturday, seventy teams 1
arrived in the valley with coal. and ten
car leads arrived over the Utah and
Northern at Logon. People who had
placed orders for coal countermanded |
them. and the agent is said to have tel
egraphed the company to stop shipments
while the present feeling lasts. To-mor-
TOW there will be between !orty-fve and
sixty wagons on TIE road to Ogden from
Cache, hauling freight out Of the valley
viii b the U. P. would have had, and |
hau ing coal back which the U. P. could
have had.
It is q feet that for quite period past
men have hauled freight BY wagon
alongside the railroad for miles and
miles, crossed and recrossed its track and
still made good wages for themselves and
leans. How is that for railroad tariff?
Men in Logan have been threatened
by the Union Pacific that if they did not |
give to that road all their freight from |
the esst-thst is, take it from the Denver |
s. Rio Grande-thes, the Union Pacific. |
would crush them. have beer told Of |
instances where men have had to send to |
Ogden by wagon for freight which came |
over the Denver s. Rio Grsnde-Sor fear |
the Union Pseifc might learn the fact, |
and would be revenged iu robbing the |
merchants when they were compelled to |
ship over shat road. No one can appre-
ciate the hatred the people of Cache feel |
for the Union Pacific, unless he has per-
sonal contact with the sentiment. If 8
call should be issued for teams to build |
another line along the side Of the Union
Pacific 1000 would respor inside of q
week, and they would work fer actual ex
pensse; some would even donate labor.
When they do get aroused in Cache, it
is no mushs AID milk sentiment; takes
a good deal to get up their ire, tut you
htvs to stroke the animal the right way
q long time to get him feeling right when
once he is aroused.
WoRMwooD.