Morris tribune., 1883-12-12


as to make needless antagonisms.
! Last Saturday the Pioneer Press
published letter from man in
Dakota who stated very plainly the
grievances of the farmers OF the whole
North west but who was quite i'm
practicable in suggesting remedies.
In commenting upon the letter the
Press says:
Attention may first he directed to
the fundamental cause Of complaint.
This is, i'll one word, monopoly. The
farmer says that nlonopolics hedge
him i'll whatever he chooses to turn.
BY hard and honest labor he raises Il
crop which should not only cover the
cost of subsistence, but return to him
a margin of profit sufficient to enable
him to make needed improvements,
to pay for the land already bought or
to purchase more, and to lay by some
thing toward that little accommodating
fund which it is the ambition of every
right thinking man to prepare for the
uncertainty that is to come. His
part is faithfully performed. The
grain is raised and brought to market
but the market for him means only
the nearest elevator. Here he is con-
fronted either by single monopoly,
in the shape Of q corporation which
controls both railroads or elevators,
or by combination Of the railroad
and the millers' association; and the
price fixed upon his product is gov
erned not at all by the price ruling in
the great centers of free competition,
but is put at such figure as will mu-
Let him of his profits, return him bare
ly enough to cover cost of production,
and transfer the margin to the pockets
of those who have him at their mercy
He can take their price and go back
to his hopeless work with a feeling in
his breast akin to that which the Irish
cotter cherishes, or he can resist the
injustice and keep his product to rot
on his hands; while he and his family
placed in the midst of plenty, are
dwelling on the verge of pauperism.
Against this tremendous hardship
and wrong he cries to heaven, and
wonders if the justice which we boast
to be the guardian of the weakest and
most defenseless in this land of ours
has forgotten and denied him.
The pity of it is that too much of
this is true. Without sharing in the
Idelusion that all the forces of society
and the state are in league against
the farmer; without admitting any
thing of that dangerous theory that
one man is any more entitled than
another by virtue of his particular
vocation to popular pity or legislative
assistance; without sanctioning the
ever popular nonsense that whoever
does not instantly concede that every
grievance put forward is real one,
and that every remedy proposed be-
longs to him who asks it as by a
species of divine right is an enemy of
the farmer, it is freely admitted. AS it
is said to be VIGOROUSLY true, that
the farmers of the Northwest are
handicapped in the race for indepen-
dence; are subject to impositions
which it Is shameful that any man
should be compelled to bear. 1t is
not necessary to single out individ-
uais, or to point the fingers at particu-
lar offenders, where the facts are so
well known. The man, East or West.
whose business is at the mercy of
single corporation, which in it's turn
is unrestrained as to the profits it
may exact, has all unenviable lot.
Facts such as those Cited in this letter
are not to be passed by lightly. If
there were need they could be multi
piled indefinitely: and it would be
seen that not only the farmer, but the
business man who establishes himself
at point where there is no COM
petition in transportation, gives the
heaviest securities to fortune. Freight
rates are seldom imposed on basis of
return to capital equal to that OBJ
tanned in ordinary business enter
prises, The ruling principle is to
charge what the business will bear"
and that means enough to leave to
the farmer and business man a bare
margin, sufficient to build upon in
hope and to prevent them from giving
up in despair. There is this evil in
the corporations which come Into the
closest relations with the industry of
the Northwest: If, as has been as
serted it costs as much to transport
freight from st. Paul to another point
within the state of Minnesota as to
carry the same commodity from Ros-
ton to ST. Paul, then a grievious
wrong is done. If the difference be-
tween the price of wheat at an elevator
and the price at the rpint for which
it is destined is double the cost of
carriage between the two places, it is
high time for interference.