Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1886-10-13

The difficulty with the farmer is
that he cannot get his share i'll the
legitimate rise in prices. The market
is manipulated in the interests of
| rings and monopolies, and they reap
the first benefits and continue to reap
more than their share of the benefits
| under all circumstances. The rail-
road is an eternal dead weight upon
our industrial interests. 1t absorbs
the profits of our farms as sponge
absorbs water; and occasionally of its
own accord it furnishes the most in
disputable evidence of it's usual leech
like propenslties, as it did when it
took the Odd Fellows to Boston and
returned them to Chicago for one
half the usual fare one way. Before
and since then it has been charging
the passengers about fifty dollars for
the round trip. 1t charged the Odd
Fellows thirteen for the round trip
and made about hundred thousand
IOIIdlS dC Cuctl' IlClSuC OuSiACoo 10
done upon about the same extortion-
ate basis as that upon which passen-
ger business is conducted. And there
is never any let up in the eXtortiOn
under any conditions that may exist.
Some of the roads have been earning
more during these times of depression
than they ordinarily earn, according
to published reports, forty roads hav-
ing earned 50 100000 more than they
did last year. Every other bushes
under the sun is struggling to keep
itself above the tide. 1t is not ques-
ton of profit with business men at all.
1t is a question ofkeeping out of bank
ruptcy. The farmer has not seen a
cent of profit for so long time, that
he almost forgets what profit is like.
He sells his products at a loss becaas e
his debts must be paid and his taxes
must be paid, and he must have tbo
necessaries of life that he does not pro-
duce. He is living upon hope and
not upon profit, and he consoles him
self with the thought that all kir DIS of
business are in the same boat, with
his own, with one exception. That
exception is the business of the mon
oplies. The railroad tdefies all law
and all usage, and b. ,nds the neck OF
every individual b eneath its yoke and
lays assessment on every pocket book.
Inc idea mat railroad should earn
more MONEY during the present year
than 1t I'D last year, suggests q
system of unblushing robbery; and
that , precisely what the system that
acp' ewes such results is. Amidst the
~ neral wall that hard times haYe
;, crushed from the people at large, tbs
railroad manager is contented and
prosperous. He has made his capita
pay and he il not caring a continen
tai whether other capital suffers o.
not. All that he is interested in is TO
the farmer to raise something to ship
He would be disconsolate indeed, j
there was nothing to ship or tn
pressing necessities of the farmer dit
not compel the shipment. But loa,
the car and the railroad manager will
attend to the balance. He will 10
even stop with the application of hi
usual thievish rule to charge all tina
the traffic will bear. He knows tina
the traffic must bear whatever h
chooses to put upon it. He know
that the farmer must have money
whatever loss he may suffer in sellin;
his products; and SO he keeps oil
| grinding the life out of the producer il
hard times and keeps his clutch upol
| his pocket book and upon his throa
in good times. 1t is an endless whir
of oppression, wrong and injustice
and there is no other people upon tn
face of the green earth that woul,
stand it. Why this people stand i
we cannot determine. We have oftel
tried to but. cannot. Producer an,
consumer are bled almost to dealt
year after year and yet the wronI
goes on under o popular government
where the majority can make or un
make men or systems whenever j
wishes. It is the strangest enigm
that was ever presented to the humal
mind for solution. That peopl
who are trained to believe that on
man is just as good as another maj
and that equality of rights is tn
most sacred principle that is cher
ished In their hearts, are quick to re
sent an insult and to assert thei
rights, should have permitted as re
pungnant a tyranny and gross an in
justice as the world ever saw to ex
ist in their midst for more than 9
quarter of a century, while they have