The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1889-11-08
Dispatch knows it all-and more too.

The Dispatch continues:
1t is not strange that the air is
alive with rumOrs of railroad consoli-
dations; that the best informed and
most far-seeing of railroad officials,
openly foretel1 the inevitable union
OF the great railways of the country
into a few great systems, and that
the tendency in modern Industrial
life toward large aggregations of
capital in the conduct of given enter
prises is liable to find it's most strik-
ing consummation in the railroad in
dustry. Denunciations end the prac-
tice, and the making OF paper laws
against both, are but the products
OF ignorance, short-sightedness or
demagogism.
Now the corrugated truth is right |
here: The Interstate Commerce law,
and the state law, have brought the
railroads to desperate straits. Their
vast robberies are curtailed. They
have wiggled and twisted like worms
in a bottle. They have tried to trust
each other-but it was a failure.
Now they seek to consolidate to
avoid the law Not short-sighted,
but long and clear as the vision of a
seer; not ignorant, but with know
ledge born of the necessities of the
human race; not demagogism, but
with the element of patriotism which
says a public carrier shall carry for
the PUBLIC! This is the nature of the
state and nationallegislation to con-
troll the mightiest band of pirates
that ever robbed the high seas or the
commonwealth! Think of it. The
lie would be so hot that the liars
breath would take fire if he said the
railroads of the United States cost
SIC, 900 to the mile! But allow that
a lie almost too unutterable to be
whispered were true! Even then
there are two billions five hundred
millions OF railroad securities, over
and above $40, 900 to the mile, draw
ing interest out OF the common
herd"
And yet this Dispatch, with it's
mouth open and it's ears thrown
back, goes on to say:
"We have made railroad property
unpro6table." And are there suck
ers to believe this-who wear breeches
and a backbone? No. There isn't
man in the world who knows enough
to order soup in a restaurant but
knows that it is a lie A broad, silly,
farcical lie. The railroad does not
exist in the United Statesmen even
the closed branch in Iowa-but pays
10 per cent a year on Investment
and that on top ofenormous salaries
for brass-mounted attorneys. The
M. 4 ?. tumbled-but it's bonds for 8
millions on an expense of three mil
lion, were at a premium.
And again:
''Stupid public regulations and sui
cidal competition have been the two
prime agents in bringing indus
try to it's present situation, when
railroad building is practically at
standstill except in the new countries
like Washington and in the South,
which is just waking up from it's Rip
Van Winkle Sleep"
Yes, railroad building is at a stand
still here. They have gouged out
the entrails of the northwest in
search for interest on bonds. They
have stolen the last dollar the people
would give yet somehow there
is some building going on! Now the
south must catch it. Look out We
sunny realm OF yellow corn and hot
blood-if this devil fish don't suck a
billion in fraudulent bonds out Of
your veins within ten years we'll eat
your yams in silence forever after.
The most cheering news we have
heard is that railway building Of the
Observation-Disclosures type is at a
standstill.
Go on, Mr., Dispatch-keep right on.
You'll wake up, however, some night,
with granger legislator on your
stomach, and the wall will go forth,
like a banshee in distress, publishing
this legend: els this nightmare
or standstill in the railroad boo
dep
Gladstone Sustains the Statement.
The following question was con-
tained in a letter from Pipe Stone