Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1890-07-28
FlLcHING THE FARMERS.
the Railroad and Elevator Steal of
Grain That Is Called Shrinkage.

The farmer is the victim of many
mems wiles, and he submits with de-
gree of patience that would be eminently
cOmmendable were it not that his SUBJ
mission to extortions, robbery and
every available form of craft and trick
cry is wrong to his wife and children
in that it contributes to the piling on of
the amount of his mortgage and other
Indebtedness Now and then chatting
under his burden, he threatens vengeance
upon his adversary, but changes his
mind before he comes up with him.
"In no one thing, yes, in no dozen
things, is the farmer so outrageously
wronged as in the single matter Of get
ting his grain to a market" said one who
is in position to know whereof he speaks.
II tell you there is no industry so loosely
conducted as the immense grain bust
ness of the west; but, stumbling as it is,
it is carefully seen to that all is done to
the profit of the railroads and grain ele-
vators, and to the damage of the dealer,
and consequently to the farmer; for
the dealer is very careful to see to it that
all the gouging done him by the rail-
roads and elevators is placed in his ex-
pense account. and the bill charged up to
the farmers in the way Of light weights,
low grading or in some manner or other.
"A big kick was raised in this state,
and laws we're passed which suppose
were designed to be effectual' to the end
designed. But the railroads have sue
ceeded in rendering them imperative, SO
that they are dead letters upon the stat
ute books There ought to be an appeal
direct and straight to that highest of all
tribunals, the people, who when they
rise in their might can make pompous
and pampered legislators even tremble.
The press is the only effectual means of
reaching them Efforts have been ex-
hausted upon congress, upon state legis-
lators and upon prosecuting officials.
They have been urged, pleaded with and
piteously besought in vain to redress
these great wrongs. They make no
reply.
1T would seem that they are abject
slaves before that colossal tyrant, the
railroad, which, like the car of Jugger-
naut, remorselessly brushes all who get
in it's way. These law making and law
enforcing folks have been threatened
with the popular wrath. Perhaps they
think railroad influence can protect them
in this, as railroad influence has assisted
80 many of them into their places. If
the facts were but brought in their un-
adorned monstrousness before the popu-
lar tribunal it would cause them to elect
public servants who would have the
courage to do right though power a
thousandfold mightier than the rail-
roads opposed.
This elevator business is not proper
ly understood. There has been much
published concerning its extortions, bat
the articles have been deficient in plain
facts. In the first place take the matter
of the receipt given the shipper. The
Illinois law says that an actual receipt
shall be given the shipper in all cases
for grain shipped. This law is never OBJ
served. The so called receipt in every
case reads more or less and this more
or less clause paves the way for the ills
which follow. 1t is almost invariably
less, rarely the same and never more
that the shipper gets.
Il state specifically that no bills of
lading are issued that are in compliance
with existing laws. but every one of
them contains clauses that invaldate
their value by rendering ambiguous the
extent Of the common carriers liability.
Every one of them leaves it optional