The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1895-08-30
THE NINTH PLANK.
COHEN DISCUSSES THE A. r. OF L.
POSITION ON TRANSPORTATION.
He Holds the Opinion That Railway Mo-
nopoly Is Inseparable From Land and
Money Monopoly and Gives His Reasons
For the First Half of His Belief.
Especial Correspondence.I

For the First Half of His Belief.
Especial Correspondence.l
The important part played by the
transportation of goods at the present
day and the great amount of wealth
accumulated by those who do the carry
ing trade of the world bring it up as
one of the great problems of the day.
The farmers, paying exorbitant freight
rates directly to the railway companies,
felt the evil long before the workers Of
the cities, and they called for govern
ment control Of railways, or at least for
regulation Of them. If the city work.
man did not come in direct contact with
the railway people, he has nevertheless
learned that as q consumer it must be
out of him that the overcharges are
feeced, and he is now wheeling into
line and demanding reform on this line.
The American Federation of Labor in
the ninth plank of its platform asks
for state control Of transportation, and
the questions have been raised: Is trans
portation a monopoly apart from other
monopolies? Or does it become mo-
nopoly because land and money are mo-
nopolized? is it a separate plant with q
separate root, or is it simply branch of
the tree of monopoly which will die
with the rest Of the branches when the
tree is finally uprooted?
The answers to these questions are
important, for on them depends whether
it is necessary to make separate fight
ON the railway owners. incline to the
view that transportation is not sepa-
rate monopoly. and when the federation
declared for free money, free land and
against fundamental patents it covered
the whole ground.
How much monopolies depend ON one
another and how they grow out Of one
another can be seen if we trace their
growth and see under what conditions
they developed.
First I will try to show how pri-
vate ownership Of land affects the rail
way question.
The western states and territories be-
ing thinly settled, sometimes an aver
age of less than three persons to the
square mile, the exchange Of goods
among themselves must be done by rail
roads; the distances are too great for
wagons. When it comes to exchanging
with distant states-and most Of their
trade is with them, since the food they
raise in mostly consumed in the eastern
states, where the bulk of the population
resides-it means shipping freight often
as far as 800 miles, and sometimes
more. Then comes the return of the
goods the farmer buys. Here are 5000
miles of travel to make complete ex-
change Why are they SO far apart? Be-
cause the country grew up under sys-
tenn of unlimited land ownership.
When the first settlers in America had
so far overcome their fear as to pene-
trate into the interior far enough to lose
sight of the Atlantic, the land was open
to the first settler. The error was in that
the holding of land was not limited to
the actual user. Had it been we would
not now be scattered all over a vast
country. Indeed it is doubtful IL New
York and vicinity would not be popu
lated very much like Holland and Bel
GUM. In these countries, depsely popu-
lated as they are--over 450 people to
the square mile--only one quarter Of
the land is under cultivation. I cite
this fact to show that even these coun-
tries are not overpopulated. Were the
population of the United States living
as closely together as the Belgians ter
ritory four times the size of New York
would hold them all. The transYorta-
ton OF goods would Jnen pc q matter or
200 or 300 miles, instead Of being. as it
is now, in the thousands. Railway sys-
TENS thousands of miles in length, that
have absorbed billions Of capital, would
not have been built. There would have
been instead a number of short lines,
incapable Of debating terms to their pa
irons. Under such conditions sooner
than give one-half his wheat to rail-
way company for taking the other half
to market the farmer would load it on
his wagon and take it to town himself.
Were the miller and the baker within q
half days ride by wagon no railway
company could extort. In Holland there
is one-tenth the mileage per inhabitant
compared to the United States. Of course
this does not mean less business neces-
sarily. They may do more than we do,
| but where the distances between the
towns are not very great the power Of
the company is much less. The natural
advantages had we settled the country
| in this way need only be mentioned to
be appreciated. The nearness Of the sea-
board and navigable rivers would also
have been factors whose tendency
would be to curb the growth Of rail
road monopoly. This is what might
have been with free land, but it is not
too late even now. Land reform could
work wonders by distributing popula-
tion more evenly over the country, not
| to mention the other benefits which ]
will elaborate in another letter.
HENRY COHEN.
Denver
| rnior, yVoDcs nv