The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-08-18

-@wD0ThLlOIC
tnowing that the extra taxation would
I1JIr he paid by the people, by quietly
INC the freight rates on certain al.
l:.Ios When the Standard Oil Com
WAS assessed for part of the taxes
;IstIv owed, rockefeller said add
., f51rth of a cent to the price of
- +7n the people have paid our taxes"
The only way to reduce the burden
the people is by a bona tide genuine
IN passenger and freight rates. 1t
b, said of more than one railroad
o,mmIssion that at a respectful dis
rance they initiate the ways of Provi
dance IN one particular. 1t has been
said He takes a step and ages have
roIff9 away" All railroad commits
siars probably when first appointed
have made a show of reform by cut
ting eff some infnitesimal amount
from railroad charges as an one eighth
or one fourth of a cent from passenger
fares and then-two or three genera
lions hence, if the people wait so long,
thav may possibly cut off another one
eizhCh Of a cent. In the mean time, the
multimlllionaires who own these roads,
living in their marble palaces in Lon
don and New York, with their yachts,
fast women and fast horses, have gone
On with their fellow c0~nspiratoTs en-
HANGING the value Of the dollar, re
ducing the value OF produce and there
By more than doubling their passenger
and freight rates.
EFFECT OF EXCESSIVE RATES
/. is in this way that Ireland natur
sgIv one of the foremost countries on
the entire globe, has been pauperiz d.
All the profits of the soil have been
drawn in the shape of rents by non
resident land owners to London and
nothing going back, the country has
been impoverished like a field from
which all the crops are cut and no hing
returned In like manner to day the
South and West are impoverished by
all the profits of agriculture being
taken TO London and New York in the
shape Of excessive transportation
charges and nothing being returned, or
spent among US, the South and West
are rapidly being reduced to the con
di-i1n of Ireland.
In honest fact, the railroad commits
sicns of the several States have served
only as buffers to protect the railroads
from real criticism by the people, and
from direct legislation to reduce their
rates, while the States have useles Ily
taxed themselves to pay the several
commissions salaries TO seem to do
something.
| In the public distress, we demand
} zeal relief. and we must have it, and
not its PhaEtJuh.
What is the remedy The remedy is
to cut the rates and exactly in proper
ton as these multi millionaire railroad
kings have. in combination with others
Of their kind, cut the prices of u pro
duca.
5 SUPREME COURT DECISIONS
The Supreme Court Of the United
Sssc has de :ided Chicago R r vs.
We.lm4n 143 L. s. aud in several other
case that rates which will allow a
Moderate rate on the actual value
0. the railroad property are valid. In
thar ease 1t sustained q passenger fare
G, two cents per mile Upon the same
bass, every passenger and nearly
every freight rate should be in
Two. lis what has been done with
OK produce and will simply restore
railroad charges to their former basis.
Can the railroads stand 1t? Upon the
bass Of watered stock, making the
railroad patrons pay dividends and in
teresC on three or four times the value
OF the railroad, they cannot But upon
the legal requirement OF moderate in
IeTes. On the real value of railroad
property, they can. Besides the divi
cends and interest on stock and bonds
On three or four times the value of the
property, is not all the present high
-atea are levied for. In the first place,
the freight shippers aud passengers are
taZe0 TO pay enormous salaries to rail
road officials, ranging from 800, 0O0
per year down. The officials are as
numerous as their salaries are exOrbi
tant. j. Pierpont Morgan pay g, cut Of
this levy upon the poor Southern peo-
pie, So 600 ayear to his chief manager,
President Spencer. while his, like all
other big railroad systems, has three
Or t0Ir honorary aub presidents at ap-
proI.mate salaries, each equipped with
PaI1ce car and staff Of servants, and g