The Wichita daily eagle., 1897-04-02
Ady's Hard Won Victory.

gers OF the country are staggering bewil-
oered under the blow of the supreme cours
decision in the case Of the Trans Missouri
Freight association, and railroad stocks
are tumoGrg in al directions. il ought TO
De mentioned that in that opinion the great
TRIBUNAL PASSED upon one of the things that
have been the matter with Kansas" For
several months there has been in print a
sort Of consultation of physicians upon the
Kansas malady. bur, so far as have read
no nnger has been placed upon that run
ming sore Of varying name which was once
| called the Trans-Missouri Freight assoc;a-
| tIon- Professors, politicians and literateurs
nave been telling the reading and wonder
ing world what is the matter with Kan
sas- But probably because they found
tne Ills too numerous to mention fully, or
| perhaps because opinions differ as 10 their
| relative importance, or, what is most Ike
~. because where popular interests are in
Nolved the worst truth is last to be con-
ceded, the raiIroad-carrying system has
been omitted from such a catalogue CT dis
eases as has never been pasted upon bot
| tie OF patent medicine. OF these. booms
knavery, droughts and cyclones have re-
ceived most frequent mention.
But from residence in Kansas OF al
most twenty years l do not think it extrav-
| agaut to say that not all the hot winds
/ with their meanings, nor all the cyclones
| with their terroTs, have wrought in that
/ locality so much to bankrupt and dis
| hearten men as has been accomplished by
| this invisible and silent force. From end to
end OF that great garden this combination
wiped away industries just as surely and
| just as completely as II the torch has been
! applied TO them. II destroyed the home
| markets and home enterprises as effectual-
| ~ as the navigation act was intended to do
| by directing where and how the colonists
| should trade, when Pitt said that the Ameri
/ cans had no right TO make even nail for
| horseshoe. 1t extracted and carried
! away the substance of the people In
| dustries languished and died before their
eyes just as plainly as the blades Of corn
withered in the wind. AS to the correct
ness of this proposition every informed c.ti-
zen of Kansas will say that there can be
not the slightest question. And this ex-
plains to some extent the broken boom
The system of rates fixed by the Trans
Missouri Freight associate made il i'm
| possible for jobbers and manufacturers to
| live in Kansas, while the local rates were
| almost bar TO domestic traffic. A couple
of examples out of a Thousand will serve to
the helplessness of the people over whom
| it ruled, not purposely, perhaps. but really,
a consummate despot. Upon articles from
the south, like sugar, certain rate was
| fixed to Arkansas City, on the southern
boundary of middle Kansas. Carried TO
Newton, eighty miles farther north, the
rate on sugar was-not more, but about
one-fourth less Carried TO eighty miles
| northeast, to Emporia, and the rate lost
about another quarter. At Topeka it was
still less, and at the Missouri river the
"basing line" $50 miles from Arkansas City,
the rate was lowest. The schedule was so
nicely adjusted that was little cheaper
for the Arkansas City dealer to let the
sugar go on $50 miles and then come back
through a Kansas City wholesaler than to
take II from the cars upon its arrival at his
place. In like manner the Kansas grocer
was compelled to come to Chicago jobber
to buy the California fruit which had
few days before passed through his town
OF course no jobber in Kansas could COM
pete with dealers at those favored points,
and whenever one undertook il in the hope
that conditions would improve a wreck re-
suited. To each Of these wrecks. multitude
nous in number there were added the worst
burdens made possible by an iniquitous
mortgage law, which took from the debtor
not only the triple security which ne had
given, but also his furniture and his very
hope. Against this state of things the peo-
pie raised their voices only 10 be called dis
turberS and fana s.cs. Figures were pro-
aUced by servile legislators and others to
show that the system was really the very
best thing for Kansas If the idiotic popu-
lace would only understand it, just as every
/
data to prove that all other companies are
inferior to his. For raising a noise about
this discrimination Kansas was jeered by
people who believe 1t proper to arrest and
fine hackdriver when ne makes country
man pay for an hours ride around a single
block. Keeping up the disturbance, they
were told that they would 'injure the
state" But they went on with the work
of injury and at last have won-nave won
not only for themselves, but for the conti-
nent, as they d.d when they precipitated
the war for freedom.
This legal contest one OF the grandest OF
the generation, should be credited to Kan
sas. This victory is the gift TO the country
of persistent fanatics" and troublesome
"disturbers" When, more than four years |
ago, upon the request of Kansas shippers |
and merchants. represented by ]. f. How |
ard of Wichita, United States District At |
torney J. ". Ady began suit against the |
association under the Sherman antitrust |
law, he was called by those who claimed |
loudest to stand up for Kansas" first a /
meddler and then a Populist. the last epi- |
thet of the Republican machine for any |
who disregarded Il. But so far as politics |
had to do with the matter IL was Republi- I
can solely. Ady was the appo!ntee Of Har- |
rison. and the defense was led by George /
r. Peck. a staunch Republican Really. |
they were the only men in the case While |
neither were able TO get a the final argu
ment at Washington, the contest was
fought out upon the,r briefs, as Meade's
victory at Gettysburg was won with the
troops and plans which he took on the eve
OF battle from his predecessor. The achieve
ment OF Mr.. Ady is enhanced by the re-
verses which he met at first. He was beaten
in the United States circuit court for Kan
sss. and again az ST. Paul before the Unit
ed States circuit court OF appeals. But for
ali these backsets and the abundant dsTis-
ion which accompanies them he persever-
Cd: and his one request OF his successor
was that. Notwithstanding the strategic
dissolution OF the association. the case
should not rest until II had been presented
to the highest court Of the government. At
great labor he had prepared IL with a full
OF the tremendous forces BY
which hc would be resisted. and Mr.. Peck
shaped the defense win remarkably clear
foresight cf he possible disastrous results.
The decision Of The supreme court lays
down the law in almost the precise terms
employed ~ Mr.. Ady in his brief upon pTsc
ticsly al the points involved; and il wipes
away the main cen;.ztion in the defense
5y saying that. ss the government Rad
proved an a-.e,3 Cnt ia sG.JsIess-0n OF coEn-
pst!.i-n. l. woG,d -: - req irs5 20 sAog
,ra- fhs tsarss were uErec Eors be or unjuss !