The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-01-15


the varied resources of the country
along these great highways which are
completely under their control and
which are natural monopoly in the
sections of country through which they
pass"
RATE DETERMINATIONS.
Mr.. Wallace discussed the Standard
Oil and the packing house combines and
attributed their existence to rate dis
elimination. He said:
Unless the federal government inter-
1ereS IN very short time, these packing
companies will be merged into one ana
then there viii be, as in the case of the
Standard Oil, really but one buyer OF
live stock and but one seller Of dressed
meat Farmers all know what thai
means. They will not cease to grow live
stock They viii always receive a price
that viii encourage them to continue
but they can rest assured of one thing.
that any surplus of profits beyond that
necessary to induce them to continue
the business will not go into their pock-
cts but into the treasury Of the combi-
nation The only remedy for the pres
ent conditions and the worse conditions
probable in the near future is a just
freight rate. or toll to those who use
the highway-such freight rates as will
establish packing houses wherever the
conditions suitable apart from freight
rates., exist, thus giving competition
and bringing the great packing centers
as near as possible to the people who
grow cattle.
No railroad company says the kan
sas statute, shall charge any person
greater sum than it charges any other
person for like service. That law was
passed in 1883 I doubt If 1t has had the
least erect in preventing rebates, or
concessions, or free carriage Of freight
or passengers. Two years previously
the prohibitory law was passed. It is
and has been a. dead letter. How shan
We expect a poor, despised jointist TO
OBEY a law made for him while the
great railroad magnates ignore the Law
made for them. Emma Goldman teach
es an obscure night school of anarchy
compared with the post graduate uni
Versity course taught by the railroads
OF this country
ROAsTS THE POLITICIANS.
In discussing the interference of rail-
roads in politics, Mr.. Wallace said:
This evil is one that is very deeply
rooted. There is usually at every state
capitol what might be called the per
manent lobby which is especially active
At conventions in all the political par
Ties and during sessions of the legis-
lature- It is not made up entirely of
OFFICIALS of the railroads but of men
some of whom may have political am
billions and others of whom are in it
not for the office nor yet for their
health, but for the purpose of black
mail in the shape of cold cash as a re-
ward for promoting or suppressing leg
| lslation. These men usually have close
relations to railroads or their officials,
some times, in fact are secretly on
their pay roll and are thus able to Sc
cure passes by means of which they
can pack political conventions and
bring influence direct from home to en-
courage or to intimldate weak-minded,
goOd-na tured, but undiscerning and
unSuSp1ciOuS representatives. They can
thus defeat legislation aimed at the
correction of railroad abuses and fire.
quently secure the nomination of rail-
road commissioners who will act as
1 buffers between the railroad and the
] 40
which railroad commissions were es-
tablished.
They can, Furthermore, secure the
nomination of judges who ride on free
passes unblushingly, which the railroads
are cutie anxious to give, and secure
also the election of sena tors and repre-
| sentatives who have no hesitation in ac-
/ cepting not merely annual passes but
/ telephone. express and telegraph franks
Under these circumstances, how can
farmers and business men expect their
Will, which they intended to make
known at the polls, to be enacted into
laws? think somewhere, either in
Solomon's proverbs, or the constitution
of the United States. or the Declaration
OF independence, or some other hOary anG
respectable authority, or perhaps my
grandmother told me half a century
ago, that this is q government by the
people, or that all power is vested il,
the people, or that governments derive
their just powers from the consent Of
the governed, or words to that effect
Il believe this is true in your town
ships to a limited extent in your coun-
ty government, but do you Kansas peo-
pie really believe that your farmers.
who comprise the large majority of the
state, have very much to do in govern
ing Kansas? hope you do, but don't
believe it
PROPHESIES GOVERNMENT CON-
TROI.
In concluding his long address, which
II published in full would make about
a solid page in the State Journal, Mr..
Wallace said.
so long as good crops and resulting
good times continue. the farmers will
submit to good deal of imposition and
outright wrong-doing, but when the tide
turns and organized capital fails to
share the public burden there will sure
~ come day of reckoning Whether
in matters political, ecclesiastical. or fin
ancial, when great power falls into
hands that use it for oppression read
justment must follow or the onward
progress of civilization would be check
ed There is too much intelligence in
the United States to permit Injustice to
become permanent or the wealth of the
country to remain long in the hands of
the few
In conclusion, the railroads are sim
ply preparing the way and educating
! the DpQO1p to the OaraScit1r Of .r,,--.l-4's