The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1907-07-20
AND THE RAILROADS;
THEIR INTEREST IS COMMUNA

see Farmers Association, Dayton, Tenn.
Dear Sir: / have read your letter
headed GARNER and the Railroads." pub
lished in the Sunday Times of Chatta-
nooga, on June %.
"It contains evidence of your intelli-
gence and fairness of mind and l can
account for your criticism of my address
before the Tennessee Bankers Associa-
ton, therefore, only on the ground that
YOU have read an account in which both
the substance and spirit of what said
were grossly misrepresented. Neither
before the Tennessee bankers, nor at any
other time or place, have / used lang
uage that could, by any possible con-
struction, be made to convey the mean
ing that some one has evidently endea-
vored to give to my remarks. l enclose
herewith a copy of my address to the
bankers exactly as I delivered it. If you
will read it you viii see that some one
has done me a grave injustice in at
tributing to me any reference to the
~aprance MANIA" or any language that
can be distorted into a call upon any
men. or classes of men, to organizs
against the politicians who seem to b
working the so-called grange mania
81 shall be glad if you will send me-
a clipping of the account of my address
which so completely misrepresented me
and 30 far misled you. Such an &C
count affords a striking illustration OF
the Misrepresentation to which railways
and railway managers have been per.
sistently subjected in some quarters.
"Not only in my address to the Ten
nessee bankers, but on other occasions,
I have referred in terms of the highest
appreciation to the work of the last Tens
nessee Legislature, and the fact that a
majority of its members represented the
agricultural communities of the State
shows that 1 would have been most UNI
lust if / had criticised, in any way, tho
farmers of Tennessee.
No Ouc IcCOSuiZCo SfS"
Importance of the agricultural interests
of the United States than does the man.
ager of a railway operating in a region
like the South, the wealth of which is
largely based on farming. / know that
the railways of the South cannot pros
per unless the Southern farmer is pros
- II r J1.o,> {horo q - q foyy fQrms
ers who do not realize that their pros.
perity depends in large degree upon the
highways over which their products must
be hauled to market.
81 believe that every one doing busf
ness of any kind in the South is inter-
ested in the railways of our section be-
ing able to increase and improve their
service as rapidly as the demand for
transportation increases, but 1 do noc
believe that any other class is more VIZ
tally interested in this than is the farm
err. He must rely upon the railway I'd
carry to the consuming centers OF this
country. or to the seaports for export.
his surplus products which cannot be
consumed in the immediate locality in
which they are produced. The railway
also makes possible the establishment OF
factories and building up of towns and
cities in agricultural communities. These
towns and cities furnish the farmer With
a nearby market for the ~perishable pro-
ducts of his farm and enable him to df
versify his farming to an extent that
would not be profitable if he did not
have the local markets to supply.
Cali my life 1 have numbered South
ern farmers among my friends. L know
their high character and their high av.
erage intelligence. 1 know that when
they have studied the railway sitiua'
ton from the viewpoint of abstract JUS
tice and from the viewpoint of their
own individual interests, the railways of
the South will nave no reason to fear
unjust treatment at their hands. My
only fear is that farmers and other
classes of citizens as well may be mis-
led by false and mistaken statements 40
to the railways and their managers.
81 nave written you thus fully, in or.
der that you should have no misunder-
standing of my attitude as to the prop
er relations between the public and the
railways, and in order, especially, to
correct the mistaken impression you had
obtained as to my attitude toward the
farmer. l know that you will regret as
much as I do the way you have been
misled. Yours very truly,
wv. w. FINLEY, President"
Everyone tries to find happiness in