New-York tribune., 1908-09-20
HAS PUT END TO REBATES.


1T has stopped the giving and taking OF rebates
freights." Colonel Hepburn answered. and has
also put end te Determinations as to commodi-
ties and persons. and largely as TO places. One
corporation is no longer favored as against
some other corporations the product Of one
factory is no longer favored over the product of
another factory; town city IS not given ad-
vsntages which deEied another town or city.
The railways have really become common carriers,
and are willing. ] believe. to obey the laws of
Congress. preferring legislation by the nation be-
fore legislation in the states''
What more IS needed?' I inquired
Il think we should have laws preventing rail-
ways from increasing their freight rates and from
excessively watering their securities"
why not prohibit water altogether" 1 asked.
Men who build railways" Colonel Hepburn an
svered 'and thereby take great financial risks are
as much entitled 10 the unearned increment so
called, are tho owners Of lots and lands. l
bought farm nasny years ago for so an acre It
has psid very little. If anything. investment,
but could get Sl0o an acre for il to-day
70 put st in the market The increased value will
be my profit. when ] choose to sell So believe
the increased value of railways should go TO the
owners Of their shares snd bonds. Many roads have
had long and discouraging struggle. Part Of the
Burlington system. for instance, didn't pay a div-
dend for seventeen years. However. an undue ex-
ransion Of securities should be prohibited
sT suppose many pioneer families in the West
are rich because Of prudent purchases Of land?" /
said.
a few are rich. g large number are in comfort
able circumstances, hut hundreds our first set
tiers are poor because they believed the prairies
were good for grass. but nothing else. My father
took I'D seventy acres Of forest at a far greater
cost IN tine and toll than would have been re-
CURED on a thousand acres Of prairie Farmers
from wooded countries argued that land without
trees was worthless Our farm only a mile
or two from thousands OF of rich land ready
for the breaking plough, but We chopped and
sawed and gTubbed and lives out in un-
profitable and almost hopeless labor. A man in our
neighborhood moved few miles away to the prai-
rie- IL predicted that he would starve and
finally die Of cold remember that he on
Monday and that meeting was held in log
cabin Thursday. at which prayers made
for his safety. Wheat could be sold at Muscatine
forfy-one miles the country for Is cents a
lsGsheI in money. Com a bushel I'm
goods. We traded surplus home for
actual necessaries. a 200 pound pig was worth as
much 81 80. Blue calico, with white dot
Merrimac cloth. called it-cost 3lss cents yard.
We remained the farm for three years, and then
went 70 live IN Iowa city"
Were there schools in Iowa at that timer
-'sSot in che country districts got no schooling
while on the farm. At Iowa City ! attended the
Mechanics Academy for three years. My mother
OF the teachers. James Harlan after
ward United States Senator and also the father
sn-law Of Robert Todd Lincoln had come from
which was really the beginning Of the public school
svsfem in Iowa. He of the greatest men
in American history. and Of the real builders
o. the West remember that he told he lived
on Il cents a week while going to college in Indi-