The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1915-08-05
FOUR THOUSAND HEARD SEN
ATOR TUESDAY AFTERNOON
CONTINUED from Page ~

it is now a problem-an exceedingly
intricate problenl-to raise a family.
He pointed out that these double pric-
es rule in the face of the greatest in
dustrial efficiency the world has ever
known He pointed out that freight
rates steadily dropped until 1898 and
have as steadily risen since, until now
it takes as much to meet the freight
charges of the country as to conduct
all the governments-natio state,
city and county-of the country. He
compared freight rates to stairway
going down to 1898, and steadily up
since then, while tonnage has piled
mountain-high since then and ought to
be handled more cheaply. He said six
systems now controlled the railways
of the country. Your farm is your
capital-your accumulated labor-and
the railroad confscates it for freight"
he said.
He said the extortions of the last Is
years would have raised a revolution
in a less rich country. He extolled
Sherman and the Sherman antitrust
law, but said it had never been honest.
ly enforced, He showed that when
Roosevelt took Office following the as
sassination of Mckinley there were
149 trusts; three and half years lat
er there were 1864; in 1908 the mum
Der had increased to 10000. He said
the big stick" was behind the door
all that time. He told how the presi
dent of the Western Union, at ban
quet in New York, said "The president
has said a good many things about
US, but has never done anything to u.s. >
Paying tribute to the Mayo broth
ers, the great surgeons, he likened the
present-day corruption to a cancer
and said it needed a surgeon, but that
Bull Moose couldn't handle it. Pan
demonium followed this thrust
screams of laughter and cheers fairly
rocking the building.
He told of Wisconsin's freight rates
based on actual valuation, Of how the
interests managed to get at his sup
porters by one means or another. and
how the fight was being made in other
states.
In closing he said the peril was right
before the farmers, of how the wonder
full crops mantling the broad prairies
of North Dakota would be filched from
them by unfair freight rates, by
grades, by rebates and by manipula
ton. He called on them to organize
to avoid chickering's, to unite behind
competent leadership and to use the
+; ballot, shutting their eyes to party
lines. THE hour has struck when il
you care to give your children liberty
you must wipe out the blot. Each gen
GRAFTON is given special work. Ours
is to free the nation from industrial
and commercial slavery" He wish
ed Madison had been chosen as the
scene of the operations of the Equity
society, as their success would point
; the way for the freedom Of the tobacco
growers, the fruit growers, the cotton
growers and the others.
Senator LaFollette has been heard
here before, but never with the inter
est he got Tuesday afternoon. The
farmers of North Dakota are fighting
for what they know they must have
and they believe that only through the
Equity society can they get it.
In the evening George S. Lotus ad
dressed an audience that filled the Ar
mory. He got nearer home than did
Senator LaFollette. He has the facts
of North Dakota political history at his
tongues end and he does not mince
matters at all in telling them. He
names the men who are fighting the
society and tells why they are fighting
it. He held the attention of the large
audience, most of whom were farmers
who had come in in their machines,
until almost midnight. )
Following the meeting number OF
new members were taken in by the
Equity society and number of shares
in the St. Paul terminal elevator were
subscribed for.