Year: 1866

Ir our cotemporary is right in the assump


tion that the consumers of Western produce


in the East and in Europe bear the burden o
the cost Of transportation, and that the pro


ducers here have nothing to do with it, ant


will realize just as much for their product


whether it costs little or much to get them 4


market, then all this fuss made by farmers o
the West in behalf of cheapening the cost o
transportation, is prompted by mere gratuitoul
benevolence in behalf of the interests o
Eastern and European consumers. Upor
that theory, it is ell the same to the farmer OIL
the cattle raiser whether he pays two dollar.
or only fifty cents a bushel or a hundred ,e
get his grain and stock to market, for he will
get it all back again from the consumers.
Why need he worry, then, about the price oi
freight or the cost of transportation, when j,
don't come out of his pocket, bat ont of tha,
of the men on the Eastern or Western shore
of the Atlantic ocean,


Here is the theory in the words of our CO.
temporary:


The consumer pays not only the tariff, but
''the railroad freights and ocean transports.
tation" on the goods or products which he
consumes, those items being invariably added
to the original cost, and included in the pur-
chase price. 1t is not, therefore, the Western
farmer, but the foreign consumer, who pays
the railroad freight and ocean transportation
on the grain which is exchanged for cloth in
England.


But the producer here in the West, as q
general rule, gets just as much less for his
produce here as it will cost to get it to
market; and as matter of fact then the wide
separation Of the producer and the consumer
results in diminishing the amount received by
the producer to the full cost of .ransporta-
ton, while 1t adds the like sum to the cost of
the article to the consumer in the East or in
Europe.


Now snnihilate the distance between them,
and place the consumer along side of the pro-
ducer, as the establishment of Western man
ufacturing establishments would do, and we
get rid of the cost of transportation and the
tariff, which are shared between the producer
and consumer, to the general advantage of
the community, and the rapid development of
the resources of the country


PETITION TO THE LEGISLATURE.


With others, our name will be found at
tached to petition to the Legislature, to in
crease the salary of the Recorder of Lee
County. And we would urge upon members
of the Legislature into whose hands our
paper may fall the propriety of granting
the petition. The Recorder of Lee County is
paid precisely as the Recorders of other coun-
ties, and if he had no more to do, and no more
expense in doing it than the Recorders of
other counties, we should not have presented
The petition.


But while the Recorders of other counties
keep but one Office at the county seat and do
the work themselves, the Recorder of Lee
County had to keep two Offices, one at Fort
Madison, and the other at Keokuk and to en-
ploy Deputy for one of these offices. Now
if the entire business was done at either place
the Recorder could do it all himself, and would
obain fair compensation for his time. But
as it is, while the law and the duties of his
Office require the Recorder and his Deputy to
be always on hand in their respective Offices,
the business does not afford them full employ
ment nor does the proceeds thereof allowed
the Recorder furnish adequate compensation
for their time.


We trust that a statement of the facts in the
case, will be sufficient to induce proper action
and a suitable remedy by the General Assem-
bly, at an early day.
WHY JEFF. Davis HAS NOT BEEN


TRIED.


The President, in answer to request of
Congress- sent in a special message enclosing
statements of the Secretary of War and oft
the Attorney General, in regard to the case Of
JEFF. DAVIS.


The Secretary of War says:


l. That jefferson Davis was captured by
the United States troops 10 the State of Geor-
gia, on or about the 10th day of May, 1865. |
and by order of this Department has been
and now is confined in Fortress Monroe, to
abide such action as may be taken by the !
proper authorities of the United States Gov
ernment.


3 That he has not been arraigned upon
any indictment or formal charge Of crime,
but has been indicted for the crime of high |
treason by the grand jury of the District Of
Columba, which indictment 10 now pending
in the Supreme Court of said District He
is also charged with the crime of inciting the |
assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and With
the murder of Union prisoners of war by
starvation and other bArbarons and cruel
treatment towards them.


3. The President deeming it expedient |
that JEFF. Davis should 6rst be put upoa his
trial before . competent court and jury for the
crime Of treason, he was advised by the law
officers OF the Government that the most
proper place for such trials was the State of
Virginia That State is within the judicial
circuit assigned to the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court, who has held no courts there
SINCE The apprehension of Davis, and who
declines, for an indefinite period. to hold any
court there. The matters above stated are,
so far as l am informed, the reasons for hold
ing Davis in confinement, why he has not
been brought to trial, etc.


And the Attorney General says that the
accused must be tried in the District where
he committed the crime of treason in person,
and that at the present time the state of af-
fairs are not such, Notwithstanding the formal
close OF the war, to render it expedient to
put JEFE. DAVIS and other leading traitors on
trial


The trial of JEFF. DAVIS, the chief of
traitors, at Richmond, the tra;tor., c.n;t.l
BY jury Of traitors, win be edifyine.





REcIsrRr LAw.--One Of the most impor.
lant duties of the legislature, l., or osoH to
BE- the passinr Of = HeRistry Law TEe mn.