Year: 1873

How the Matter is Viewed Oniciaily in


the West.


In letter from Gov. Carpenter, OF
Iowa, to Gov. Woodson, Of Missouri,
we find the following extract:


"The enormous over-production OF
the Mississippi Valley now seeking an
eastern outlet, but absolutely withheld
from market, and the consumption OF
population, clamoring for bread because
Of a lack of facilities for transportation,
and the exorbitant charges of railways
now in existence, cannot be regarded as
a financial stringency arising from the
wild speculation, or any of the ordinary
causes of business stagnation nor is it
portent of evil in the future. 1t is,
on the contrary, simply an evidence that
the industry and enterprise of the ag-
ricultural population of the West have
reached point in advance of the trans
portation and manufacturing interests
of these States therefore, it is not
strange that the people of the Missis-
sippi Valley clamor for increased faclll-
ties with which to carry on profitable
exchanges with consumers upon whom
they are dependent for market. II
railroads charge 81 1-5 cents a bushel
to move grain from st. Louis to the city
of New York in the month of January,
when there is no water communication
between those two markets except by
way of the Gulf, (and this I find to be
the average of winter charges for the
last five years. and if, as is claimed,
the same grain could be moved, were
there q direct water communication
from the metropolis of Minnesota to the
seaboard, for 10; cents a bushel, the
necessity for increased facilities OF
transportation and cheaper carriage
than the producer can now obtain, is
enfo ced with powerful effect. And
when we consider that the present pop
ulation of 100000, now occupying
the grain-growing portion of the Mis-
sissippi basin, will soon be increased
by another 100000 while the pro-
fusion of marketable products will be
more than correspondingly increased,
as improved machinery in the future,
as in the past, will enable the agricul-
turist to realize more returns from q
given amount of labor-the importance
of this question becomes of such sur
passing magnitude as to promise an
irrepressible agitation until finally and
wisely solved.


If, as have above advanced, and is
believed by practical men, bushel OF
corn can be carried from the Mississippi
River to the Atlantic Ocean for less
than eleven cents, proper facilities for
transportation being provided, itserves
to show that whatever improvement
may be made for the purposes of util.
izing any water route at all practicable,
and whatever may be done to establish
new railway lines andto protect the peo-
pie from their consolidation when built,
will be of vital benefit to the entire
country. And it is believed to be de-
monstrable that the difference between q
reasonable price for transporting West.
ern surplus products and the present
charges of freight lines, for a single
year, would go far toward the compile
tion of an entire double-track railway
from the Mississippi to the Atlantic sea-
board. The whole railway problem is
comparatively of recent origin, having
grown up within the last half century.
AS a preliminary, therefore, to the dis
covery of remedy for evils inseparable
from vast corporate enterprises, man.
aged solely in the interest of individual
corporators, to which the commercial
habits of every civilized people have al
most entirely committed the carrying
business of the world, more specific and
general knowledge among the people Of
the whole transportation question is oi
the first Importance. And aconventior
of the character contemplated would
if no other result followed its action and
its discussions, enlarge the boundaries
of public information upon the issues
involved in the question of harmonizine
the business of transportation with the
interests of the people" ,"