Year: 1873

@ rnce OF aoe nnanclers, now crippled for want OF
ie"oS CASH 70 pay ior labor and materials.
mai, AN ikoN NATIONAL HIGHWAY.
This road should be to the business OF the conn
Try OF TINS age what the common highway was In
t;nu ~ @ " sne wants OF our fathers. One flnc
% %muu VI ouI iocai government IL 70 furnish roads
Inls Is done by towns, Cities counties and States
why not oy the federal Union, one OF whose con-
commerce between the statesSr don't pPetend
to have solved all the questions or obviated ali the
dimcuties involved in this movement: but IL ia an
parent We must do something to be rid OF this
great evil which oppresses producers as well as
rience would perfect the worKing of the imnropye
ment and prevent abuses when once the road was
Probably government action should 90 no further
than to build and maintain the roadway leaving
either companies or individuals, SO as to defeat any
tendency TO monopoly In its use. 1t should be the
great national iron road-cal 1t military road II
you choose Trains should all run at one rate
then they would be able to run very frequently and
would have no reason for the slightest delay. 1t
now requires about ten days to bring freight from
the Mississippi River here. BY such a road as is
proposed II should come In three days and half.
The saving OF interest alone on the vast value OF
property moving in both directions would IN short
time pay the cost OF the road. All this now comes out
OF producers and consumers, as well as the excess
In present reghts beyond the actual cost OF trans
portation over an honestly and properly con-
structed road BY the present system 1t is utterly
mp0s,sinle to ascertain what is fair charge for
capital and dishonest contracts with construction
companies and transportation mOnOpolists,
whereby railroad officers manage to secure for
themselves and their friends large revenues, at
the expense OF the railway stockholders, these
great corporations so conceal and mystify their
operations that no accurate estimate can be made
by rail and water.


DANGER OF LARGE CORPORATION.


Even II 1t were feasible for corporation to con-
struct such great freight road the nation needs
to pass into the hands Of those " Who would defeat
the great necessity Of the people, Its stock would
become the football OF the operators in Wall
street, and IN the end 1t would only add to the
perils OF our financial system, instead OF relieving
threatening pressure upon the industry and en-
terprise OF the country


OFFICIAL AND LEGISLATIVE CORRUPTION.
Fears are expressed that the building and MAIN
tenance OF such road as have suggested by the
federal government could not be done without
corrupt use OF public money by officials. Possibly
that may be so. Certainly our experience leads to
power But these trusts can be strictly hedged
with legal safeguards 80 as to reduce the chance
hitting that there viii be some leaks they GER
taInly need not equal the monstrous scandals Of
legislatures bought and courts bribed with the
money Of the great corporations which we con-
stantly witness under the present system.


CARRYING AT LOSS.


A New York paper has stated that the railway
transportation Of the country is losing BUSINESS
This s easily refuted by reference to the published
returns rss of Of the cost and earnings Of all
the sparsely settled regions certainly have
been unable to make dividends; but they are built
benefit them. In all the Middle and Eastern States
the roads pay fair dividends, even on watered
stock, which far exceeds the actual cost OF the
roads. 1t Is only needed, however, to point at the
score OF our most wealthy citizens, whose millions
have been piled up within q very few years by the
rewards OF this closing business" to stamp the
falsty Of the assertion that the freight OF the cOun
try is carried over our railroads at less than actual
cost.


TINE FOR ACTION IN NEW YORK.


Western producers are thoroughly alive to the
oppression under which they suffer. Eastern con-
suners and manufacturers are already preparing
to fight the mOnOpOlists. 1t Is surely time for New
York merchants whose trade is taxed by the rail-
road companies to ruinOus extent, to bring the
power OF emclent organization ana united enort TO
bear In this great movement to rid ourselves OF q
giant evil, which threatens to strangle trade as
well as paralyze industry.