Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 May 1873 — The Question of Cheap Transportation. [ARTICLE]

The Question of Cheap Transportation.

The National American Cheap Transportation Convention, at its recent session in New York City, adopted the following . resolutions: Whereas, 'The productive Industries of the United States, plantation and farm, min#.factory, commercial and mercantile, are not onlyjhe sources of all our national and'individual*wealth, but also the elements on, which our very national and individual existence depends; and Whereas, All national products are the fruits of labor and capital: and as neither labor nor capital will continue actively employed without an equiva? lent measurably just'; and Whereas, Great national industries are only sustained and prospered by the interchange of products of one section of the country for those of another; and Whereas. The existing rate? of transportation, for the varied products of thfe.Union from one part of the country to another, and to foreign countries, as well as the transit cost of the commodities required in exchange, are. in many instances injurious, and to certain interests absolutely destructive, arising, in part at least, from an. insufficiency of avenues: and Whereas. The great natural want of the nation to-day is relief from the present rates of transit upon American products: therefore, Resolved, That; it is the duty of the hour and the mission of this. Association, to obtain from Congress and the different State Legislatures such legislation as may be necessary to control and limit by law, within the proper Constitutional and legitimate limits, the rates and charges of existing lines of 1 transportation; to increase, where practicable, tile capacity of our pre sent water ways, and icradti such new avenues, both water and rail, as our immensely increasing internal commerce demands, so that the producer may be "'justly rewarded for his honest toil, the consumer have cheap products, and our almost limitless surplus find foreign markets at rates to compete with the world. Resolved, That cheap transportation, both of persons and property, being most conducive to" the free movement of the people and the widest! literchange and consumption of the products of the different parts of the Union, is - essential to the welfare and prosperity of the country. Resolved, That constant and frequent association "of inhabitants of remote parts of-the United—States is not only desirable, but necessary, for the maintenance of a homogeneous and harmonious population within the vast area of our territory. Resolved, That the best intereste-of the different Earls of-the-country also demantLihe freest possile interchange of the industrial products of the varied climates and industries of the United States, so that breadstuffs, textile fabrics, coal, lumber, iron, sugar, and—varium*.uiULer_mi>duciH l _]pcaJLin; their production, but general in their consumption, may all reach the consumer at the least practicable cost of transportation, and that an arbitrary and unnecessary tax levied by the transporter over and above a fair remuneration for investment Is a burden upon the producer and consumer, that it is the part of wise statesmanship to remove. ' ■ Resolved, That certain leading railroad corpora tions of the country, although chartered to-eub-serve the public welfare, and endowed with the right of eminent domain solely for that purpose, have proved themselves practically monopolies, and become the tools of avaricious unscrupucapitalists,'to be used to plunder the public, enrich themselves, and impoverish the country through which they run. Resolved, That many of the railroad corporations have not only disregarded the public convenience and prosperity, but have oppressed citizens, bribed our Legislatures, and defied our Executive and Judges, and stand to-day a most menacing danger to American liberty and to republican government. Resolved, That the present system of railway management, having failed to meet the. jiist expectations and demands of a long-suffering people, must be radically reformed and controlled-by the strong hand of law. both State and National, and the railway corporations compelled to perform their proper functions as servants, and not as masters of the people. - Resolved, That to this end we invoke the aid of all fair-minded men in all States of the Union in excluding from the halls of legislation, from our executive offices, and from the bench, all such railway" officials, railway attorneys, or other hirelings. who prostitute public office to the base uses of private gain. Resolved, That, leaving the different sections and interests .that desire cheap transportation to work out theprdfrlem in Birch manner as they may deem best, we earnestly invoke their careful consideration, their energetic action, and their resolute will in regulating and controlling rates of trafisportatiom and in wages to theproducer and cheap preducts to lhe consumer, untaxed by unearned charges for their carriage. Resolved, That we invite the people of the various .Slates to organize subsidiary associations. State, county and town, to co-operate with the National Associationt that the power to accomplish the purposes desired rests with the suffering. millions. Relief is within their reach and Control.. United action and the near future will give, as certain as ikis needed. fyrsall time and the good of all v the true Wlution of the problem of cheap transportation"