LEGISLATION NOT THE PANACEA FOE ALL EVILS. 453 



article is really of great value. It is needless, of course, for 

 me to say the facts and figures presented by both these gen 

 tlemen are undoubtedly authentic, whatever may be thought 

 of the argument deduced therefrom; which arguments 

 must stand or fall upon their merits before the reader. 



One of the great troubles with the masses always has 

 been perhaps always will be that it is difficult for them 

 to occupy conservative ground, as between two radical 

 stand-points. Notwithstanding what has been said to the 

 contrary, farmers as a class, the reading ones at least, do 

 occupy just this ground when they come to rely on their so 

 ber judgment. They may, it is true, be carried away for 

 the time being by the florid eloquence or magnetism of the 

 speaker, but the result of the second sober thought is the 

 question, What is right in the matter ? Hence, incendi 

 arism, in whatever shape it may be presented, falls harm 

 less for evil, a fact not generally appreciated, except by 

 those who know the farming class intimately well. 



LEGISLATION NOT THE PANACEA FOE ALL EVILS. 



For myself, I do not accede to the radical view from 

 either stand-point. I do not believe that the railroads of the 

 West are to blame for all the evils that have been heaped 

 upon the producer. The system upon which they were car 

 ried on, the publicity given to their workings, their stand 

 ing directly next to the farmer as the transporter of his prod 

 ucts, ought to prevent this. The real grievances are the 

 shameless frauds and unfair discriminations practiced by 

 those great operators whose scheme was to consolidate not 

 only the railroads, but the telegraph lines of the country in 

 to one great monopoly, and through the power of centralized 

 capital, to buy individuals, to corrupt Legislatures, and 



