MAGIC OF THE MIXING-HOUSE 



cent, discount on the face of the loan. Also 

 that when he tried to borrow $80 on his four 

 horses, two wagons, and harness the loan 

 agent demurred on the ground that the 

 security was not enough ; so to raise the money 

 he had to sell one of his teams for $400. 



Also, if in that first year Evans had followed 

 all of his wheat from the side-track at his 

 station to the mill that made flour of it he 

 would have found still more enlightenment. 



Take, for instance, the grain that he sent 

 to Minneapolis to be sold on commission. 

 It traveled thither by rail and the first charge 

 that was made against it was the freightage. 

 The railroad company that hauled it had 

 received from the people of the United States 

 such rich land grants that their value more 

 than paid for the building of the road, which 

 became then virtually free gifts from the 

 nation. Next, the company had issued stocks 

 and bonds upon this gift, and on these stocks 

 and bonds, which represented no investment 

 and were constantly increasing in volume, 

 it was paying dividends and interest. To 

 secure the money to pay these dividends and 

 interest on a capitalization that for the most 

 part represented no investment, but only 

 the people's gifts, the company arranged its 

 freight rates so as to obtain the largest possible 

 returns and without the least regard to the 

 service rendered or to its cost. Utterly un- 



37 



