FARMERS TO THE FRONT 39 



it is now, a few pirates get hold of some great 

 granger road, "merge" it with another, buy the 

 roads by paying for them out of their own treas- 

 uries, stock and bond them out of all proportion to 

 their real value, issue "short-time" notes, and then 

 expect them to pay dividends and interest. So rates 

 must go up — and they do go up. They combine to 

 regulate rates, discriminate against non-competing 

 points, and it all comes out of the farmer. The 

 legitimate value of the shares depends on the amount 

 of business that the roads do, and on the price of 

 the stuff they haul. The farmers, I estimate, are 

 responsible for three-fourths of the tonnage hauled 

 by the railroads and stored in warehouses, yet I 

 venture the assertion that not one board of railroad 

 and warehouse commissions in all the states has a 

 farmer representative. It is on this basis that the 

 speculation proceeds. Who would attempt to bear 

 the market if he knew that the farmers' combina- 

 tion might refuse to send any farm products to 

 market? The value of the shares would, as now, 

 depend on the earning capacity of the properties, 

 but the farmers would have a good deal to say about 

 what that earning capacity should be. And this 

 would be a great dampener on the speculative spirit. 

 Grain and stock gambling would be much less popu- 

 lar than they are now. There would be a new and 

 controlling element in the problem. And it would 

 operate for the good of all. The case of the manu- 

 facturer would be much the same. He is, as are 



