FARMERS TO THE FRONT 119 



stuff to haul and plenty of it. They are dependent, 

 directly or indirectly, on the farmer, and they can 

 easily be made to feel their dependence. This ques- 

 tion of transportation is a very large and important 

 one, in that it involves the future development and 

 settling up of the country. Indeed, the whole history 

 of the march of men across this continent is a history 

 of transportation. It has been said by some sup- 

 posedly wise men that our people have moved west- 

 ward along parallels of latitude. But it is not so. 

 They moved along the watercourses, first down- 

 stream, and then up-stream. Always the effort was 

 to make transportation as easy as possible. And the 

 railroads have contributed powerfully to the making 

 of the country. We must give them full credit. Still 

 when it comes to carrying the farmer's produce east 

 they have not always been reasonable in their charge. 

 And it seems to be probable that they are going to 

 be more unreasonable as time goes on. While there 

 was fierce competition competing points at least got 

 the benefit of low rates, though non-competing points 

 suffered severely. The railroads taxed the latter to 

 make up for the low rates of necessity granted to the 

 former. Certain sections have been discriminated 

 against ; all rates have often been too high, and some 

 rates have always been too high. But it has been 

 suggested that the situation may get worse for the 

 farmer. If the tendency toward railroad consolida- 

 tion goes on we may see an end to competition. It 

 is certain that the purpose of combination is to check 



