88 HISTORY OF THE GRANGE MOVEMENT; OR, 



CHAPTER V. 



THE TRANSPORTATION TAX SWINDLE. 



Sources of Kailroad Earnings The Freight Business Enormous Tribute paid 

 by the People to the Roads The Railroads irresponsible to the Public 

 The Necessity of the Roads to the Country Anomalous Position of the 

 Railroads What are Legitimate and what are Fictitious Earnings Care- 

 lessness of the People respecting their Rights Their Punishment Arbi- 

 trary Course of the Roads in levying Freights How the Railroads tax the 

 People The Community made to pay the Losses of the Roads Instructive 

 Lessons How Competition is killed Efforts of the State of Illinois to pro- 

 tect its Citizens The Railroads refuse to obey the Law The Railroad 

 Yoke fastened upon the People. 



THE object for which railways are constructed is the 

 earning of interest on the amount of capital invested 

 in them. The only means by which such enterprises 

 can earn money, are by the transportation of freight 

 and passengers. All roads are built with a view to 

 the ultimate freight business that will come to them, 

 the passenger traffic being with most corporations a 

 secondary consideration. 



As the wealth and productiveness of the country 

 increase, the transportation increases also. In 1840, 

 when there were less than 3000 miles of railroad in 

 operation in the United States, the transportation busi- 

 ness of the country amounted to about $8,000,000, or 

 about fifty cents to each inhabitant of the Union. In 

 1860, it had increased to about $150,000,000, or about 

 $5 to each inhabitant. In 1871, it had grown to the 



