THE FARMER'S WAR AGAINST MONOPOLIES. 239 



country, which is utterly destructive of all sound busi- 

 ness management, and have succeeded in demoralizing 

 this portion of our financial system to such an extent 

 that great evils must follow unless they are compelled 

 to desist. 



X. That they are growing bolder and more audacious 

 in their designs upon the people, caring for nothing but 

 an increase in their gains, and that the liberties, the 

 free institutions, the property, and the national existence 

 of the American people are seriously endangered by the 

 unlawful designs and the insolent acts of the railroad 

 corporations. 



There is danger in all this, and it would be worse 

 than folly to shut our eyes and profess not to see it. It 

 is a danger that must be met and turned aside. The 

 power of a railroad corporation is not an imaginary 

 thing. The corporation employs many hundred men, 

 and disburses large sums of money ; and it does these 

 things for the avowed purpose of " earning " as much 

 money from the people who are compelled to use the 

 road, as they will pay. It is carrying out a system of 

 operations opposed to the interests of the people, and it 

 is a compact, solid body, under the direction and con- 

 trol of one vigorous mind, and it possesses every chance 

 of success against the people, who are generally divided 

 and indisposed to assert their rights, though sensible 

 that they are being injured. It is almost absolute mas- 

 ter of the market of the region it supplies. It can 

 benefit or injure a community by liberal tariffs or extor- 

 tionate rates, as it pleases, and the managers are free to 

 decide which policy shall be pursued. It is subject to 

 no control. It can do as it pleases. It controls hun- 

 dreds of votes along its line, not one of which will be 



