THE FARMER'S WAR AGAINST MONOPOLIES. 275 



would give them a fair profit, and they claim to be pub- 

 lic benefactors ! What colossal impudence! 



"Another man, Mr. R. G. Moulton, the general 

 agent of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, 

 gives his views : < If the low rates had continued, the 

 result would have been a general stoppage of the busi- 

 ness and a tremendous inflation of prices.' As well 

 talk of a general stoppage of agriculture! In the 

 opinion of these gentlemen, prices have now reached a 

 1 healthy level.' To the shallow twaddle of these tax- 

 gatherers, to which, four weeks ago, we appropriated a 

 column of our space, we oppose the eminently sound 

 and conservative views of President Gowen. ' High 

 prices and uncertainty of supply,' says Mr. Gowen, 

 1 will drive away buyers, force manufacturers to turn to 

 other fuels, and prevent the natural increase of demand 

 which would result from low prices, and which would 

 soon supply a certain market for any temporary over- 

 production.' ('Reading Railroad Report,' 1871, page 

 18.) It is also certain that Mr. Gowen regarded the over- 

 production of last year as only temporary, for he states 

 his belief that the stock on hand at the close of the 

 season was no greater than in the year preceding ; argues 

 that the market will require three million tons more in 

 1873 than in 1872, and concludes that it is a reasonable 

 supposition ' that it will be difficult to produce this year 

 any quantity so greatly in excess of the demand as to 

 depress the market to any considerable degree.' (' Read- 

 ing Railroad Report,' 1873, pages 20 and 21.) We 

 might quote further from Mr. Gowen, but have we not 

 quoted enough to show that, as a disinterested observer, 

 he would have pronounced the work of this Anthracite 

 Coal Combination to be one of the most inexcusable 



