366 HISTORY OF THE GRANGE MOVEMENT; OR, 



and while he admitted that his road was one of the few 

 that are paying dividends, I inferred from what he said 

 that it was making only fair profits,' I remarked. ' He 

 said also, that when you farmers complain that railroad 

 corporations are getting rich, you forget that while your 

 farms were bought for from $1.25 to $5 an acre, they 

 are now worth on an average, from $50 to $75, and 

 some of them even $100.' 



" < We don't forget that,' said Mr. Smith ; 'but let us 

 see, now, how much it amounts to. This country was 

 settled about forty years ago by men who came into 

 what was then a wilderness, lived for years in log 

 cabins, and were deprived of every comfort and luxury 

 of civilized life. Suppose that they had remained and 

 still hold the land, its enhancement represents all those 

 privations, and besides the toil not only of the head of 

 the family, but in many cases of all its members for 

 forty years. Fifty dollars an acre is a high price for 

 the average land in this county. The increase in value 

 on an eighty-acre farm has been less than $4000. Be- 

 side this we have barely made a living. Perhaps Mr. 

 .Walker and his family would like to try it. 



" ' And now in regard to this railroad, I'll give you a 

 few facts, and then you can see whether it is paying 

 more than a fair percentage or not. It has paid a divi- 

 dend from the very start, and in addition to that it has 

 been constantly laying by a surplus. Sometimes this 

 surplus has been used to water the stock, and sometimes 

 in other ways, as I will tell you. The road has numer- 

 ous branches or feeders. Each of these has been nomi- 

 nally built by a separate company. The towns along 

 the line have been induced to subscribe for stock and 

 give town or county bonds for it. These bonds have 



