378 HISTORY OF THE GRANGE MOVEMENT; OR, 



bushel of wheat that we raised. Then the road would 

 belong to the farmers, and, of course, we were all going 

 to get rich. I took $2000 worth of stock in this (Chi- 

 cago & Northwestern) road, and paid cash for it. But 

 a great many of the farmers had no money to spare, 

 and they were induced to give the railroads mortgages 

 on their farms. They were assured that before the 

 time came to pay the mortgages the road would be 

 built and the value of their crops would be enough in- 

 creased to enable them to pay up, and at any rate their 

 farms would be enough enhanced in value more than to 

 make up for the mortgage. In some cases the farmers 

 took stock for these mortgages, and in some the promise 

 of a first mortgage on the road as soon as it should be 

 built. 



" ' Well, now, how do you suppose they treated us ? 

 They didn't give the farmers the mortgage on the road 

 that they promised, but when they gave them anything 

 it was a second mortgage on long time. The first was 

 a short one given to capitalists. That was, of course, 

 foreclosed, the road sold out, and the value of the stock 

 and bonds held by counties, towns, and individual far- 

 mers destroyed. I could find you stacks of certificates 

 and bonds for which our farmers paid cash or mortgaged 

 their places, and which are now not worth as much as 

 the blank paper on which they are printed. Thousands 

 of farmers were absolutely ruined. So you see that 

 these roads have been built, in large part, by our money, 

 and it is the height of impudence for these men who 

 now manage them to expect to realize a large percent- 

 age out of us on the money they have stolen from us/ 



" ' Do you consider the charges for freight on these 

 roads as exorbitant ? ' I asked. 



