New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-02-16

What is this ferocious, ravenous Wild beast Pre-
Rata that comes ramping and roaring down from
the savage West threatening to devour at one gup
the dividends of railroad stockholders the security
of investments, and the trade of our city? What
is it that causes the knees of Wall street bulls to
knock together, and blanches the cheeks of the
sages who compose the Chamber of Commerce?
Pro Rata means Just this" hath this extent, no
more that the Railroads Of Ns,o York, chartered
by her Legislature and trayersing her so-shau
oonrty III, produce and property Of the People Of Neu
York at the same rates that those Roads see ft 10 i'm
pose on the produce and property Of strangers.
This is Pro Rata-the whole of it. We defy the
legion of glib-tOngued, well paid mercenaries of the
Central Railroad who now surround the Legisla-
tuIe to make it more or other than this. 1t does
not propose to limit fetter any railroad as to the
amount of its charges-on the contrary, ice favor
the removal of any such restriction already exist.
ing; it says to each road, "Charge whatever rates
"you shall deem expedien! and just for your services
"but charge all your customers alike, and do not
"make your neghbors and fellow-citizens pay twice
"as much as you require of the people of distant
communities.' Why is not this right Why
should thousand barrels of flour which has come
from Chicago be brought to this City from Buffalo
over the Central for one half the sum charged for
bringing an equal bulk or weight of just such aour
from Rochester,
We hear much of the disastrous effects antici-
pated from Pro Rata on the revenues of the Central
and the Trade Of our City; let US look one mo-
ment at the other side: Millions of dollars have
been laudably invested in the capacious Touring
mills of Black Rock, Lockpot, Rochester, &C.
mills which must seek their grain largely or mainly
in Illinois and further West. How are these mills
to live -having paid the regular charges for tran
sporting their grain from Chicago-they are to pay
nearly or quite as much per barrel for freightage
from their mills TO our wharyes as their Illinois
rivals pay for the carriage of their -four from
Chicago hither2 And this is but sample OF the
general influence Of the prevailing system on the
manufacturing industry Of Western and Central
Eew-Yoik.
But here comes the Erie Road, by its officers
and attorneys, to tell the Legislature that Pro Rata
will prove its ruin-that it cannot live under that
system. Gentlemen Directors and managers Of the
Erie We travel on your road quite as much as
majority of you do keeping our eyes open; and we
have word to whisper in your ears that you will
do well to heed-namely: You are swamped al
ready, and Pro Rate would have saved you if
adopted in season. 1t is the perpetual reaching
after heavy through business that you could not
get, or could only get by doing it for tss than
cost, and keeping an army of expensive agents in
the far West to secure it even thus, that has
broken you. Had you never bought nor hired
steamboat, nor employed an agent of your own
inc, you might have been solvent to-day.
And still you will not be taught. You arc
INNING two express trains daily to and as
many from Dunkirk to carry not moro
than fifty through passengers-evey train run at
dead loss, save for the travel which It fches
from your local trains. You ought to run
one express train daily to and from Buffalo and
nore at all to or from Dunkrk, with way or mail
train each day from DunkiIk to Elmira and another
from Emira to this City, with one from Port Jsrvs
TO this CITY each morning and back again in TIE