Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1872-03-13
Whole No. 1893

e business without consulting water
rates, few then suppOsing that rail-
roads could ever compete with water
2 transportation The through BUSH
ness was, and is, mere incident to
, the local business and but for COM
PARSONS drawn between the local and
through rates, no one would complain
of the local rates They are not ex-
cessive. They are greatly below the
rates allowed by law in many other
States. Those living one the lines
are content to pay them when no
unreasonable preferences are given.
and they are great contrast 10 the
rates paid before the road were built.
But in the progress of our growth and
Improvement, many of these roads
have been extended, or have become
links in the chain reaching to import !
ant commercial centres, and now con-
stitute competing lines The road is /
built and equipped with view to
/ the local business; but it has the ma
ehinery and rolling stock for doing a
greater traffic, and the same superin-
tendenee and working force can, with
very little expense, do twice or three
times the business. The road, there
fore, becomes a competitor for through
business between common points, and
sometimes at rates considerably below
the rates paid between way stations.
While the road would never have
been built to do the through business
alone at the through rates, yet being
built and equipped, it finds a Iegiti- i
mate profit in employing its excess
Of capacity over the demands Of its !
local business in accepting the cur
rent rates for through business, all of :
which might be wholly lost, if not !
taken at the competing rates. So +
long as the local shipper is fairly and !
promptly served, he has no cause for !
complaint; his freight charges are +
the same, and often less, than If the :
road were built no further than to
his own door. II this transportation
costs him more than that of his +,
friend, VINO lives at the common COM
Peting point, it is simply the misfor- :
tune of his locationa As well might
the grocer or hotel keeper ask that =
the price Of sugar or boarding be reg
ulated by legislation, without regard :
70 supply or demand, or competition in I
business. 7
The same principles apply to rail- s
road transportation as to other busi-
ness, or to other modes of transporta
ton. Every attempt to regulate it by !
beyond fixing a maximum !
local rate, will, in my opinion, prove !
lmpraetieable. This kind of legisla-
ton has already discouraged and re-
tarded The building Of new roads !.
within the State, and has thus opened :
up new lines of traffic outside Of our :
territory, to the serious injury of GER
tain roads inside our territory. III =
this course is persisted in, 1t will
yreatl y impair the efficiency and prof Z Z
rs OF many other roads, and drive !
from our State much of the wealth {
and business arising from traffic pass .
ing through it.
Again, there are coal mines upon
many OF our roads, worked for certain =
city markets. Some Of these markets =
are loo miles or more, and some less
than 0Omiles from those cities. Some
of these mines have facilities, and are 4.
so accessible to the railroads that the =
in the expense of delivery <
upon the cars is one or two cents per II Il
oushel. Now, by making the rate =
per mile the same, or pro rata from .
all coal mine stations, the more dis p
-ant miner would be compelled to Z
abandon the business, and the miners, L
railroad companies, and consumers y
would all be more or less injured. y
The policy Of railroad companies Is to a
ioster all these coal mines, by eharg. 81
ng reduced rates to the more distant e
and inaccessible. The Legislature 9
proposes to interfere and TO forbid
any such adjustment Of special con-
-raet rates. If the people understood !
he effect of such legislation, and that u
the law would be enforced, would v
not our legislative halls be flooded II
with remOnstranees ? II can not be v
hat the members generally under =
'tand the effect of this proposed legis- II
alton, or they would not be in favor ~
If it. lo
= n
Very respectfully, your friend and o
'bedient servant, al
GEORGE B. WRIGHT,
Nice-President A. &C. W. r.