The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1873-03-06


do it, We should be compelled to infiie
upon non-competing points. Tn
question for producers to consider
this: Would their condition be bet
tered by the regulation of tariff
according to distances, and the con
sequent cutting off from the incom,
of the railroads this very considerabl,
aggregate contribution Manifestly
not. The roads must earn sufficien
to maintain their repairs and pay in
terest upon their capital. We now d.
no more than this, aud aim to do ne
mole. Take from US the earnings o.
competing points, and we must ado
the loss to the tariffs already assessed
upon non competing points. Again
A railroad, conducted upon enlight-
ened principles. should bear something
Of the relation TO the people that the
State bears to them. To charge the
people of Iowa rate for hauling grain
pioportionate to the distance traversed
would be to take that community by
the throat and strangle it to death.
II would also deprive the consuming
world Of this additional volume of pro-
ductiOn, and 50 enhance prices aud
produce wanted. This you will per-
ceive, is another fundamental point
which ignorance does not comprehend,
aud de ~, uiSra ius,npaa s,A sns.y
to add to this another practical reason
why it would be unjust to equaiize
rates according to distances travelled,
and will abandon this branch OF
your inquiry. We send hundreds Of
cars loaded with freight to San Fran
cisco. Coming back, most of them
empty We pick up grain at all points
between Council Bluffs aud Chicago
Now our expenses are the same,
whether we load those empty cars in
Iowa, or not until we reach q point
within twenty miles Of Chicago; and
that is one Of the plain reasons why
We can give to remote producers the
advantages of market, without multi
plying upon them the cost of trans
portation according to the multiples
Of miles by which they are disadvant-
ageously removed beyond their more
fortunate but more complaining neigh
bors.
.Reporter-Very well; then follows
the pertinent question. Accepting
your explanation of the difficulties in
the way Of an equalized tariff Of rates,
can you not afford to modify the
charges at non competing points, and
still make reasonable profit upon
your capital stock :?
.,E. Harris No, sir The holders
of the stock OF G. b. SO. are content
with return OF ten per cent. upon
their investment. That is the profit
the officers aim to make for them and
no more. That is not unreasonable,
is il?
CORRUPTION OF OFFICERS.
Reporter-But the air is thick with
in connection with railway manage
ment. They say" the officers specu-
late in all sorts of ways; that they
hold stock in fas. freight lines which
are antagoniatic to the interests Of
holders, or in coal mines lying
contiguous to their roads, and that in
contracts, and, in fact, by
ways that are dark and
tricks that are vain,n they feather
their own nests at the expense Of the
public and to the depletion of the
stock holders.
M. Harris--As to that, sir, / can
only answer for the officers of the C.
B. & @. There is not one OF them
that to my knowledge owns q particle
Of stock in any fast freight line or
other speculation contingent upon
local benefits. Besides which, the
lines which run over this road Red
and Blue are owned by the companies
they traverse, including our own, and
the profits of them 60 to the common
treasury. Private lines are only
availed of when larger amount is
then VIC can handle with
our own conveniences. Neither does
the company or its officers lend its
facilities to aid monopolies or to build
up towns. At whatever rate one man
in u town can contract freight for, all
can contract for. We have no system
of dra " backs, or other methods of fa-
vorism, aud SO far as our running
expenses are concernel l, it is my con-
stant study to bring them to the
lowest possible point.
Reporter-But while the officers of
the c., b. 4 @. are thus free from en-
tangling alliances Of the kind describ-
ed there are doubtless many who are
not SO carefully persuaded. Do you
approve of the policy which permits
that sort of administration
Mr. Harris-No. But l place my
disapproval not SO much upon the
grounds of the additional tax imposed
upon the public by these intermediate
speculations, as upon the moral bear
ings of the case. Although - few
persons get inordinately rich thereby,
their accretions are Iuade up by SO
many persons as to be scarcely felt by
each; bu: v hen you ask me If l believe
this practice to be right, ! answer en-
phatically, no. An officer Of a railroad
company who, in particular, has larg-
er interests in fast freight lines than
in q company, cannot be an impartial
arbiter Of that company's interests.
1t is more his personal concern to see
the fast freight line pile up huge
profits than the company whose track
it uses; aud in making contracts with
the fast lines in which he owns stock,
he is in fact making q bargain with
himself worsted would be too strong
to resist. The case would be like that
Of the government, il it were to en-
ploy man to buy supplies for the
Indians whose business il was to sell
supplies, and who should have unlim-
tied discretion to buy Of himself, and
set his own price upon his wares. The
result, unless that man were an angel
in disguise, need not indicate.
THE REMEDY.
Reporter-Bnt If, sir, you can