, 1873-08-14

On Tho cur,trnry, wo rocog,,izo in tliH plano uf
affairs tho Indications " Honothing bottor.
foro boonn, thu adoption Of general aystom fer
tho regulation. Of ttannportation- -cEargeH would
llaye buen VOL nigl impossible. Hut, by reason
ol ttloao worry aggrdghtlons which aol!o opnador
seyaten il ,mado po4aiblo, particularly 9otwoan
; Tho probI6n, is yet to 10 aolycd. Railroal-
officials ~ vol elippora, foul tho nc nooa Of ,.
various linoa and tho humorous intorenss., IN
Wow Of tho proaont condition Of thlngn, mud tho
declared Willingness Of thoao IN authority to.
receive asggosttona. Il present tho following
tation Of fretghtA botwoon tho Eaat- and tle
Wcnt, t,-for 1t IL only on theao lines tint wo hnd
tie shadow Of n woll-donnod Byston. =
Kates Of freight oyor oil linos betwoon Boston
prorntn bavip 0hleago boing talon as tho repre-,
sentative objective point. ut q distance OF Vgs
milos., THUS, whi1o tho nrst.clasH ratio to CHI
cago is Is eons per 100 ba or 55c cents PET Pnno
1o o1 = ME to rnto t. Ist' a'atsnt ont
iSs mes Il Il 81 ooo!s; % e st. toas sstss
1,173 nileH is OF conts; to Detroit,
dlatant 67o milcs, Is % conth; a9a 'a,sa 50
on,-rates to all competing E,, points as pmeing mas
class merchandise. Now, thls eystom Is good as
fnr an 1t goos but u ,doos not 50 t9r enough.
Tho correct principle is rocognizod only to very
liu,itod oxtout. Competition has 6oiectoa tho
points to which these rates aro nihdo, but thoro
It's influence ccaBes. All Of tfom aro put upon
an equal footing, and tho pro-rata, rule la hp,,
piled without rofercnco to tho facilities posaaBsod
and tho amount Of business transacted. Ihoro
In Champaign, ILL.,, with q population of, s@yt
5000 or 0.060. with q snali business there "
pnna, In tho samo State, with 4 population OF
| about 5000 thoro Is ROCK Island, with ponm-
atfon Of probably TO- o00 thore ie Leeria, f. S WIN
with population Of about 40o, 900, and an i'm
mcnso business anl thon there Is Chicago. with
population Of noarly 450, 900. possessing un-
eqlalo1 ralroad, facilities, ana tran1aaeiing
and aud aicso ali on Me same basis. IL this as it
ought to bo? As soon ~ town. no mattnr how
insignificant It mny bo, socuros its second rail-
road, Bholld it spring at oaco to tho etdo o. our
groat business-contros, ana posaoss3 equal adynn-
tagoa with them ? Tho universal Judgment Is,
| MOL And yet this is what ia boing done botween
tho East and tho Wost in theso daya:
l consider tho prosont systom faulty In this To-
srect, because It violates true business -princi-
| ples. Tho Wholesale trade Of the country is
| based upon tho idea that large purchases ahould
| command 1owor pricoa t',an small ones. And
why7 Because tho se1lor can afford them, for
the reason TINT his expenses arc relatively lower
small ones. The sAno principle iB equally np~
| plfcahle to tho transportation business. sayB
| The Nation OF July s.: "It would eocm to he
e9 eaus osvoss Sse int 80 7sts of fst 10
depend on distance, but on tho amount
| Of business dono in proportion to tho expense
| Of carriage. Between competing points, ana
to and from large ctieB, tho1arge hua1noas makes
| tho rates low; between othor points. tho light
business makes them high. To take distance as
tho inyariablo standard IL to miBtako tho chnrac-
| tor Of tho whole question:" While tho Nasion
is correct as far as this, applioa to most Of tho
lessor lines 1t orra III placing tho action and Boz
ing In tho preseut tenso in Its application to tho
business betwoon tho EnBt aud The West; for
"botween competing points, md to and from
rntos low. As I hnve before stated, tho Wehtorn
competing points arc talton as q WHOLE and rates
established with " distance aB tho inyariable
Htapda1t}," maintain tint it should be otlcr-
| wiso.
| Tho principle is plain, Dnt tho procfso method
| OF itB application il obsc,ire. Tho ''anloupt Of
business done in proportion to tho e1penso Of
carringe must he considered In the plan This
| Is not onsily estimated. yet Il ean 10 done:
There arc about 100 points to which the present
rying business Of these p1aceH mny be aBcertnined.
When Tint is known, Q tariff can very easily bo
mado which sha1l give to each Of tho competing
pointa tho advantages to whicl, 1t ia entitled.
III order to illustrate the application Of such q
eystem, lot us suppose TINT tho population ct
BUSINESS. BY taking the sum Of tho population
| Of theso 100 competing points, and dividing It by
100, wo find that tho average population is about
1dh9o W. will therefore, take p,aro e.. mf 1a.ooo
inhabitants, divsnnt from Nov York 9G8 ni'cs,
aB tho basis Of our calcuatio1; and to all points
Of tint ai2o we will 1oavo rates as ut proaont oa
tablishod. To points Of loss population wo will
add to tho usual rate Is OF per cont for every
1000 aud fraction In oxcoss Of 500. 10 points
| Of greater population wo will deduct por cont
for every Il 900 or fraction in oxcess Of 1000.
Taking tho conBus Of 1870 as our guido, lnvo
| ronatr1,c a1 thn fr1lnwinr fnt1n.