New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-07-08
TIE RAILROAD WAR.
SOME ADVICE TO FARMERs-THE ILLINOIS RAILROAD
LAW INCONsIDERATB-THE ORANGES ATTACHING
THEIR OWN INTERESTS.

1
LAW HCoNsIDERATE-rHE ORANGES ATTACHING
THEIR OWN INTERESTS.
10 me Editor or The Tribune.
DIR; Come and let us reason together, said
inc prophet to the Obdurate Children OF Israel 1t 10
pity tha there is prophet with persuasive accents,
10 say the same thing TO the obdurate children OF the
west, who are busily whettng knives with which to
cut on their For Of what profit Will 1t be to
them to ruin a the railroad corporations IL at the end
their own plowsares idle, their flag OF victory
| hoats over barren fedsi The TRIBUNE spoke to the
| purpose on Tuesday, juno 24 but the sub
Ject Is not yet exhausted. wider warfare
has been inargurated than can find It's
battlefield in Illinois-a war Of which only the Fort
sumter guns have been fired and which will be yet a
long time in reaching its Gettysburg its ADpomatox.
Illinois is just the seat OF but the Changers
can DO nothing material to their purposes one State
alone their ambition looks TO battlefield smaller
than the entire Union. suppose them successful
they, or the people, IL they had the right
annul all charters, undertake TO manage 10000 miles OF
railroad, with any prospect OF permanently reducing
the rates OF transportation Seventy thousand miles OF
railroad mean, when translated into money, about
$4,000 mite or, say s2sOOOOOOc0 Twenty eight humid
! red millions Of dollars, just about the amount
OF our national debit IL is generally con-
coded that experience is Of greater advantage in
any calling than anything else unless IL be transcend
ent genius TaAscendent indeed must be the genius OF
the Changers II they, untaught and unnccustomed,
could manage the aforesaid amount Of prOperty-sup-
posing them able TO conscae It at swOop-so that
It would do work with less outlay than present
Would the OF running and Keeping in order the
10000 miles OF road be less 10 them than to its
TONED owners, 80 that the rates Of freight could be
lower than at presen-lOwer that is to say, than
average OF under two cents ton per inlet Are the
pablo the best railroad drectorsi When the great
States OF Pennsylvania and Michigan undertook TO give
upgfin aali h.u
came TO grief Their rates enormously higher than
paid; but where the net profits An at
tempt TO regulate by law the business Of all these miles OF
railroad is certainly insane than would be
10 fix the rates OF freight In all the thousands Of vessels
which ply in the lake aud coastng trade of this
try. IL the railroads have been provided for by law
have the coasters been protected by law from foreign
competition They carry tons OF freight than the
railroads do and they absolutely their rates Of
transportation and passage IL has been found
that competition among the coasters Themselves and
with certain lines OF railroad has been sufficient to keep
them from exOrbtant charges. What would be the
result If law passed establishing for all these
vessels pro rata priest II just high rates must be
e1acted for the last few tons with which the captain
would ill up his chnks paid for the first goods
tered, the vessel must often start with good dcasOf
vacant space. CHANGING this, the general rates
OF transportation must be- raised in order
TO secure the ship-Owners against possible loss
similar result eannot fail to follow any such infexi
bic and nconsiderate railroad law that of Illinois
Competition is the only successful regulator OF prices
After the war, dry goods could not be kept at
figures IL needed no law that much cotton cloth
should bring much little money. The desire to
undere ones neighbors In order to attract trade
sufficient For many years competition has been slowly
reducing the Of railroad travel and transportation
Like the change Of species, IL may be 30 gradual
scarcely to be noted; but 1t can be easily dis
nv W
to stop the building of railroads, to reduce
the value OF rolling stock on those already built will
have just the opposite effect from wholesome compet
ton and this reduction precisely the Legitimate
sequence OF the Changers movement With the hordes
emgrants yearly pouring into country. in add
tod natural increase. IL Is clear that need
large yearly addition to our railroad facilities; but how
are to have them II capital is legisated away from
the very States where roads most In demand
Money lets readily the East the best security for
from TO per cent what encouragement is there for
the capitalist to build Western railroads IL his invest
yield him larger returns than he easily
command while sitting with folded hands at homei
Looking the stock lists will be that the
shares of large majority OF the railroads in Illinois
selling under par, and 1t Is certain
that average the railroads IN that State now divide
less than per cent pro rata regulation will OF
course lessen even these small profits Local freight
and passengers must either be carried FOR almost moth
Ing or through freight ana through passengers must ne
charged so high that they viii not come when you do
call them few months since cool lookeroD foresaw
great danger 20 the interest Of railroad corporations
from rapid increase Of roads-a too lively compe
tition. But the Changers have changed all that No
capitalist while the present state OF things continues
will be in hurry invest his funds In Western roads
and the result will be the normal result of scarcity In
that thing II railroads are few, and rolling |
stock limited one must pay higher fares for |
travel gher rates for freight just as one pays dearly
for fruit out and scarce In the market IL
will be dicult IL not impossible for the Western Farm
ers whose greatest lack Is ready money TO secure the
needfu capital even to keen existing roads in thorough
repair aud provided with all requisite convenences and
improvements II the mOy ement 70 be confined to
Illinois OF course a great benefit would result from &c 10
other lines Of travel In old times all the surplus
produce OF the valleys OF the Mississippi and the Mis-
souri, sought transportation 10 salt water No one
stop great rivers from carrying to the sea the
surplus produce OF the Northwest, II they can carry 1t
more eheaply than the railroads. III Illinois thinks 10
stand barrier between the farmers OF the great West
and the sesboard she must first close the Mississippi
But the great flowing forever toward the sea are
by the only competitors for the grain trade
South Illinois at points roads building to
bring freight so Southern seaports-to Norfolk, Bat
more Savannah Charleston. II Granger rule we're 10
become permanent In Illinois, should see through
freight sent on Southern lines to the coast II 10 certain
that pro rata freghs cannot be established IN Que State
without once forcing capitalists TO invest their money
10 other directions and through uac to seek other
channels; and surely with the aid OF through Height
diverted, local rates must rise instead Of fall This
clearly the result which the Changers aimsg
but they building blindly than they know.
Boston, July l. 1874 A"wAR" CoRREsPoSDKsT.
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