Litchfield enquirer., 1874-02-05

That such position is wholly uhtenabfs is clear. The power of oongEess to regu- late commerce exists independentiy of tha means or agencies by which that cous merce is carried on. Stsam-b6at. compa4 nies engaged in the nayigationo of our great . rivers are frequently, and we believe gem [ orally, incorporated under state laws; but [ it has never been urged that for this rea2 [ son the commerce carried on by these companies is beyond the control of con [ gress. q 5 lroe
 THE QUESTION OF ExPEDrRNcY.
 There are already in the United States oyer 70, 900 miles of railway, and the sys- tenn is yet in it's infancy. The commerce carried on by this means is vast and rapns idly increasing. It is to be presumed that no one will claim that all this im.r mense commerce ought to remain perma- nently exempt from legislative control or regulation. If there could be a doubea upon this subject the most casual investi. gation would remove it. The rates charged for railroad transportation are, as rule, the result of combination, such thing as honest.competion being system atically avoided. Upon this subject Mir. Charles Francis Adams, IT,, in a recent speech, delivered before a committee of the Massachusetts Legislature, has stated the facts so forcibly that we quote as fol- lows: .fT
 ''Where capital and industry are free to flow, no monopoly can exist. Now, what IS the case as regards railroads |? You, gentlemen, perfectly we'll know that wlaer- ever combination is possible, Git is the shrewd aphorism of old George Stephen. son), competition is impossible. The on- ly thing which can enable competition to exist is the presence of competing forces too numerous to combine. Look abroad over this country, and you will see at c glance what competition amounts to D So far as railroads are concerned. Take, r pray you; the case of New York and Chi cago, two cities thousand miles apart, D between which railroads have been con1 structed as fast as private capital could construct them. Every gentleman on this committee knows that not rate is charged between New York and Chicago which is not established by combination.
 You know that every time the tariff is to be raised or lowered the freight agents of the several companies meet in convention, and decide how much it shall be raised or how much it shall be lowered, and the change agreed upon takes effect upon ali the roads on given day. You know every man who has looked into this sub ject knows-that the only competition which exists is between land transportaj tion and water transportation, and when water enters into the struggle-when nav igation opens-then the freight agents meet, and rates are reduced. When the lakes freeze up then the freight agents hn
 Whether reduced or raised, however, the change always is the result of combina- tion. Again, let us look at this question from another point of view. The idea of competition certainly implies the existence of several agents. As regards railroads, however, even the combination of com petitors is limited to few localities; ex- cept at competing points-points, thatiss upon which railroads converge-transpor tation by rail is pure absolute monopo- ly, affected only by municipal law and considerations of self-interest, and in on degree subject to the influence either of competition or of supply and demand. Now, how large portion of all the towns on our railroads are points of railroad convergence? In other words, how many of them can look to competition for even pretense of protection against mo- nopoly? Take, for example, the Boston and Albany Road. It runs through a dsnsely-inhabited region, filled with man ufacturing cities and towns; it is two hun- dred miles in length; it has eighty stop ping places; but of points of railroad con- vergence-places at which a possibility of competitor exists-it numbers just seven.r Take, again, the Central Road of New York; including it's Auburn Division, 1t has four hundred and five miles of road, in the very garden and central thorough fare of the continent. On the whole four hundred miles, there exists inst nine points of conveyance; six hundred miles of railroad with sixteen competing points; and those inhabiting all the other locali. ties may use the central or the Boston and Albany, as the case may be, or they may stay at home, whichever they prefer. But, is it not something of a moekery to I refer this system for it's regulation to the D principles which control the production of boots, and cotton cloth? And. if this is so here in the manufacturing East, it is not hard to imagine what must result in the agricultural West, where the very na- ture of the leading industry renders 1t im- possible for the population to concentrate i at points of railroad convergence. In, the West, the mass of the people feel. themselves helpless, and hence the angry feeling now prevailing against the railroad companies throughout that region'
 The facts here stated are not doubted ' by any well-informed person. Tn illustra. a tion of their truth it may be mentioned that within the past thirty days it has. been announced in the public press that certain officials representing the great through lines, at a meeting held in. the city of New York have increased their rates of freights from the West fully thirty-three per cent, to take effect lon !, the first day of the present month. This was an agreement among the railroad of. fcials, to be enforced by virtue of their control of several great monopolies, as E against the producing classes who furnish the cargoes which they are to carry, and the consuming classes who must purchase and pay for them, but neither of th0Sa latter have had any voice in the matter.s, As one of the results of this system, it may also be mentioned that on the 30th of December, 1873, hushel of wheat was worth forty-fve cents more in New York than in Chicago, and bushel of corn was worth thirty per cent more in the latter h than in ths former city, the difference bee ing mainly absorbed by the cost of trans-.r portation. That the rates charged for E. this carriage are unreasonably high, is beyond dispute. It has been claimed byai well-informed experts before your com 3 mittee that grain can be carried from Chicago to New York at fair profit for about twelve cents per bushel; but wheth CT this be so or not, there is no doubt but that when the price charged is twice. or D, thrice that sum it is. exofbieant; and when it is remembered that about 30, ,O00, ,O00s. tons of freight were carried by these trunk lines in the year 1872, probably, one-third of which was Western products. it will at it is that some other interest and some other power than the combined interest and power of these great monopolies should be invoked in the regulation of these charges. rss.a ...sQc l.iIa
 We assume, therefore, that this com merce by railroad should be, controlled