The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1874-08-13
Railroad EXtOrtiOn.

EDITOR Home JOURNAL:
Dear Sir:-While rctrenchment and re-
form are exercising the minds ofOur peo-
pie, and whilst eXtortionate charges are
the subject of universal complaint, there
is one item to which | will call the atten-
ton of the community through the col
umns Of your paper. | allude to railroad
freights.
The Nashville & Chattanooga and the
Winchester g. Alabama Railroad, (the
latter of which is | believe being run by
the Memphis & Charleston Rlilroad,) are
overcharging OH every single piece OF
freight shipped over these roads.
The charters of these roads restrict them
to thirty-tire cents (35 cents per 100
lbs. per 100 miles on heavy frcights.
A few weeks ago | paid the agent Of the
W & A. Railroad one dollar and twenty
cents for shipping from Fayetteville to
Decherd, a distance of about IS miles, 400
lbs. of flour, which is 80 cents prr hundred
| pounds, or abount s~eycnty-nine cents per
hundred miles, an excess Of "A cents above
the charter rate, the excess itself being
nine cents more on the hundred pounds
than the rate fixed by law in the charter
contract between the road and the State.
A very few days ago | paid the Nashville
q Chattanooga road one dollar and seven
ty-ccnts on 400 lbs. from Nashville to
Decherd, a distance of 81 miles. which
makes a rate of about (52 cents ility-twe
cents on the hundred pounds per hundred
miles-an excess Of about twcnty-scven
cents, and nearly enough to have paid the
lawful charge.
For every yard of calico, every pound OF
salt, sugar, coffee-in short, for every arti-
Gle shipped over these roads the consumer
is paying these taxes of eXtortion and VIC
latisn; and this is so whether he ships the
goods to himself sr buys from our mcr-
chants. .
The per cent. which the merchant
charges on costs and carriage for his goods
is calculated, of course, upon these dlShon-
est tariffs charged by railroads. Every
is taxed in this way by railroads upon the
absolute necessaries of life.
To the merchant these things make no
difference Except rs to the articles used
and consumed by himsclf,) as he gets back
these costs with his per cent. on costs and
carriage. For every dollar he pays for
freight OH his goods Our railroads make
him, at the lowest estimate, twenty-five
cents-that is, he pays adollar and receives
a dollar and twenty-five cents, and this is
selling his goods at twenty-five per cent.
on costs and carriage. To be more eX-
plicit: A merchant buys u thousand dol
lars worth of goods in Nashville, and ships
them to Dccherd for retail. At that point
he must make the goods bring him twelve
hundred and fifty d~ollars-that is, they are
worth thai to him over and above the cost
Of shipment. Suppose, now, they cost him
one hundred dollars Of freightage, this
will make the costs OF gods, delivered at
Decherd, eleven hundred dollars. Then
he must have for the goods 4 little less
than fourteen hundred dollars. One hun
drcd dollars of this is the unlawful and
prohibited railroad charge, and twenty
five dollars is the per cent. on that hun
dred MISUNDERSTANDING as we go along
we seldom get goods at so small a per
cent. to our merchant, and as the per cent,
10 the merchant increases our X to
railroads increases IN proportion.
Now, if we could make the calculation
of the yearly drainage upon our county by
this bleeding process, it would surely run
very largely up into the thousands of dol
lars which are sunk into the pockets OF
oOice-holders, and not Of stock owners.
The que stion is: Shall these things con-
tinue and we submit? Just think of it a
moment: there can be no doubt, that since
the company took charge Of its road since
the war. that Franklin county has paid to
the N. & G.. Railroad ut least one hundred
thousand dollars Of illegal freight.
| repeat the question: Must this sppres-
sion continue, or will we avail ourselves
efthe remedy VIC have?
There Is a wise statute on our books
making the taking of charges beyond the
cha after ra.esa highly penal ofiense, pun
ishable by indictment or presentmeIi !;