Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-04-01

Vermont Central line. which carries much
of this freight through my State to Boston,
has been the line largely relied upon by
Boston merchants and shippers as their
| line of transportation to and from the
West. They have always felt a strong in
terest in it. though not perhaps. so strong
as their interest in the Boston and Albany
road. What is the consequence? They
have put their money largely into that
road, and they have not expected Large, II
any, dividends on their money so invested,
and certainly have not been disappointed
! in that respect. They cared much more to
get their freight from the West to the sea-
board cheaply, and from the sea-board back
to the West cheaply, than they did about
getting dividends on the $1,000, or $4,000
or $4,000 each that they might have put
! into that corporation. The capital that
they invested in it went out of sight within
five years after the building of the road.
not by any dishonest management of the
road, but because its business would not
support it; because these Boston merchants
insisted-and they insisted rightly, and the
managers of the road looked upon the mat
ter much in the same light-that freight
should be brought over that line from the
West to Boston as cheaply rs it could be
brought to New York by the Erie and New
York Central roads. That road has car
ried freight right past my town from Chi
cago to Boston, month after month, AT
twenty-five cents per hundred pounds, the
distance being more than thousand miles;
while we have been charged for the same
classes of freight from Montpelier, Yer
mont, to Boston, a distance of two hundred
miles, from seventy-five cents to ninety
cents per hundred pounds. Carrying
through freight in that way from the West
to the sea-board. that road has helped to
build up Chicago and other towns of ILL
nois, and of States further west. 1t has
contributed vastly to their development;
while we ut home have been charged upon
our local freights rs much for our short
distances as has been charged to those who
live thousand miles beyond us toward
the Mississippi River for the long distances
which separate them from the sea-board.
And yet this railroad in my State was
obliged to carry freight ut that rate
because the New York Central and the
New York and Erie were carrying freight
at that rate to Boston and New York,
and in order to help Boston trade, and
Boston merchants who had put their
money into that road, they carried these
freights for a good deal less than cost from
the West to the sea-board and made up In
some degree their loss in that respect by
charging to us ut home who live alongside
that railroad five or six times as much. aye.
ten or twenty times as much per mile. as
they charged these foreign shippers. Now,
sir, this is not right. but it is a matter
which cannot be regulated by statute 1t
will not be regulated by this stat tie. That
road will have to carry freights ut what
ever price is fixed by the New York Cen
| trail or the New York and Erie, or it can
not get them to carry. And if this COM
mission should fix the rate of freights ut
| five mills per ton per mile, or less, over
| the New York Central and the New York
and Erie, the road in my State will have to
carry them ut the same rate, or it will not
get the freights. What will be the result ?
1t will carry ut that rate, and possibly less
than that rate, and then it will turn around
and grind us at home between the upper
and neither milestone. 1t will put the bur
den upon our local freights from town to
town in the State. 1t gives these low
rates to foreigners, TO persons who live 4
thousand miles away from the line of the
road, but as compensation for it it charges
higher rates upon us. There is no redress.
! We could not bave any redress if we tried.
I \ commission in Vermont would be
obliged to say that this national regulation
is of superior right, if it has any right ut
all, and would be compelled to allow our
railroads to charge a larger rate for short
distances and for local freights, that they
might earn enough to pay more than run
{ ming expenses. They would be obliged,
if II commission We're established ia my
State on the same basisas the one in Illinois
10 let these railroads charge eXorhitanl
local rates in order that they might thus
compensate themselves for the loss on
through freight from distant points.
i Now, Mr. Speaker, | will consider how
this regulation of rates of freight w II in
terfcre with the constitutional prohibition
against preferring the ports of one State
over those of another bv n regulation oil
commerce. 1t seems to me To he apparent
that such regulation is contemplated by
the proposed legislation will inevitably
bring about such II result. Portland and
, Boston are farther from the Mississippi
than New York or Baltimore, and are the
termini therefore, of the longer and les
. profitable lines of railroads. Rates, there
r fore, from the West over these longer lines
will be fixed at Il larger maximum per ton
per mile than over the shorter lines: and
us the bill forbids discrimination in favor
of one shipper and against another. the
, longer and poorer lines will be obliged t.
reduce rates for all if they reduce them fol
!, any customers. This they cannot do anG
leave any margin for interest on their in
, vestments; and us the shorter lines are t.
be compelled to take all freight offered, the
termini of these roads will most certainl,
thus be preferred as points of shipment on
: New York, or Philadelphia, or Baltimor,
!
Boston. The New York Central, tn,
Pennsylvania Central the Baltimore an,
Ohio. while allowed to charge less possibly
/. than now could still do Il profitable bust
ness. They could carry freight. doubling
their capacity for that purpose if neec
be, and perhaps would make more money
, than now. while these longer and les,
5 foyored lines would he driven from
the business of carrying these long
freights, and could only transport the
: merchandise that might be shipped from
: point to point along their roads. i i
not thus clear that you would give prefer
ence to one port over another? And the
same would be true if You fixed the rate.
for freight and passengers from any foreign
, port to the United States. Suppose, undel
some law similar to this bill. the f,re fol
4. passengers from Liverpool to Boston
should be Il certain amount, while that fol
| passengers from Liverpool to New Yorl
! would be greater, the price being fixed b,
= the mile; passengers coming from Liver
pool to Baltimore, Savannah, or Charles
ton, the distance being greater. would pa,
+ more still. Would not that regulation b.
II regulation on the face of it which pre-
p ferred one port to another? 1t seems t,
me cle;lr that it would; and vet it is in
r. evitable that it should be so in any attemr
a to regulate the matter of prices for trans
n portation.
Admitting that the commissioners vii
be as honest and intelligent gentlemen 4
y can be found in the United States, me
q who sincerely desire to make a schedul
+ of rates which shall be in all respects Jus
q and reasonable, yet it would be impossibl
:. for them to do it without making this IRE