Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-07-20
rnE ART OF DIsUEImINArIox.

THE ART OF DISCRIMINATION.
No problem of these modern times
has proved more difficult to solve than
that known as railroad ''discrimina-
ton" In the fierce competition Of
great markets to control the trade of
sections within their reach somebody
is bound to get hurt, and the party
whose OK gets gored always roars
the loudest. We all have a good deal
of human nature In us. If every rail.
road centering in Nashville had fixed
policy of discriminating in our favor
against the rest of the world, her peo-
pie and press would simply keep mum
and go on getting rich as fast and as
long as they could. The abstract JUS
tice of these questions does not enter
into the matter; in the
fight for commercial supremacy
It is-get the best hold and keep it, If
you can. This is why we admire the
disingenuous frankness Of the Memphis
appeal, which, seeing thatethe Bluff
City has been Disseminated against SO
long, to her incalculable loss, now pro-
poses to see whether a little hair from
the same dog cannot be used to advant-
age. 1t asks:
Does it not seem strange that there
are portions of West Tennessee, within
siEty miles of Memphis, that are forced
to send cotton to other and distant
markets because freights are cheaper?
They are forced TO do this, while,
at the same time, they prefer to
trade with Memphis, first, be-
cause it is one of the best, if not the
best cotton market On this continent;
and next, because they prefer trading
near home and with a city Of their own
State. The reason why freights are 50
heavy upon the citizens Of a large por-
ton OF West Tennessee is because they
have rot easy access to a line of road.
which leads directly to this city, and in
order to reach here they are compelled
to run part of the way on some other
road that is being run in the interest Of
some other city, and ghich makes
heavy and unjust determinations
against Memphis. To illustrate this,
look at the country surrounding Boil
var, Tennessee. In 1873 the cotton
shipped amounted to six thousand two
hundred aud ffty-seven bales, of which
five hundred and fifteen we're shipped
to eastern cities by way of
LO Iisviile, five hundred and eighteen
bales east by way of Grand Junction
and Chattanooga, and four thousand
two hundred and twenty-five to New
Orleans by the Mississippi Central
road, while only nine hundred and
ninety-nine bales came to Memphiz, al
though planted and raised with n sixty
miles of it. 1t was all because
freights were running against this
city, and the same state of affairs exist
now. If the Knoxville road was CON-
pieted to Henderson station, from Men,
phis, it would tap the Mobile and Ohio
Railroad there, and the people of Hen
dersOn, Madison, McNairy and Harde-
man counties could ship direct to Mem
phis on one line, and line lvhose IN
terest lC0Uld be to discriminate IN .tdUOr
Of Memphis. Henderson county raises
fifteen thousand bales of cotton a year,
and McNairy twelve thousand, not a
bale Of which finds its way to the Mem
phis market, to say nothing of what
would come from the rich county of
Madison if her people had direct Iail-
way communication with this city.