Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1878-04-27

mon carrier must carry for reason
able price or charge. When you buy
a ticket at Hagerstown, Md, for Bal
timore, the company will sell you one
for $3.50. If you Euy one at Breath
edville, point on the same line, but
six miles nearer Baltimore, it will
charge you $3, or so cents additional,
for distance six miles shorter. The
B. and O. R. R. have been selling
tickets under the recent railroad war
from Baltimore to Chicago for $40,
and tickets to Cumberland for $3.50,
and then charging SIG from Cumber-
land to Chicago. The courts of the
west have had this question before
them, and have decided that the COM
pany, having charged so much from a
longer distance, it is conclusive evi-
dencc that that is reasonable rate
and that it cannot charge more for
shorter distance on the same route.
The courts have also decided that it
makes no essential difference if there
be strong competition at the point
where the ticket is sold.
The company allege in justification
, Of this assumed right of charge, the
fact that it spelfeotly apparent to
The intelligent business community
tina, It is utter y imposs Ne for It to
t.. nsport Ilolght and passengers over.
short hauls as cheaply as it can over
long ones. But that does not youaL
the question at issue so vitality as II
would seem to at the first glance. 1t
is material in its bearings, but GER
tainly not essential. If the incorpo-
1ators OF all our rail routes had
deemed a provision, clause or section,
in their charter necessary in defining.
and granting to them power to make
6 discrimination against short and in
favor of long hauls, that they now set
up as indispensable, and which they
have always exercised to the fullest
extent, though they do it under an
implied power derived, in my Judg-
ment, from an erroneous construction
of the letter and spirit of the severaI
Instruments under the provisions oil
which they operate, they would as
suredly have secured it from com
plant legislatures, or at least have
made some tangible effort to remedy
so manifest defect as this would
seem to be. The truth Of the matter
is, that even the elastic consclences OF
the amiable and sweet tempered
Legislatures that granted them their
charters were tried to their fullest
tension in the passage of tie various
, sections thereof containing powers
whose length, breadth and depth OF
:, meaning, have remained unrivaled IN
, the annals of railroad charters.
, The Legislature gave the B. and 0.
R. r. company in its charter the ez-
press power to arrange q high maxi
mum, and left it to the discretion OF
the company to fix the reasonable
rate required by the common law; but
it at the same tine required the COM
) pany to fix the rate from Baltimore
, to the Ohio river, and from the Ohlc
| river to Baltimore. The State WdS
safe under power of that character
!, honestly exercised, because the
; through competition would keep the
rate between these points on freight
reasonable.
When the company come to con.
: strue the powers contained in its
charter it determined that it had The
e right to make the citizens of Cumber
D land, Hagerstown and Frederick, anC
r other points on their route-strict!y
r classed as local or Observation-Disclosures
Z higher rate Of Shipment than ter
minal or through points. So much
: sir, has this construction Of its power!
: prevailed in reference to its t"eigh
n rates that one Of the lar est business
;, houses in the city of Camberlan(
C shipped its bacon by the B. and O, r
s r. from Cincinnati, through Cumber
s land-l78 miles to Baltimore, thence
It to Alexandria, Va, and from that city
E back uic the c. and O. canal TO Cum
;, n berland; and yet, with the hundred
It of miles of additional transportation
l. sold it one cent per pound cheape
/; ,nan neighboring business house tha
u got its shipment Of bacon direct from
y. the city of Cincinnati to Cumberland
: by the B. and O. Il. Il.
a If the effects that would flow from
g the enforcement by Legislative actor
{, of pro rata rate for short hauls, are
/. or would be as disastrous as it is an
ticipated; if their institution woulo
l. result in the rum Of all Of the rail
Il roads in the State, as has been claim
k ed by some of the opponents of thu
6 bill, will some Of them explain to m
: and to this House the reason why til
g dreadful consequences so eloq.,entl,
i depicted all to attach to any and al
t routes where competitive routes rul
It branch to the local points that con
e stitute the short hauls? Where
If competitive route strikes pc ut OF
any line of transportation it enforce
o freight rate reduction Of not les
If than % per cent, a rate assuredly, !
e the theory set up be correct, well cal
T culated to produce the evils so mucl
IS feared by our railroads. With the ex
! oaptiop Of Cutn leo, iarl tho irnnort