Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1878-04-20

powers; that it was highly prejudicial
to the carrying ability of the road
uniustly Disseminated against, and
eminentlv calculated to impair its use
fitness, that the State being large
ly interested in the welfare of the B.
and O. r. R., was, by such a course,
directly injuring itself by lessening
the ability of the road to pay its
bonded Indebtedness.
Sir, when a bill like this comes be-
fore the House, the provisions of
which will practically nullify the OPP
pressive discrimination against the
citizens of our State, and in favor Of
the citizens of the Ohio and MISSISSIPPI
pi valleys and the great Northwest
that we now find embodied in the
through tariff rate of the B. and 0.
R. R., to which practical effect is be-
ing given daily, we find the able
advocates who based their support
of the compromise bill upon the
grounds that home institutions should
always be protected, and that foreign
interests should never be permitted
to dominate those of local or state
character, assaiing by argument the
provisions of this bill, that simply
seeks the benefit of local or State in
terests by placing them on an equality
with foreign industries that filled their
| markets in the commercial cities ofour
State.
Look !you please, sir, at the char
ter of the B. and 0. R. R. 1t will be
found to possess more than one ele-
ment of a contract, for it is made up
Of several distinct sections that are, or
were, as binding as the capitation
claims, By the construction put up
on that clause in relation to the per
lnissible charges per ton per mile for
toll and freight by the company, it
claims to have the power to discrimi-
nate between counties, towns, places,
and individuals. 1t claims to possess
the power to charge more for freights,
or passage, to Cumberland than it
daily charges from Baltimore to the
Ohio river-in plain English, sir, to
charge more for IT'S miles of the dis
lance than it charges for the whole
distance lover 800 miles, to the Ohio
river. If the company in fact pos
sesses this chartered power which it
is in the habit of daily exercising,
then under its construction Of said
powers, it has the right when two
citizens of Cumberland or any other
point on the road have adjacent ware
houses or places of business, to charge
the one, who may be railroad man,
two cents per ton per mile, and the
other six-the power to ruin the one
and make rich the other-the power
to destroy, commercially, Frederick,
Washington, Allegany and Garrett
counties, and to bring into the Balti-
more market the wheat grown in the
| great West cheaper than it will trans
port to the same market the home pro-
ducts of similar character raised in
the western portions of our state.
At this point, sir, with the indul-
gence of the House, l would submit
for its information a few facts and
figures concerning the through freight
rates obtaining between shipping
points in the west and Baltimore city,
scheduled by the B. e. o. R. r., and
draw comparison between that rate
and the local rate in full operation on
the same route:
Mansfield, Ohio, to Baltimore 542
miles, per l0o lbs. IL cent
Mansfield, Ohio, to Cumberland,
| 1854 miles, per 100 lbs.
| Mt. Vernon, Ohio, to Baltimore,
per lOU lbs. is "
| Mt. Vernon, Ohio, to Cumberland
per lOO lbs. .............2J
| Toledo, Ohio, to Baltimore, $50
miles, per 100 lbs. rs
! Toledo, Ohio, to Cumberland, 372
| miles, per 100 lbs. ..........27
These are the regular through tar
it rates and not "cut rates" resulting
from railroad wars. Cut rates" are
now, when arising from such causes,
made down as low as II cents per 100
pounds from these points.
| Mr.. Speaker, l would again invite
the attention Of the House to the man
fest injustice daily exercised against
local points by citing the following in
stance. The charge to-day upon
freight between the cities of Pitts burg,
Pa, Cumberland, Md, and Staunton,
Va, are made up in thiswise
|
| Pittsbux to Cumberland, I49
| miles, per 100 lbs. .43 cents
| Pi:tsburg to Stanton, Va, abont
| 300 miles, per 100 Tbs.
Now, sir, the train or convoy OF
| trains transporting the commodities OF
the several points named in the table
of rates mentioned, pass directly
through Cumberland, and Tor that rea-
son | have instanced that place as an
example because it will enable me the
| better to refute the illogical reasoning
advanced on this floor that it is, or
| would be ruinous for any railroad to
| stop through freight at local points at
Its through tariff rate. At this point
(Cumberland) majority of the trains
regulate. Would it not be paten',
absurdity for any sensible man to he
tcld as a matter of truth that the &C. ~