Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-02-16

IL should never nave been diverted
from a people so anxious to get "fair
rates for GAINESVILLE" and to be
your friends.
If you road would only add to
your promise Of ''fair rates to Clarks-
villeo fair classification of freights,
then the measure of justice would
be full.
"Fair rates p" Let us see what are
fair rates, and what are fair CLASH
fations. AS we are now going to
get justice, let us see what we have
been paying.
First-clasS rates are usually double
fOurth-class rates or more.
Tobacco is almost universally
classed as fourth-class freight. Yet
all shipments of tobacco destined
for this market, passing over your
road, are rated as first-class freight.
This incorrect classification has
apparently for its object the ignO-
ring of the true character of the
freight, and a cover for the enOr-
nous rates charged.
This dissatisfaction should in
common honesty be corrected ; it is
due to the character of your road
that it should be done.
All freight from your road for
GAINESVILLE leaves your road at
Guthrie, and your freight rates per
100 lbs. on tobacco billed for Clarks-
vile, are about as follows:
Caskey, twenty miles to Guthrie,
Is cents per 100 pounds.
Pembroke, fifteen miles to Guth-
RE II cents per 100 pounds.
Trenton, nine miles to Guthrie,
II cents 100 pounds.
SaddlersVille, four miles to Guth-
RE, IL cents per 100 pounds. God
help this little place! Eleven cents
per 100 pounds for four miles.
Forts, five miles to Guthrie, IA
cents per 100 pounds. Pious eiacu-
Iations needed for Forts also. What
have these people done to be SO
ridden?
Cedar Hill, twenty miles to Guth-
RE, II cents per 100 pounds.
Springfield, eighteen miles to
Guthrie, Is cents per 100 pounds.
As enormous as these rates are, /
see by freight bills of past few days
that it has been billed even at
cents higher; for instance, tObac-
co from Trenton to Guthrie, l6 cents.
To show how excessive these
rates are, / give the following COM
parison: The distance from here to
New York is called in round num-
bers 200 miles. Your local rate
as above average about l 30-10O
cents per mile per hundred pounds.
equal to $3.50 per 100 pounds on
tobacco from here to New York at
same rate. Our express company
will take the same freight to New
York at So per 100 lbs, and the
through rate is 53c per 100 lbs. Is
there railroad in the world which
can show such a grinding rate upon
their local freight? If so, give it
'lOcal habitatiOn and name"
really think that yOul road and
the Louisville d Nashville Railroad
should not forget the facts, that
both roads passing through our
sections were largely built by the
people of this section; they spent
their money freely upon them, and
in the sales of the roads their stock
was utterly sunk, costing hundreds
of thousands of dollars, for which
they have now nothing to show but
a large amount of bonds, upon
which they have to pay a semi-an-
nual interest. These people with
such heavy freight rates, and heavy
taxes for interest on the bonds which
mainly built the roads, are thus
bled on every side. Surely they
should have such relief as can be
justly afforded they ask justice and
nothing more.
I submit to your kind considera-
ton if it is right in the railroad
fights on Through rates." is it
right, is it just, to cut and cut, until
freight is carried at loss, and then
seek to make it up by such Excess
siVe local rates upon a people who
with such pecuniary sacrifices Gre
ated and built these roads d? Beyond
the grOssest injustice it is the black
est ingratitude, and when it can be
borne no longer they will appeal to
the courts and Legislature for re-
dress.
pie justice, and while your rate is so
Theyare nOtasking faVOrs, butsim-
enormous upon all freight billed to
GAINESVILLE amounting, as shown
above to three times the value Of
rate to New York;, you carry to-
baccO from Guthrie to HOpkinsville,
twenty-five miles, for five cents per
hundred pounds.
As at the beginning Of these lines
| stated the interests of our house in
the Hopkinsville tobacco market,
/ would beg to suggest if a change
of policy toward that market would
not be beneficial to its prosperity.
While a low rate of freight may
attract business to n market, may
not this be counteracted to some ex-
tent by impeding its outlet, after it
has been received, by excessive out
ward rates? All of the tobacco re-
ceived there has to be shipped out
again-nOne ofitis consumed there
and beg to call your attention to
the fact that it costs far more to
ship tobacco out from HOpkinsville
than from any other tobacco market
in the West, and that this cost is a
burden on the business which does
lessen the amount of orders and.oth- |
er business which would otherwise
seek that market. Would it not be
better for the real prosperity of that
for freights to bemore equal |
lied A higher freight going in and |
a lower freight going out ? An adj |
dition of the two rates, and an av-
erage struck between them, would |
realize for your road probably the |
same revenue, and it would be a
more equitable arrangement.
With due Difference / beg to |
commend this point to your favor
able consideration.
/ trust soon TO receive from you
an amended tariff of rates from
points upon your road based upon
your promise of ''fair rates for
which you must in all
candor admit that she does not now
AS your favor of the 18th to the
writer was published as an open
letter, my reply may possibly be
treated in the same way.
Again, expressing my thanks for
he friendly promises to our trade
70 courteously made in your es-