The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-02-12


BASED upcnhis reliance ID the maintain
snce by this,company Of this established
principle.
% LOCAL AND THROUGH nusINIIss.
The statements OF these facts, ] think,
your honorable committee that
The Baltimore 4 Ohio Railroad Company
has little, n any, control Of the rates
governing the through business on It's
lines, and when you proposeto establish
the principle that the through rate from
Chicago TO Baltimore shall be a pro rate
for the local In West Virginia, you assume
the position that West Virginia is entitled
not only TO oil the advantages which aeon.
petitiYe railway system could giveit, but 10
the further advantages II might derive from
water communication
Chicago having, as you are aware, by
means Of the great lakes and the Erie
Canal, an unbroken water line 10 the city
OF New York. You furthermore assume
the position that the local business OF
West Virginia, amounting at the utmost,
in the aggregate, TO two or three millions
OF dollars per annum, shall be placed
upon precisely the same footing, per ton
per mile, as the commerce Of the whole
Northwest, which. passes through the city
Of Chicago. In other words, you assume
that each local station, such as Webster
and Gloyer's Gap, shipping a few car loads
annually Olive stock and cereals, shall be
entitled TO precisely the same ptorate that
the business which emanates from. tho ele.
vators and the Union Stock Yards OF
Chicago communicative former Of which
last year shipped nearly 100000 car loads
the live stock passing through the latter
amounting, for the year, to the aggregate
OF $l08, 1870. In order to justify such
extreme measures against the company,
even II they could BE legally enforced,
there should certainly be some reasonable
basis for complaint, and / propose now to
look after. the local tariff In the light Of the
evidence ELECTED lat the different points
BY the, committee. 4 In the first place,
call YOUR attention 70 the fact that both
the majority and minority reports OF the
committee admit they have no evidence
that the charge for transporting freight Is
in excess Of eight cents per ton per mile,
all the amount allowed by its charter. The
principal cause Of complaint, as ! gather
from the reports, arises more from the
comparison ofthe rates charged 10 local
stations with those TO through stations,
rather than from the fact that the local
charge is disproportionate TO the service
actually rendered; and l think this grows
largely out Of the misappreheusion which
exists as to the relative cost to the COM
pany Of conducting local and through
business. The bill under discussion, BY
establishiuga strict pro.rate, ignores entire.
y that any difference in cost exists, either
between conductinga wholesale business
or retail business, or between the
necessities Of the party furnishing ono
character Of traffic as compared with
another. In this particular
think the bill would radically
fail to accomplish the very object It sets
out to do, and that the result OF any such
legislation, II carried out by the Railroad
Company, would lead to inextrtOa6le con.
fusion and loss to YOUR citizens, and would
not be In operation week before its re-
peal would be imperatiyely demanded. In
the first place, 1t provides that tariffs shall
be published and posted at all stations,
hasp4 HR9A the Chicago rata. As that
rate from the very necessities OF the case
is uncertain and conflicts daily and almost
hourly, It would DO impossible for tho
Railroad Company IA comply with this
provision, as one thrift could not be put in
operation before the change in rate would
necessitate another. The entire local in
terest would thus DO left A nreY Ia tl,e I'M
certain and conflicting charges on which
the entire transportation OF the State, over
this line, must OF necessity be based This
OF itself would more than offset any posi-
bic benefit proposed by the bill, rs MI OK.
PeFience has shown ttat the element Of
certainty III commercially operations Is
OF prime Importance. The effect Of
establishing pro rata could. hardly
have been fully considered by the trainers
Of this bid, and can no bettar Illustrate
II than by referring to the direct and oh.
Ylous effects upon ono important Interest,
II not the most important, on the line Of
the road, namely, that OF the coal inter.
est. West Virginia is more largely inter
estel in gas coal than in any other
single interest. 1thas three gas coal folds
known rs the Fairpont, Clarks6urg and
Aewburg fields. Those gas coal fields have
always been placed upon the same foot
ing, US regards rates, by the company,
upon the broad ground that any attempt
TO discriminate in favor OF ono, as against
the other, would DO unjust, Tho New.
hnrg field, however, has the advantage OF
being 81 miles nearer the seaboard, and
it would therefore, under the operation
OF this bill, be able to place its coal in
the markets at such q difference in pripe
Rs would give 1t independent Of its supe.
rlor quality, tho entire control. But
whilst they might operate favorably for
the Newhurg Company as against its less
AdYantagpQuRly . located n5lghhors, 1t
would in The end prove fatal as the Yough-
iogheny gas GOALS Of Pennsylvania arc by
actual and constructive distance, forty
three miles nearer the seaboard than tho
Newburg. The advantage which the ex.
tension Of this principle to that field
would give IL, would preclude the shin
mert Of not only tho Newhnrg, hut OF any
OF the gas Goals OF West Virginia. The
policy Of the Baltimore & Ohio company
in placing the ioughiogheny field precise.
ly upon the same footing as to rate as the
West Virginia fields, has been one Of the
measures adopted for protecting the inter.
ests Of West Virginia
rIis WHEELING RATE.
The City Of Wheeling by an Interpretation
placed upon the Co.'S charter is only entitl-
ed toa maximum of the local rate. This
rule must ofnecessity lose q great proper.
ton NOT tho entire business 1t does on
the lineo the Baltimore & Ohio road and
its branches. Tho company would be
compelled to withdraw the special rate
given to that city, and thus deprive it OF
the means Of competing with the cities Of
]f'ttttts9argh and oInplqn9!!, situated equal
ture Of Wespvirglnia, not controlling the
tariffs beyond the limits Of Its State, could
not enforce the pro rate rule as
against Cincinnati and Pittsburgh
the effect Of which would be to
force tho business Of its commercial
and political capital TO those rival centres,
Besides this, it would operate injurlously
to every local station on the line, those be-