The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-08-27

the public functions they were pledged to
perform. These points have been time
and again admitted by the heads and at
tofneys Of railroad corporations, and are
loudly proclaimed whenever they want
special protection from the State or 0 new
privileged Of any kind. Obviously, ag com.
mon carriers, asthe operators Of highways,
these corporations have no right TO dis.
criminate In their charges in favor Of one
citizen or against another citizen; no right
To discriminate in favor Of one locality and
against other localities; no right 10 dis.
eliminate unfairly in iavor.of large dealers,
and no right to discriminate In favor Of the
citizens Of other States TO the injury OF
our own"
In regardtO the discrimination, proper to
be made, between large and small quaint.
ties Of freight, and also in regard to a
proper difference between long hsuls and
short hauls OF freight, the Utica Herald
makes the following sensible remarks:
1.-THE public, rarely inclined to be un.
lust in making up It's mind on such mat.
tiers, recognizes the variation IN the cost at
which railroads can do certain services for
their customers, and Is entirely satisfied
THAT this variation should be made the
foundation Of schedule charges. One OF
the railroad men who testified before the
committee recognized the single car load
as a Just and feasible unit, in the establish
ment OF uniform freight rates. It is a
notorious fact that anything less than a car
load involves additional expense to the
road In the handling; and there Is not the
slightest disposition on the part Of those
who take side against the roads In this
matter, TO ignore tho conditions under
which they do business. When the unit
Is determined, the next question Is that Of
distance; and here again the public will
make all due allowance for the conditions
OF the transportation business. 1t Is an
undoubted fact that 1t does not cost as
much per mile to carry a single a or a
train OF cars athousand miles as It coststo
carry II twenty-five miles. This fact should
be distinctly recognized, in any State reg.
ulation oil freight charges. But 1t Is
equally certain that 1t does not cost any
more to carry q car or q train twenty-five
miles than in costs to carry it one thous
and miles; and the State has a right to in
sist that the roads shall arrange their
schedules in accordance with this fact.
Whenever the Central makes rate from
Chicago to New York, which is less than
a rate on a similar cargo which it makes
from Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse or
Utica, with a similar unit for basis, 1t is
guilty OF a discrimination which ought to
be forbidden bylaw. We observe that the
special rates which the Central has made
with certain wholesale grocery firms in
Utica, Rome and Syracuse, are identically
the same-namely, nine cents per hun.
dred pounds, where one rate covers all
classes OF goods for one year. The differ.
ence in distance between these three
cities is so slight, that the actual difference
in the cost Of the transportation TO the
company must be almost imperCeptible.
1t Is noticeable, however, that in
its schedule rates the Central re-
cognizes this difference in dis
lance as a correct basis for q marked
variation in its charges. The proper
charge, then, can be accurately discover
ed by a computation OF the actual cost per
mile, with the single car load as a unit in
the transportation OF the several classes oil
freight. Mr.. Fargo, the President OF the
Merchants Dispatch Company, testified
before the assembly committee that the
cars OF his Corporation-a majority OF the
stock OF which is owned or controlled by
the New York Central road earned three
quarters Of a cent per mile, whatever dis
lance they ran. In view OF this statement,
how are we to account for the fact that
when the rate IN q certain class Of freight
from Buffalo to New York was % cents,
the same rate from Chicago was but
thirty-five cents, and suddenly became, in
consequence Of some new phase Of the
freight war, only twenty cents, the BuHa.
10 rate remained unchanged in the mean
while? We a only account for it on
the hypothesis that the road adjusts its
tariffs without reference to the actual cost
Of the service performed.
1t is in the discrimination in favor oil
freights from beyond the borders OF the
State, as against those established fol-
points within the limits Of New York,
that the most monstrous injustice is done.
1t is to this discrimination that we can
trace unerrinGlY the sufferings Of the agri-
cultural interest here at home"