The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1880-03-10
NEW ORLEANS. Feb. .. 1881

tires, Jackson, Hiss:
/ Ny DEAR SIR: Yours of the 9th die
not reach me until this morning. It ma,
be too late for me to make any suggestions K
you IN reference to the Humphries bill
which discussed before your committee.
1t must be apparent to every intelligent
mind, how impossible it would be to make
rigid tariff of rates, that should not vary
according TO the values of the articles trans
ported, and the distances they might be
carried
Ifyou were to make uniform rate, ap-
plying to all freights, at the same rate per
ton per mile, many of the products now
transported by rail would be prohibited
because of the fact that the rates would alb
serb the value of the products.
Surprising you transported a barrel of
flour, bacon, salt, meal, or molasses for 20
miles, and charged % cents for its transpor-
tatlon; then suppose the same articles had
TO be transported 300 miles, and YOU charg-
ed % cents for each additional 20 miles
you see at once it would be a prohibition
on transporting the articles long distance
Again, take lumber. Surprising YOU trans
ported a car load of lumber 80 miles, and
charged for that service 80, which would
| be 81 per thousand feet
Now suppose that car load oflumDer was
destined to travel $50 miles, and you were
to charge 81 per thousand feet for each so
miles, the cost of transportation for this
distance would be SIS per thousand feet,
and the lumber would still be far short,
perhaps, OF its final destination. You at
! once discover that any such charge would
amount to prohibition on all shipping SIM
gle pound.
The lumber shipped from Mississippi,
completes in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio
and Indiana, with the lumber from Michi-
/ ran fha !
must either transport it at such rates as it
can afford to pay or prohibit its transporta-
| ton altogether, by such a law as is sought /
for in the HUMPHREYS bill.
Then, again, take a bale of cotton and /
suppose that we charge 80 cents for trans
porting it 30 miles. The northern limit of /
Mississippi to New Orleans is, in round |
numbers, 400 miles; and if we made an adj
ditlonal charge of 80 cents for each 80 miles
of transportation, the cost would be 81 per
baie-our present charge being So per bale
for this service.
Thus, you see, this uniform tariff would
initiate against the producer or the party
who had any surplus product of any kind to
ship to market.
Now, the great object which the Hum
phries bill has sought to obtain, is that
local treights and passengers for short dis
tances, should pay no more rates per ton
per mile than for long distances, that
through and local rates should at all times
be the same. Such policy would at once !
destroy all through business, simply be-
cause, the traffic intended to travel long
distances, would not bear the rates of trans
portation that such law as the HUMPHREYS /
bill would impose upon it. |
If this bill were enacted into a law, it
would seriously tend to destroy all manu-
featuring in the State, and would impose
burden upon the surplus products of agri-
culture that would work great hardship to {
the producer !
The value of any article at the point of |
production, and the price it will bring at |
the point of destination, will, in nearly all q
instances, fix the rate which such article l
will bear for transportation; and the car !
rier must be willing to transport at such a
rates as will leave profit to the producer, 5
or the raising of such products as will not Y
bear the charges provided in this bill, must c
be abandoned.
Now, if the local shipper is only charged 3
fair and reasonable rates for the services U
performed for him, does not common sense [
dictate that he is not injured, in any man. C
ner, by the railroad hauling for some other "
party longer distance, even though it is a
done at lesser rates. e
Allow me to call your attention to t
another matter that does not seem to W
be understood, or if understood is pur a
pOSely perverted, ana JnaL Is Jn1S we ~
haul cotton from Memphis, say, a cOmpet- '
ing point with river and with railroads tC
to Cincinnati, New York, Norfolk, Charles n
ton and Savannah, but specially with the
river. We transport it from there to c.
New Orleans for $3.50 per bale. Nine a.
tenths of all the cotton we haul from that Il
point Is compressed, and We get 80 bales into c;
a ear, which gives to US a gross revenue of o.
$3.50 per car Now, all the cotton we al
from H., ilac, /
New Orleans than Memphis is uncompress- pi
ed, and we get S3 per bale for hauling it. is
Of uncOmpressed cotton we can get but 20 II
bales into box car, which gives a gross al
revenue of $50, or sometimes p bales, pro- SC
1ucing 500. While the uncomIressed cotton &c
is not of the same weight the compressed, la
nevertheless, you will Observe, it taxes OIL
fully the capacity of the car. Our proper
ton of the rates from Memphis to New Or
cans, gives us $62. Then, you will see,
while we charge So per bale from Grenada,
he cotton from Memphis at 81 30 per bale
affords about the same amount of revenue
20 US. Now if all points on the road would Us
erect congresses and compress all their cot ca
on we would be very glad to haul it at the 81
ame ratio of charge, because it would take a
very many less cars to do the business than De
t does now. WI
You must also bear in mind that, in the
months of April, May, June, July and Au- NJ
Just there is but little local traffic on the line Sc
# our road. At this season Of the year we CT
lave our houses full of idle engines, and our be
ide-tracks full fempty cars, because there an
5 nothing for them to do. Now, if we send a
ur cars away and seek business at compet- in
ne points, and haul that business at COM
'eting prices, does not common sense show
hat the local shipper is not injured by any G.
UGH line of policy? lion the contrary, we ~
i'd not secure traffic from competing points,
nd beyond the terminus of our line we MI
hould be compelled to charge the local 70
rattle at least Sos per cent higher rates than M
re now charge, in order to earn sufficient TN
evenue to maintain and keen the road in at
unning condition. Therefore it is to the by
interest of the local shipper, that we OIL
hould control such traffic As it is pos
ble for US TO do. to sMlll the gross