Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-04-16

from Sacramento away into the interior and
high from San Francisco into the interior,
so that the country merchants would buy all
t0eir goods at Sacramento. Again, STOCKTON
would like to have the rates cheaper from
STOCKTON into the interior than Sacramento,
SO that they could deal with the country mer-
Snants; and OF course San Francisco would
IKE to have the rates cheaper from San Fran.
cisco than any other part of the State into
the interior, so as The merchants Of San
FRANCISCO could trade with the country mer-
chants In short every man who wants reg.
ulation asks for
REGULATION THAT WOULD BE p1scRlMINA.
TON
In favor of himself, or in favor of his local.
ity. Nobody complains any of LARGE freiebt
however high it may be, which operates TO
protect the trade of his town or Of his own
business. The man producing lumber in the
mountains is perfectly willing that the
freight on lumber from his sawmill to the
towns and cities of the valley should be low.
and he would be very much grati6ed If the
rate on lumber from the seaboard to those
same towns and cities should be high, be-
cause this would give him an advantage in
the market He would get the benefit of the
cheap rate from his saw-mill to the market,
while the high rate would keep the lumber
produced on the seaboard out of that market,
all the trouble in adjusting freight rate in
bills that have been before the Legislature of
this State has grown out of the conflicts be-
tween the different localities in this regard
Each particular interest wanted the freight
low on the kinds of goods it had to ship, and
put up high on other kinds of goods, so that
the great burden of supporting a system of
transportation in the State would be borne
by some article in which particular individ-
ual did not deal, or which he did not sell. IF
every town in this State were left free to es-
tabEsh their rates to suit themselves. there
would be high rates to every other town, and
exceedingly low rates to and from the town
that had the say in the matter Take it all
in all, it is
All OF A MIXTURE.
For instance freights should be low on
wine, wheat, wool and other products of the
State. l think the railroad company ought
to discriminate in favor of the poor farmer
and poor producer, and SO bring about this
discrimination. And to harmonic and bring
the producers and transporters together will
be the whole object of my movements through
the country. A low export rate on the raw
products Of the country will give prosperity,
because it will increase the profit of produc-
ton. But who gets the advantage on a low
rate on merchandise to the interior? The
man who deals largely in boots and shoes
brings them to his store by the ton. Now if
he might get low rate it would amount to
probably thousands of dollars profit to him.
but when he comes to sell one pair of shoes
to a man, the difference being only few
cents on the rate chargeable to that pair of
shoes, would he give the poor man the advan-
tage of that low rate of freight: We will
suppose a case, for example. We will sup
pose that the freight to certain store is $40
a ton, and merchant imports ton of shoes.
My shoes weigh pound; at that rate the
freight on my shoes would be half cent
Would /, who buy these shoes, get the
benefit of this OF course not. 1t wouldn't
make any difference, but the man who imports
a ton would receive the benefit. How, then,
would this operate against the men who run
a road !? Would it tend to lengthen their
hours of labor and decrease their pay? The
profit of the transaction would go to the mer-
chant who is dealing in shoes, and it would
be taken out of the profit of the transporter,
and to the extent that you take the profit out
of the transporter you must necessarily re-
duce the expenses of transportation.
LABOR AND TRANSPORTATION.
One of the leading expenses of transporta-
ton is labor, and if you reduce the earnings
of transportation you must necessarily re-
duce the earnings of labor, and what you are
doing when you reduce the freight rates on
merchandise is to increase the profit OF the
boring men who assist to operate the systemsof
transportation and | will not champion any
movement that will tend to decrease the
wages of labor, or lengthen its hours. But
to return to the raw products of the State.
The price of wheat at any station in Calfor-
MIA is the price at Liverpool less the cost of
getting the wheat to that port, and low rate
of freight makes high rate of wheat in this
country. A low rate on wool makes higher
price on wool. The freight charged against
the wool for transportation is the loss of the
producer of the wool 1t is therefore plain
that low rate of transportation on wheat
and wool and cattle and live stock generally
will enhance the profit of the producer of
these articles, and by enhancing the profits
of its production, will enhance the value of the
property. There are hundreds of small farm
ers throughout this State who have mort
gagged their places, and who are struggling to
pay for them, who will be better enabled to
do so If low rates upon the raw products of
the country can be obtained and this is the
effort that should be made, and it can be
accomplished much sooner by bringing about
a perfectly good understanding between the
transporter and the producer, and it never
can be accomplished by keeping these two
interests at war. l notice that the freight
from here to Liverpool by water is $50 ton.
Now, there are lot of men here who get up
a CORNER ON SHIPS,
And corner on grain, etc. If the railroad
company could, when the Southern Pacific
Railroad is completed to New Orleans land
wheat at Liverpool for 81 per ton, or about
e3, it would be an immense advantage
to the producer of this State, who would
save by the reduced insurance, etc, and have
quicker returns for his money, and it would
do away, to certain extent, with the mid
dlemen. As it is now, the grain-buyers and
freight cornerers ascertain what the probable
yield of the country is to be. They then en-
gage the tonnage for this port. When the
tonnage arrives they put up the freight rates
to reduce the price CT the wheat. They buy
in wheat at the reduced price, and thus make
a profit on the tonnage as well as upon the
advancing price of the wheat.
DIRECT LINES OF TRANSPORTATION.
A direct line of transportation will enable
the farmer to ship in small quantities. As it
is now unless farmer has enough wheat to
furnish full cargo for ship it is impossible
for him to engage that much tonnage. He
must, therefore, depend upon the engagement
of tonnage made by the Spectator. The
Spectator is going to engage tonnage of course
against the interest of the producer and IN
favor of himself, and so the great staple pro-
duction of wheat in the State of California has
have managed so that the chief profit derived
pTOuuCliOu BOSS LubO IuS puthSI u
the Spectator i'll wheat, and not into the
pocket of the honest farmer, who by the toll
of his hands raised it. He continues potr
while the Spectator gets rich aud builds
lofty mansions, and surrounds himself with
luxuries and all the fnements that exalt and
embellish his life, while the wheat raiser liFes
in social seclusion in very Indifferent houses,
continually drudging for the benefit of this
profit monger and money. grabber
Rep.-Your view of the transportation
question is novel if not encouraging.
Kearney-I prefer to tell the truth rather
than adopt the lying fsttery of the poll
ticans. The transportation question would
not be so important if our people had better
sense, and if they had been told the truth
from the first. We are located fsrthest from
the markets for what we produce, and
further from the centers of production of
what We consume than any CHER
people in the world. The cost of
on our products is charged
against us in the price we get, and whas we
consume costs US more than it costs any other
people, because of the distance it is trans
ported. We get the least for what wa sell
and pay the most for what we buy. All this
is due to our remote location from markets
for our products and places where what we