The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-03-24
Exposure OF Judge Blacks Ridiculous
Misrepresentation Of Railway Char
ges, by Mr.. Albert Fink.
From the Railway World.l

tne New YORK WOtU, Wnlcn exposes,
in very forcible manner. number
of the misrepresentation made by
that gentleman. Agreeing with the
leading champion of the league that it
is II question of fact whether the char
ges of robbery and extorton are true
or false, Mr.. Fink conclusively proves
that Judge Blacks statement of facts.
"a he understands it, is utterly devoid
o. foundation, in the following search.
Ing analysis
Let us examine Judge Black =
figures upon which he basis the con
clusion that the railroad companies are
public plunderers. He computes that
u late advance made Ivy the railroad
companis from 30 to 35 cents per 100
pounds on grain from Chicago to New
York robs the people annually Of S75,-
U0J.'Uu. he further computes that
including other freights besides grain,
the robbery amounts to S225, ,0OO, ,0OD,
and he further estimates that present
charges are eXtOrtionate to the extent
of 10 cents per loo pounds, SO that the
total amount "pxtorted from the
pockets of the people in one year j.
S616, 600, enough says Judge
Black. "to pay half the national debt
and this Is only on through freights."
Unfortunately for Judge Black,
when we consider the car fully COM
| piled statistics which are published by
Mr.. Henry V. Poor, of New York, in
his Railroad Manual, which work is
generally i'm the hands OF all men who
pretend to watch the progress ami con.
| dition o. railroads and keep them
| selves informed upon this subject we
| find there is a strange discrepancy be-
tween the fac, as represented by Judge
| Black and the "cts as they appear in
ponr's Manual. In that work for
1881 we find that The total gross freight
earnings of S4,2 miles of railroads in
the United States in the year 1879
were only 1886, so, l0s. This is the
total amount of money paid by the
people Of the United States to the rail
roads for all sorts of freight transpor-
tation, including all local aud all
through freight, during the year 1879,
of which Judge Black computes the
railroad companies have unjustiy tx-
torted S61j, 900, 900 from the suffering
people. Out of these gross earnings
the railroad companies have actually
book, about 60 per cent, or, say, Sl32-
600 900, for operating EXPENSES, to
their employees, to manu- acturerS, &C..
which leaves them only SlA4 .O,U, 900
available for the payment OF interest
on an Investment ct 81. IS! ,O0O, 900
The total net earnings of all the rail-
roads OF the United States, including
the passenger traffic. were S2i9. .9l6, pa
or As per cent. on the capital invested
Judge Hack says railroad companies
have right to he reimbursed all that
ii cost them 10 render the service, and
To receive i'll addition a reasonable
profit on the capital invested. II may
not be ont of the way to say that per
cent. interest on the investment con-
stitutes reasonable profit on so risky
an enterprise as building aud operat-
ing railroads, bearing in mind that
as rule, the railroad companies have
been paying more than IL per cent. ON
borrowed money Taking only ppr
cent. as a reasonable interest, the rail.
road companies of the country in 1879
failed to he reimbursed tor the cost of
their service l'y 81 per cent on the
capital, or, in other words. instead of
robbing the people at S575. .00O. 900 the
railroad companies furnished in 1873
Sl42 ,OO3, 600 of their own means to the
peop of this country for the privilege
of furnishing them with trnnSporta-
ton facilities. by which service this
great country has been made the most
prosper rus in the world.
Notwithstanding this service rem
dered TO the people by the railroad
companies they receive nothing in re-
turn but abuse. Judge Black says:
THE voice of complaint comes on the
wings of the wind from every quarter
of the continent. Cases of individual
complaint will he recited to YOU in
every counting-house. in every hotel
wherever yOu go to talk with your
neighbor j. it wonder that the
good people feel aggrirved. that they
feel sense of unbearable oppression.
of an "unendurable wrong that can
not he borne when they are tod BY
so great an authority as Judge Black.
that they are annually robbed by these.
railroad companies OF S675, 900, 900 on
through freight alone, without count.
ing the local freight, or even making
mention OF robberies from Passenger
service?
such utterly absurd and ridiculous
statements are no doubt believed by Il
great many men as ignorant of the
facts as Judge Black himself appears
To he, and il is easy To comprehend the
bitter feeling that such supposed rob
heries as these must eEgender in the
public mind. This is the kind oi
stuff upon which railroad agitat0rs
and reiormers ieed the people, and
then they prove by complaints from
the pople-c"niplain which are
created by AMI ba>. d upon these mise.
rable misrepresentation railroad
companies are pub,ic robbers. that the
Legislators must control them and keep
them from r0hbin" the people OF S675,-
W',W0 every year, although the whole
sum the pcop.e pay for transportation
services is only 1856, ,ODO,00o.
1t seems almost incredible that
Judge Back, in undertaking to reply
to the above, as he did in letter
printed in the New York World of
March cd, substantially reiterateS the
ridiculous charges made in his first
speech, and blazons his incapacity to
the simplest and most
important facts bearing on the genera
subject he discusses. by giving thiS
version of his uttcrances at
the New York neeting:-
The following are the bases of the
hest calculation | was able Ia make; - |
First. The through rates are the |
lowest that are anywhere charged. and |
those rates are now, from Chicago 10 |
New York, 80 cents per 100 weight, or