The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1881-10-04
TRR RAILRoApACCIpEN


great monopolics have not ceased, but have
increased in the proportion in which the
railroad charges have been reduced. II the
attention ofthe anti-monopolists be called to
these facts they Say you cannot help
making these reductions, the use Of steel
rails ha, cheaponed the cost Of transporta-
ton; the capacity Of your cars and the
power Of your locomotives have been in
creased; you have devised other methods
which enables you to do more work and
for less money than heretofore, and the
competition with vator, route. ha, forced
you 10 make these reductions; the people
are entitled to all the benefits which can be
derived from tina employment Of your
capital and intellect in thu operation ~
railroads you deserve no thanks or credit
for making all these improvements, bene-
fitting the psopl0 because you cannot help
il; We expect sill mora Of you; We want you
To make further reductions, such ~ are not
forced upon you by tho natural laws Of
competition"
In roply the railroad companies sny:
"All va claim il that wa operate our roads
on business principles; WI sndesvor, ~ We
have perfect right to do 10 make orr in
vostmcntS IA profitable ~ Ios-iblo. We do
mot profess "a operate our road simply for
the public good, dis regarding our interests.
We are governed by ths laws Of cOmpcti-
ton Trade and commerce, ~ all other com
morrisl operations arc. The past history of
our operations show that under these laws
our charges have boon reasonable and have
been constantly reduced. The very fact
that these reductions wcru, AZ you say,
forced upon us, and were not voluntary
gift shows that wo havo no monopoly that
VIZ could not he eItortion0rs II We wanted
to he; that We are subject to and controlled
by higher law and which fully protects the
interest Of the people"
do not, however, expect that these argu-
mcnts, no matter how logical, nor any
statements Of facts no matter how striking,
will ever convince tho anti-monOpolists OF
the unreasonableness ofther claims.
rHE THEORY OF AsrI-nosoPoLIsTs.
Their League WAS organized upon the tho
DRY that tho people Of thu United States are
annually defraudcd Of 3UO,0O,0O by the
railroads out Of tho total sum Of $500 10000
paid to these companies for the services
rendered by them.
The ant-monopolists must necessarily adj
y0catc worry low transportation rates, even
lower than they are now, in order that
frauds like these may Hereafter be pre-
vented
But apart from these extreme demands Of
the anti.monopolists, il cannot bd expected
that the pressure for reduced rates Of trans
portaton will ever cease. II will be ~ great
IN the future az IL has been in the past,
SINNERS will never be satisfied with any
rate, II it is possible for them to get "a lower
one This il fully illustrated by everyday
transactions
No sooner was the rate on grain from chi
cagO Ia New York reduced from y cents To
20 cents per 100 pounds Ia rate which, before
the opening ofnaviga;iur was looked upon
as liberal cuuCesSionl than efforts were At
once made, and successfully, to secure afur-
ther reduction to % cents No sooner was
rate Of y cents established than ~ cent
rate was asked for and secured. When III"
rates were successfully reduced TO N cent,
and Is cents, though this cost was far below
the actual cost Of transportation, further Of
forts were made to secure II IL cent and
10 cent rate; and at this time freight is being
carried at y - cents from Chicago to New
York, over distance OF 1000 miles.
The rates on the wcstbouad freight were
lately reduced one-half, yet lower rates IRE
demanded.
| do not mention these facts in fault
finding spirit, hut merely IA showing the
practical dealing Of shippers with railroads.
II is perfectly natural that it should he SO,
because the benefits of the reductions ore
generally enjoyed by the merchants and
producers and not, rs /, often represented,
and believed, by the people the con
suncrS
During the last few months great rcdnc-
tions have been made in transportation
charges on grain from the west to the east
Let us see who profits by these reductions,
Take for example, the transportation
charges on grain. The price of grain and
other articles of export is fixed in the open
market OF the wOrld-Say in Liycrpool-and
thereby the price 70 the New York con
sumner Is determined.
The reduction Of transportation rates
from the west to New YORK do not change
the market price Of grain in this city.
REDUCTIONS IN RATES SINCE June.
ON June l't last the railroads charged for
carrying hushcl of cora from Chicago TO
| New York WAS about fifteen cents; the price
of corn a, that time in New York was litty
I seven and on1-half cents and at Chicago
/ inuy.lyc ard onv-hsli cents per
/ bushcl. The rate u transportation
VAS gradually reduced from June lst
until the middle of juno, when il was only
~ cents per hushcl--a reduction Of 6l.2
( ccut+-and remained at about that rate Un-
iii the end of July, when further r9duCtonH
were made On July Goth the price of corn
: al New York wgS ~ cents per bushcl, IN all
Vance Of about onc-halra cent in spite Of
the reduction of6 - cents In the cost II
transportation. During the same time the
price Of corn at Chicago had risen To- ~
cents, an advance ~ Is - cents per bushcl.
Who received thc h,ucit of these r,duc-
tionS? The producer " the grain, or the
merchants, or the sytculators' certainly uli
the consumers the people ofthc east,
The rates Of transportation on sugar frnni
New York ~ thr wCst--say thicugu--WC.C
lately reduced IRON ~ cents to ~ cents per
hundred pounds, reduction OF ouc-tiith Of
one cent per pound, | will ask the large
number Of consumers of sugar in the west
whether corresponding reduction was
made In the retail, price Of sugar ON this aC-
count of the reduction in railroad freight
ann sure that this reduction only swollcd the
profits of manuiaC; urCrS ucmcrChantS; II did
not benefit the ia;ic nGmocr ct conSu:ncrS
the people
The ratcsn ON d;v good, were lately re-
duCcd from ~ Cruts " " cents per hun
drcd pounds fro New York to Chicago,
am -urc the consumer, the retail pur.
chaser Of thc-u articles, lid not get the
benefit OF thvsJ reductions, In fact Il
would bo impos',hh that lao should, ~ tho
saving in raiIrnhd freight distributed among
go many cunstinr;' Is 81 small that II could
hardly bc mcss Is,sl to each rOtyil purchaser
by = fraction If :" 1nt yet whom these sav'
ings are concentrated in the pockets OF the
merchants ana ! ihcrs they amount to
large sums fr vr IA, aud they aggregate
still larger suiNs whom taken out Of The
treasury of each - tho comparatively tevc'
number OF railr 'sd companies
. II IL the lcsi .malo business of the mer
a. - al Il.