Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-03-04
Railway LEGISLATION.

1t IS somewhat surprising that the
various propositions offered in Congress
Tor supervision of railways should Ie
based on the assumption that the pro-
ducing aud shipping in terests of the
country are certainly compelled to pay
the most uGj ust aud exorbitant rates for
transportation, when notorious facts
conc,lsively refute the statement. II
We are determined to deal with the rail-
roads through Congress, we may as we'll
deal farley with them. If we must
complain of their misconduct, we ought
at the same time to admit their liberal
itv and gratuitous concessions. There
was time when railroad charges for
transportation we're excessive-so high
as to destroy the profits of shipping GER
tain kinds of grain, and seriously impair
the profits of shipping -four, even, by
rail from the West to the seaboard; but
that time is past. For the last ten years
the tendency of railroad freight rates
has been uniformly downward; the very
combinations, at whose enormous power
certain statesmen affect to shudder,
have had but one result perceptible to
producers and shippers-that of lower.
ing the rates for carriage both of freight
and passengers, increasing the speed
and accuracy of running freight trains,
and increasing the comforts and safety
of passenger travel. 1t is not necessary
to cite statistics and reports to prove
this; the proof is ell around us, in the
enormously multiplied traffic, both
passenger and freight, that seeks the
railroads. and the harmonious and &C.
30 IL <f IL h.,
ness life to railroad habits and economy.
The railways themselves are more anx-
ious to reform the admitted irregular
tiles and abuses in their management
than the public can be; they recognize
these abuses before the public does;
they are necessarily taxing the best
trained talent and intelligence in the
country to effect further corrections;
and it is an indisputable fact that the
railroads themselves have done more to
cheaper, reform and popularize railway
carriage than all the legislatures and
statesmen in the land. The railroad
problem is multiplex and hard to grasp.
Railroad men themselves admit this.
Indeed the most intelligent of them
confess they have not yet grasped, and
cannot yet comprehend, a subject which
is continually unfolding new aspects
and new surprises. It is no wonder
then that the legislative dealing with it
is clumsy and laundering in the extreme,
and that railway regulation laws have
done more harm than good to the public.
There have been three such laws enact
ed in Minnesota-one in 1871, another
in 1874, both ii which were confessed
failures, and the one now existing; and
it is admitted that the freight rates at
present charged on railroads in that
State are lower than those fixed by the
law Of 1914 striking proof that the
railroads are voluntarily doing as fast
as they can the very thing which legis.
lators are attempting to do without
knowing how.
Nearly all propositions for railway
regulation are based on the pro rata
theory-that carriage rate should be
proportionate for long and short hauls.
But what would become of western pro-
duce il this rule were 'inexorably en-
forced. A reasonable rate for carrying
grain distance of 200 miles from tho
interior OF New York and Pennsylvania
to seaport would be, say Is cents q
bushel, but this rate applied to grain
carried from Missouri and Iowa would
be 80 cents bushel. and to Kansas and
Nebraska SLIP bashel-rates which
would make the shipment of western
grain to the Atlantic and to Europe
impossible. But what laws cannot DO,
the railroads themselves accomplish
voluntarily by carrying western grain
at cheaper proportionate rates than
they charge for grain having only short
distances TO 60. This is a glazing vio-
lstion Of the pro rata principle, tits
true, but who can estimate its benefits
to western producers and shippers ?
The railroad rates on grain from st.
Louis to New York to-day December
22d), are only rs cents bushel, and
on flour 81 cents barrel, whereas by
any pro rata schedule based on short
distances, they would be at least double
these figures. Again, the distance from
Philadelphia to New York is one hun
bred miles, and yet the freight rates on
grain from st. Louis to New York is
only one cent bushel greater than the
rate from st. Louis to Philadelphia.
Does any one suppose that the roads
could put grain on the cars at one city
and carry it to the other at as low rate
as one cent bushel.
These facts j,lustrate how difficult it
is for fixed laws to deal with the practi-
cal considerations in railroad manage
ment- the difference in cost between
short hauls and long ones, the differ
ence between half car load and full
load, and the difference between carry.
ing certain kinds of bulky western
produce at very low rates and not
carrying it at sll-questions which in
the very nature of things it is impossi-
BILE for an infexible law to nationally
decide.-!St. Louis Republican.
A Chiid'S Funeral.
A pauper's funeral is sad sight.