Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-09-09
1thout considering the whole

of business thing liable to
atinued fuctuation. and impossible to
Je known in advance" That is what
Afr. Doyle thought about it in 1877. In
1882 he rejects all his former opinions,
and coolly declares that it is now the easiest
thing imaginable to do what he
formerly asserted to be impossi.
BILE. And he has complete
panacea. Everything is to be simply clasei-
fed by weight and measurement, or, as he
puts it, with. a funny affectation of pre-
cision, the new principles are to be
unit of weight, unit of measurement,
"a terminal charge and rate for risks,
published rates and no deviation"
Now Mr.. Doyles brilliant discovery has
only one serious defect that is to say, it
is impracticable. A unit of weight and
a unit of measurement have been tried on
the English railways, and the method
would not work. In fact Mr. Doyle's rail-
road remedies have the popularity of being
in every case discredited by actual ex-
pertinent. The system, on the other hand,
which obtains on the California railroads
is that which all the railroads of the world
are operated upon. The basis of "what
So the traffic will bear" is the universal
basis for freight charges, and innumerable
Railroad Commissions have failed to find
any better method, or any which produced
as satisfactory results The plan proposed
by Mr. Doyle is utterly impracticable, and
we cannot believe that he is unaware of
this. An attempt to introduce it would at
once parslyze transportation and produc-
ton together, and while it would produce
results of the most disastrous nature to the
producers generally, it would bring no cor
responding benefits to the dealers in high.
class merchandise. The fact is that the
existing system is the most advantageous
possible to the producing classes. They
obtain the benefit of low rates because the
railroads are enabled TO charge high rates
on costly goods. Should this system be
changed, and uniform rate be substi
tuted for it, ID would necessarily be
very much higher than the present
minimum, and therefore the great
body Of the producers and shippers
would experience from the new regime
nothing more satisfactory than decided
increase in their freight bills. Mr.. DOYLE
attempts TO feresLsll this criticism by deny
ing that the change he proposes would en-.
hRncs the cost of transportation, and
asserts that this is demonstrsble, We.
however, fatty deny his assertion, and
challenge him to the demonstration. We
affirm that what he proposes could have
no other effect than to raise the rates OF
freight on the bulk Of all goods trans.
ported, and that 1t would immediately rsise
the rates very considerably upon all freight
which now obtains minimum rates. In
fact MIR. Doyle's attempted exposition of
the alleged abuses of the existing system
Is a conspicuous failure, illogical, disin.
genuous and impractical! He has neither
refuted the position Of Governor Stanford,
nor has he made good his own. He has
only still further exposed his own incon-
sistency, shown how much he has forgotten
since he was a member of the Railroad
Commission, and how incompetent he is to
deal with subject which demands at once
patience, ssgacity and a rectilinear COM
prehension. There is, unfortunately,
sinister hiss TO Mr. Doyle's comprehension
which suggests the existence of chronic
mental deformity.