The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1882-07-20

. .uss VI to-day. representing over i'W0'
OUOOO more than three times tue amount
or tho national debt. Affecting lhn
interests Of every industry in Che
country, pcrmea.ing every state, ana
growing In magnitude Of operation.
and power of influence every day,
| IL Is not to be wondered at that the people
Of this Union look with the deepest concern
upon its growth. What the world would do
without railways as the social and indus.
trial organism is now constituted II is din
cult to conceive. They are with us and OF
rs. Tho complications of their passenger
ana freight departments are alone u study
for the most ingenious and the broadest
brains. We mean this of any of the great
arteries of the country. How vast then
must be the due regulation and proper adj
Iiustments of several of the connecting lines
AS they have been the admittedly
great civilizers of the day in
all the past, building uf
waste places, bringing into play the benefi
cent forces of man where only the rude
beasts or the wild savage roamed at will be-
ore contributing naught to the welfare o
the human race, enriching peoples and i'm
proving towns and villages into wealthy
cities it is indeed strange that all of a sud
den there should be raised a cry of antago-
nism to them. 1t is indeed strange that
they should have become grand target fol
folly or envy to shoot at; that they should
N On uinnontlv horn md fbnra in tTIitt nj M
generalities denounced as soulless things
insatiate in avarice, internal in method
There are SO many things said of them
that at first blush and on their face
appear or are made to appear as outrages
that the general mind without the time to
enquire into the bottom facts, so as to make
assessment Of the true value, accepts the
denuncation as genuine, and truth found
ed. 1t has been analysed that the evils OF
the railroad problem for which the people
demand u remedy are: 1st-Those that
are purely OF an imaginary character;
2d-Those which are beyond the control OF
the railroad managers, but for which they
are held responsible; 3d-Those which real
| ly exist and for which remedies can and
should be provided. Mr.. REAGAN and
some of the ablest minds In the
country have been at work on
these questions for years, aided by
every facility that congress, i'll some in
stances, and states in others, could furnish.
have made confusion worse confounded.
And in the course of their inquiries they
have ascertained some facts which have as
tonished themselves. Wecould not under.
take in one short article to review all these
points and disclose the errors under which
they had been laborlng, but We propose 70
illustrate this morning only one sHbject-
matter upon which SONG persons have
harped so str9hgiyi;/ " e might designate
it as one th% comes under the head of dis
elimination of freishts. Mr.. FINK recently
pertjHeintly put the case when he said
Only a few days ago he received letter
I from firm in New York city largely en-
gagged in the stave and cooperage business,
representing that they were making efforts
to extend their business to Europe to place
these products in the English markets in
competition with those now brought to
England from Norway. The trm asked
the railroad companies for lower transpor-
tation rates than were charged upon those
articles when carried to New York for do
nestle consumption, although the rates to
New York had always been satisfac-
tory to them for their purposes, and
which were Just about the cost of
the service, but the firm alleged
that without further reduction it would be
impossible to compete in the English mar
ket as against the Norwegian products Now,
in order to encourage industry and COM
merce, and to enable the people
of America mt rate without
any profit whatever, and to SO compete
they did so carry the freight, and
the consequence was that a splendid trade
was built up for this country, and thous-
ands Of our people given employment.
Suppose now the interstate commerce bill
of Mr.. REAGAN had been in force, see what
a loss this country would
have sustained. This is only
one individual instance where that bill
would have worked wrong and a hard
ship under the illusory idea about a dis
elimination of freights as between the
states. Where was the injustice to the
people of the west or TO the merchants of
New York or whoever handled the products,
to create for them market Tor their prod
ucts? Nor was there any injustice TO the
domestic consumer, as his rates were not
thereby increased. This was new and
sudden phase Of the case that Mr.. REAGAN
had not thought Of The truth Of the bust
ness is that the laborer in New England by
one days work can pay the transportation
charges upon all the provisions from
Chicago that he consumes in one
year. Surely this is no extortion-
ate rate by the American railways.
And yet some persons are constantly cry
ing out about unjust cxactions and enor-
nous taxes imposed upon them by greedy |
monopolists. In Europe the cost Of trans !
portation is very much greater. In France,
for instance, the average cost last year TO |
move a ton Of freight was i.00 cents, and /
France has a railway commission. In Bel |
GUM the rate was l.Jo cents. In England |
Il was l.3O cents, while most Of the states /
averaged just 1 cent per ton per mile,
Texas has been loud and Outlines bitter In |
her complainings; Texas, wherein last /
year we're employed 1900 men in the con-
siruction and operation Of the roads; Texas.
that was having paid TO her people Slo.-
10000 in one year, the amount paid
for ties alone being S3,OcO.0OO. And these
same roads were erpending $1,000 per
year for immigration purposes, and were
having immense sums into our treasury to