Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-10-19
Communicated
CLEAR AND SIMPLE.
A Plain Statement about Railroad Freight
and Fare MISUNDERSTANDING Illustra-


CLEAR AND SIMPLE.
a Plain Statement about Railroad Freight
and Fare MISUNDERSTANDING Illustra-
tons Of Immutable Commercial Rules
No question is SO much talked about and
60 little understood as that of railroad freights
and fares. 1t is problem all have glanced
at, many studied, and none really solved.
because of its ever. changing Characteristic
ex'geneies OF to-day necessitating modifca-
ton OF the plans of yesterday-men who have
made its study the business of a lifetime are
not satis fed with. the results Of their labor.
LIS expansions and ampli6catious are go great
that they are astonished at the magnitude of
the Undertaking. It is a science like that of
music or sstronomy-only those who have
learned the most have a realizing sense Of
how much there is yet to learn. The men
and newspapers saying the most about it are
the cnes that least understand il. Fools rush
in where angels fear to tread. The most ex-
perienced railroad men study for weeks
sometimes for months, on the classification Of
a single article. while almost any newspaper
or stump speaker will settle the entire fare
and freight rates of whole railroad system
In few moments.
THINK OF IT!
The managers Of a railroad must, before they
can fix the charges for moving an article,
know how much of it there is likely to be
handled if it will come in large or small lots /;
its liability to damage itself or other goods !;
the care it will require the distance to be
hauled; its grades if the loaded cars will
move in one direction and return empty A.; if
it is to be stored, and the time, labor and
room required to store it the class Of cars
necessary to move it; the weight and bulk !;
the value, as a means of determining the
amount of risk Incurred together with many
other items of information, all as essential to
the protection of the shipper as for the secur-
ity of the carrier.
The popular idea of operating railroad is
to limit fare and freight rates to SO much per
mile, regardless of the distance travelled, or
the value character or quantity of the ma.
terial moved. No railroad
EVER WAS OR EvEs WILL BE
Operated on this plan. and no business in the
world can be successfully conducted on such
q basis. A railroad has transportation serv.
ice for sale, and it sells it just as telegraph
company sells reports or a haberdasher sells
tape-the more miles, words or yards you
purchase the less you pay in proportion to
the amount purchased. You can't buy ten
words of news report as cheap per word as
you can buy enc Thousand words; you can't
buy ten yards Of tape as cheap par yard as
you can buy thousand yards. nor can you
ship ton of freight one mile on railroad rs
cheap as you can move it one thousand miles.
The same business rules govern the three
transactions. The price of each article de-
creases in proportionsts ratio with the in
crease ia the amount purchased. The propo-
sition thst the greatest good to the greatest
number will be secured by hxiug the maxi
mum charges of railroad &C low figure is
q popular falacy not sustained by experience.
The well-understood and universally admit.
ted fact that high maximums insure low
minimums will be apparent to any Intelligent,
lair. minded man who gives the matter little
attention. It must be borne in
mind that rsilroading very strikingly resem-
bles all other business in fact, that
TO BE SUCCESSFUL,
The receipts must equal tie expenditures. If
a railroad charges a high rate for carrying
articles coming under the head Ct lucur'ieS, it
can afford, and res afford, to move the nCceS.
Saries of life at less cost than would be pos
sib!e If prohibited from charging q higher
figure on the frst-nemed class of goods. If
it costs fifty cents per mile to move ton of
silks, the general public is not so seriously af-
fected as If it cost ten cents per mile to movs
a ton of cotton cloth. You see, the silk Of
Mrs Shoddy, who is well able to pay, assists
in reducing the freight on the calico of Mrs.
ZONES, who has no money to throw away. A
high maximum on Mr.. Sports 2:10 trotter
enables farmer Smith to get his mules over
the road on q low minimum. If the road msy
use high maximum on AS carload of i'm
ported BRANDY it can afford to load tbs re.
turn Car with BIS wheat at low minimum.
And so on through The entire list Of articles
that make up the traffic of a railroad. The
extras" are made to pay a part of the cost
of moving the staples. Tie masses, TO whom
a low minimum is all-important. must keep
in sight the unalterable truth that If the road
is forced to haul AS brandy at three cents per
mile, it cannot afford to move BIS wheat at a
much lower rate.
THE SAME FINED BUSINESS RULES
Govern in the value classification of goods
accepted by the carrier. An ins ursnce COM
pany charges in proportion to the risk as
sumed. So does railroad. TIE insurance
company is liable for the loss sustained. So
is railroad. To kill Mr.. Sports 2:10 trotter
will cost the company more money than to
kill farmer Smiths mules. The premium
must be proportionate with the risk assumed.
The loss Of a carload of silks is followed with
a heavier bill tf damages than for the loss of
a carload of calicos. On acid high rate is
charged, yes few years ago the damage to
other goods by the breaking of csrboy OF
acid cost the Central Pacific more money
than it has ever received for moving that class
of freight.
Discrimination of various kinds is charged
against the California roads. Tney seem
simply to have adopted the rules and customs
of the oldest and most popular roads of the
East. Il is a rule of trade as old as trade
itself, that you can purchase large quantity
at a discount on the price charged for small
quantity. So with a railroad. It can aft I'd
to move Thousand tons for less per ton than
il can move ten tons
THERE ARE REASONS,