The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1882-05-04

Iheif location, survey, patents, etc, nearly
$4,000 In excess Of all receipts Tor thelf
sales .,...
Yon must rot forget that In surveying,
patcnting, mapping, ETC., the 6po,VD uI
acres We derived from the state, we were
required 10 do the same work and incur the
satueexpensc Tor II corresponding amount
of land Tor the common school fund. And
need not remind you Of fact, wen
known 10 all, that until within
the last twelve months the common school
lands living west of the onC.hundredth
meridian and in the Pan Handle, where the
majority Of them are, could not find pur-
chasers ut any price-not even 90 cents per
acre. Since the extension of the Texas
Pacific the Texas Central, the Sunset line,
and the projection Of the Fort Worth u
Denver line, ana only since then, have
your school lands been marketable even ut
30 cents per acre; ard the railroad lands
being alternate sections are no more dcSlra.
bic, and arc worth no more in the marker.
Iapprehend it would not be your policy
50 TO legislutc, with reference to any inter
est IN your state, rs to deprive capital III
vested under and in pursuance OF the law
| from yielding to its owners Il fair annual re-
| turn yet it is most manifest that the bi!ls
now under cOnsidcra ion would place the
! Capitul invested in every railroad III
your state in precisely that category. II
has been said, however, in this connection,
| that in proportion as you diminish the car
rying rate, and especially the passenger
! fares, you will in the same proportion in
| crease the volume of business OF the lines
This is to some extent true, in popnlqnlSS
! count ioc, ana, undo, VUnulLlOnS laVOrdo'e
| to such experiments, the management OF
railroad companies would he exceedingly
| stupid to avail themselves of the opportu-
nifty to increase their earnings, without be-
I,,,i Il ttNTna Htin
has not yet dense populations. In many OF
the older states this principle has been ac
cepted by the railroads of their own accord
A moments reelection will satisfy any IN
teligent and unprciudiced mind that the
standard of freight tariffs and passenger
fare depends in a large measure, indeed,
almost entirely, upon the cost OF trans
portation and the volume OF business
TO be done. go
The cost of transportation varies with
ever changing conditions. These con'i-
tions are as changeable as the laws which
measure the cost of the production OF a
bale of cotton. The cost of engines and
cars of fuel the price OF labor, and scores
of other items too tedious to mention, com
prise the large elements in the cost OF
transportation. There are other causes,
too, which conspire to make the cost OF
transportation UGH greater upon one line
of road than upon another, and more eX-
pensive one year, on the same road, than
in another year. A ton of freight can be
moved upon one railway, because OF Its low
grades, for half the cost that it can be
moved upon another of higher grades. 1t
costs about as much to move one car OF
freight in q train as it would to move
full train, say fifteen cars, because for
either YOU must have the engine, the engl-
neer, fireman, conductor and brakeman,
and you consume about the same amount
of fuel etc. The same principle holds true
AS TO PASSENGER TRAINS.
1t cos as much to move an empty passen-
ger train from Galveston to Denison, or
from Marshall to Ell Paso, as it does q train
containing 200 passengers. And it is not
fair to take the cost of transportation of the
PENNSYLVANIA or New York Central rail-
way, or any other given line in a more pop
ulous country, and apply it to the lines IN
Texas. While Texas has 34,OOO square
miles of territory, she has scattered over
this about the same population that Geor-
gia has within limit of 5000 square
miles, and the mileage of railroads in each
at the beginning of 1881 was about the
same. Bat this subject has been so ably
treated by one of the most intelligent ana
practical railroad men in America, one
too who is not connected with any railroad
interests, that beg to extract the following
from his observations, to-wit
1.-THE first principle that should guide in
the formation of a railway tariff stands
written in the good book, the laborer is
worthy of his hire. Those furnishing
transportation for others should be REIN
bursed for at least the cost. Had not this
principle been recognized at the times the
roads were built few would now be in ex-
istence, and if it is to be repudiated now,
few will be constructed hereafter.
"What is reasonable compensation
for railway transportation service,
or what constitutes just or I'M
lust Determinations in railway
charges, IS not question that can be de,
cided a priori or that can be formulated
into general law. 1t can only be decided
in each individual case, where all the con-
ditions under which the service is per
formed, aud the elements controlling It's
cost are known. In most cases it can only
be decided correctly after the service has
been performed. 1t would be just rs rea-
sonable to predetermine the cost OF raising
\ bushel of corn, as to predetermine the
cost of carrying ton of freight; the action
of the sun and rain upon the growth of the
corn, and the quality of the yield, are no
less uncertain elements than are some of
the elements which enter into the cost of
Transportation service.
"Cosr OF TRANSPORTATION.
"The average cost of moving one ton one
mile on the Lo uisyille q Nashville railroad
(main stem, is one and seventy-eight hun
dredths cents; on the Glasgow branch,
owned and operated by the same company
and under the same management, it was
nineteen and nine-hundredths cents. What
Justice would there be in law requiring
both roads to work for the same cOmpcnsa
ton? Nor would il be more just TO classify
the railroads and enact a special tariff for
each class, as no general laws exists, or have,
as vet, been discovered, under which such
classification could be made. The various
com bination of elements Of cost are differ
ent on, and peculiar to, each road, controll-
ed. as they are, by local causes. The great
difference in cost referred to in this report,
occurs in the average cost per ton per mile
on transportation during the period oil
whole year, but there is still greater dlf-
ference in the cost Of transportation OF one
ton one mile on the same road, varying with
condition under which the service is
performed. according 10 the length
Of the whole, the quantities in which
freight is transported, and whether the
freight is carried in cars that would have to
return empty, or in special trains. L have
mentioned that. according to these and
other considerations, it may cost one-sey-
enth Of one cent only in some cases, and
seventy-three cents in other cases, 10 trans
port one ton Of freight one mile"
These are the views OF man who has
spent his life in practical railrOading, but
is now wholly disconnected with any rat
road. His opinions are worth more
than all the theories Of all the
writers who have bad no expert
ence In this intricate and complex class.
These views are fully sustained by the eI
perts employed by Massachusetts and
other states OF the union, as well as by
Great Britain. Many years have Teen con-
sumed. and large sums Of money have been
expended i'm other states In dealing with
this delicate and very difficult problem.
Elsewhere i present a comparison pc
tween the more pOpulOus and wealthy
states and your own. 10 show that because
Of the greater volume u business and
denser population, and the lower rate OF
CT " Operating railroad lines In the tor