Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-10-19

ton for its fuel, what ishall be said of roads
| having q heavy traffic, paving small wages
and getting their fuel for rs cents per ton
Between the two largest cities of Europe
LONDON and Parig-the distance is 2S3 miles.
and the rate is fraction below 81 cents per
mile. The through and local travel over this
route is immense, yet it's rate is but one-tenth
CT q cent per mile less than it is on a single
rare between San Francisco and Bakersfield.
These figures indicate chat my anti.railroad
friends could find
BROADER FIELD
For the exercise of their peculiar talent at
the East or over in Europe. Here is another
fact that must not be overlooked Some of
the Eastern roads / have mentioned are To-
Gated in States having an aversge OF $50 peo-
pie to the square mile ; our roads are operated
in State that has less than fire people 10 the
square mile. These Eastern roads have a
volume of business nearly 5000 per cent.
greater than the California roads. Here the
essential business principle comes in again.
The greater the volume Of traffic the lower
the minimum rate necessary to successful op-
GRAFTON. The enforcement of the resolution
recently adopted By the Railroad Commits
sionefs will work disaster to the short line
roads. Their limited patronage renders it
utterly impossible to operate them at a uni
form rae of four cents per mile for passen.
gers. They have no alternative but to house
their locomotives, and to stop the trains
Ii simply to destroy the property
IL VIII fffsct the long roads more
directly IN their way-station business.
and bere may say that to compel compli-
anca with the four-cent-per. mile rule st way
stations ls simply to exact service and DENY
compensation. The cost OF stopping and
starting an ordinary passenger train ia con-
slderabie-seversl dollars st least-and in
nina cases out of ten the compensation for
this service would not exceed sixty cents. If
TINS low maximum proposition is ap-
Piled 70 freights, the rule will
be reversed and railroads win be
forced to carry the luxuries at the
expense of the necessaries. The enforced
low rate on the few articles on which high
rate is now permitted will necessitate sn ad.
vance on the rate of the many staples pro-
duced or consumed by the masses on which
ths present low minimum prevails. Bear in
mind that if q railroad must not charge more
than the actual cost of service in the trans.
portstion of the luxuries of the few it cannot
charge less than
THE COST OF SERVICE
In the moving of the necessities of the MANY
II the one-twentieth part Of a railroads traffic
is rated at low maximum, the nineteen.
tWeutieths must be rated at higher mini
mum. In the manufacture, or sale, or con-
sumption Of the one twentieth not ne.twen-
tie.h Of the people are in the slightest degree
concerned, while the remaining nineteen.
| twentieths are the producers or consumers
or both Of the ninetsen-t8entisths of the
traffic on which the cast of transportation
must necessarily be raised. Thus tbs immut-
able business principles governing the trade
Of the civilized world present them
selves in the operating CT q railroad.
4 railroad depends upon the people
for its patronage. Their interests are its in
terests. Ii must encourage ard assist the
| farmer and the manufacturer, the mel chant
and the miner, the producer and the coz
sumeT. From the manufacturing ard p-o-
ducipg industries come its volume of traffic,
its business and its profits. 1t creates
business for itself by making it possible for
others to create business, aud hence il is that
the greater portion of q railroads patronage
is acquired on terms dictated by the shipper,
who says: a cen produce this article here
and sell it st profit yonder, if you will move
it at these rates" Both the business and its
patronage depend upon the acceptance of the
terms, and they are accepted. The Granger
warehouse at Port Costa, the manufactures
growing up in Oakland. and the new indus.
tries being established throughout the State,
are living illustrations of this truth.
The utility of railroad as pubic benefac-
tor is fouud not in the unsustained assertions
of vicious newspaper, but in the prosperity
of its patrons. Its use as developer, civil
izar and wealtL-creator, is learned, not from
the deceptive echoes of political campaign
thunder, but from the growing population
and the increasing values-as shown by the
tax-rols-oi the country through which it
runs. B.