Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-07-29

in doing so each will propose high rates for
articles of which ne imports very little,
and at the same time secure low rates on
something which the other sells great
deal of. Then they exchange goods, and
so defeat the contract. Another method
has been for shipper by rail to arrange
with shipper by sea on the same princi.
pies, and thus to secure all the advantages
of all-rail carriage for two firms, at the ex.
pense of one contract. Of course, when
shippers are playing these and similar
tricks it often happens that somebody gets
hurt, and then there is resentment and
cutlery. But nothing can be more untrue
than the assertion that there is any coer-
cion or oppression about the system. The
shippers make special contracts because
they see that they can make money by it.
The open rates are free to every body, and
they are the same for all. Every merchant
knows what they are, and if he prefers
a contract it is because he believes that it
will give him greater advantages than she
open rates.
As MIR. Stubs points out, the contract
SYSTEM does uos suit the heavy importers.
What they want is a guarantee of tonnage,
because under that system they would
have a perpetual advantage over the small
shippers. The company, however, acting
most clearly and indisputably in the inter
est of the small shippers, has refused to
give the large importers this kind OF mo-
nopoly, and has thrown open the contract
system to the whole public, putting it
upon the simple basis Of contract to DO
all the transportation for each individual
who enters into the agreement. Those who
enter this contract do go voluntarily, and
for no other reason thsn because they see
their profit in it. If, having made it, any
of them undertake to evade it subse-
quently, the company must protect itself,
and has perfect right to do SO, for, as
Mr.. Stubs observes, this is the sole con.
sideration to the railroad in the whole ar
rangement. frequently the advantage is
all on the side of the shipper, as, for in
stance, where man is really engaged in the
importation of but one or two articles. In
such case he can afford to have all the
rest of the line OF his business marked up,
but the high rates do not affect him, be.
cause he has low rates on the only goods ne
really deals in. We could mention many
specific cases of this kind, in which it is
perfectly clear that the railroad actually
loses money by making the contract.
The idea that the shippers are all rnsophis.
ticated individuals, who are wofully op-
pressed by the railroad, and ground down
under its tyraunical regulations, is alto
gether too diaphanous. The truth is that
the company has enough to do to hold It's
own against these very innocent persons.
The Anti. Monopoly howlers, however,
have undertaken to hedge on this sub
ject. They have been very careful to
assert that it was useless to try to get at
the truth through the shippers, for the rea-
son that the latter are afraid to speak out.
This is rather an ingenious method of ex-
planning in advance the absolute dearth of
evidence in support of the charges. The
truth is that the shippers do not "speak
out because they have nothing to divulge.
They are business men, and they know very
well that when they make these contracts
it is for their own advantage. The fact
that the number OF contracts is increasing
continually shows that the merchants arenot
afraid of them. There is no mystery about
the business. The railroad makes the con.
tracts in order to secure more and stesdier
traffic. The merchant makes them because
it pays him to do so. Nobody is cserced,
nobody is oppressed, nobody is cheated,
Mr.. Doyle and Mr.. Gibbs. the Examiner
and the Chronicle, to the contrary notwith-
standing. The contract system is BASED
upon ordinary and familiar business princi-
pies. Anybody may take it or leave it, as
they choose. The rational presumption of
course is and must be that all who take it
believe that it is to their advantage to do
80. The fact that nearly all who have
taken it have continued it justifes the
further presumption that these anticipations
of advantage have not been disappointed.
The fact is that a more utterly fraudulent
and preposterous howl was never raised
than this about the contract system, and
that the demagogues must have been terri
bly, in need Of cause of offense against the
railroad when they invented it.