The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1883-07-04
Power and Expediency Of Railroad
Supervision"
Editor Of the Meridian Observer !.

Editor of the Meridian Observer
In that excellent journal, the State
Ledger, of last Saturday, is an editorial
under the above caption, in which the
editor says that nobody doubts the pO,Oer
of the Legislature to supervise railroads,
but the true issue is whether it is expe-
dent, and says sit is about time some
thing more practical should be written
on the subject, etc.
am glad the question of the constr
tutional power of the Legislature in this
respect is conceded; the question of
ezpedisncy is readily settled. Merely to
state the facts is to decide the question.
If the editor of the Ledger viii take the
pains to examine the freight tariff of any
railroad in the State he will find the most
unjust, outrageous, and, l might say,
iniquitous determinations against the in
terror towns; and when | say towns
mean the whole country tributary to
the towns. Take, for instance, the Mo-
bile Il Ohio Railroad. 1t will haul a
bale of cotton from Corinth to Mobile, q
distance of over three hundred and thir-
ty miles for two dollars, whilst from
Shubuta to Mobile, ninety-six miles, it
charges three dollars.
1t costs about as much to ship bushel
of corn from West Point to Meridian, as
it does to ship one from st. Louis to Me-
ridian. The result is the people here
pay from rs cents to 81 a bushel for corn,
while our neighbors up in the prairies,
/, about Macon, Columbus, Egypt, West
Point, etc, are forced to sell their corn
at from 25 to 90 cents per bushel.
| have known merchants at Enter
prise, Miss, to ship -four by the car load
from st. Louis to Mobile, and then ship
: it back to Enterprise, and save five cents
on the barrel over the regular rate from
st. Louis to Enterprise. l knew mar
who shipped sewing machine from
: New York to Clinton, via Jackson, Miss.
y and the freight from jackson to Clin
q ton, a distance of about twelve miles
!. was about the same as that from New
York to jackson.
Now, when we consider the fact sha
y EVERY RAILROAD in the State, excep
i the NatcheZ and Jackson, runs thr0ug
the State-that is, has not terminus II
the State, and that not city or town il
., the State gets the benefit of the so-callel
e. through rates, thus emptying the treas
re ures Of the whole State into the laps Q
,s Memphis, Charleston, Mobile, st. Louis
New Orleans, Chicago, Cincinnati, an
3 other cities, to the detriment of our owl
the question of expediency becomes n
s. question at all, but, on the contrary,
n becomes question of necessity.
or Mississippi, with her untold millioT
:. of wealth, and her annual product
= amounting to millions of dollars, hi
i not single city of over ten tkousan
inhabitants. And why? Because OF
ct products, such as build up cities, a
h. shipped beyond the limits of our Stat
ve and this of necessity, because the ra
he roads run beyond and discrimina
~ ~ against the interior towns
o+ Meridian and Vicksburg have be,
AZ the termini of the Vicksburg Il Meri
is. ian Railroad, but that will soon be
on longer the case. Meridian would tod
NV be a little railroad town of two or thr
of hundred inhabitants but for the conn
IL tition of the several roads running hel
roo and yet with her splendid compress
90. and her banks, and her cotton M
,ro chants, thousand of bales of cotton {
nn hauled by her very doors to cities
mr. yond, simply because the railroads q
cheaper rates. Give us fair rates to
ridian on cotton, and there is no reas
why, with our facilities, we should ]
handle one hundred and fifty thousa
on bales per annum; and estimating Il
each bale would leave here say $3.50 Il
ION would give us 1876, 900 per annum fir
nty cotton alone.
the This sum of money annually sp
here would bring other industries |
enterprises, and my friend of the Led
ons could easily imagine how long at t
rate it would take to give us popl
6 r.t ton of 10000 or 10000 souls.
ann @ But, aside from all this, upon pri
,;np pies of justice, railroad companies ou
niy T to be required to treat all sections
ad. nearly equal as possible-that is to
sire M there is no justice in making the pei
leIo. of Brandon pay twice as much per l
the (by the hundred weight freight as
cnn. people of jackson, and yet they d
'nab And not only Brandon but every !
70 70 rior railroad town in the State does
- cost | think railroads are grand inst
= I'D do tions, and am utterly opposed to
va, harsh or unjust legislation, but
4 Of must be put under legislative con
dis 1t lis not only etpedient, but necessary.
and