Omaha daily bee., 1883-05-24
The IRON RULERS.
Of the Dry Goods
Trade Appeal in Vain to
the Railroad Pool.
Discrimination Must Exist
Against the Coarser Grades
Of Dom site Goods.
Tho Steal Clad Logic OF Fink.

Special Di'patch 10 Tns BEE.
NEW YORK, May %. -Rspresenta-
tives of the dry goods trade In this
and other cities In the east and west
appeared to day before the railroad
commission sitting here, to support
the claims made in their petition TO
the commission, In which it Is stated
that the existing classification OF do.
nestle dry goods In the western bound
traffic of the trunk lines Is unjust, in.
furious to business, and should be
changed.
In support of these charges 1t was
urged that the olassof dry goods against
which the present classification bears
most heavily are mainly cotton goods,
of coarser and cheaper grade, and It ID
especially for that class Of merchandise
that reclassifoation was asked. The
rate charged for transportation, It was
urged, was out of proportion to the
cost of transportation, and out of
proportion to the value of the goods
carried. 1t was also stated these mat
ters were first brought to the attention
of the executive committee of the trunk
lines ut the suggestion of Vice. Presi.
dent Blanchard, Of the Erie railroad,
and q petition was presented to Fink
signed by nearly all representatives of
large cotton mills Of Maine, New
Hampshire, Massachusetts, Con-
nectiout, Rhode Island, New
York and Pennsylvanis, and
nearly all representatives Of dry
goods merchants of New York,
Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore,
Chicago, st. Louis and other promi.
nent cities. In this petition it was
represented that the classification Of
this kind Of merchandise was raised
during the war because the goods be-
came so valuable as to warrant 1t;
that sheetings worth from $500 to
$500 during the war now sell for
from $40 to $50 per bale; that these
goods, az first class, arc now subject
to higher relative charge on their
value than any other textile fabric,
and are out of all proportion to the
staples of the grocery trade. The
executive committee Of the trunk
lines, 1t was commended, met this Pc
tition with absolute refusal. Upon
what principles the companies have
established their classification sohed.
ule the dry goods representatives
were unable to understand.
Poor Commissioner Albert Fink re-
piled that 1. Is necessary to charge
higher rates on certain articles in Or
der that grain and other food products
can be carried at q rate enabling the
fsrmers to ship to the east and to
Europe. This discrimination Is for
the benefit of trade In general and the
dry goods trade shares In the benefits.
Individual consumers of domestic dry
goods would benefit 30 little by q re-
duction of freight rates on that class
of goods that the difference In cost
would be inappreclable, while the re-
, duction would not benefit the trade
l by causing m increased demand for
their goods. Silks and the higher
class of dry goods bear such relative
small proportion In the bulk and
, weight to the amount Of dry goods OF
the lower classes shipped, that 1t would
be necessary to charge very high rates
on them to make up for the reduction
on the latter. The discrimination
must exist, he argued, between 9 v
eral Glasses of articles, and the rates
on the classes cannot be established on
the basis of cost of service. After
further discussion of the subject the
commission adjourned to June 18th.