Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-02-26
SOME PUBLIC QUESTIONS NATIONALLY
CONSIDERED.

GllDerb Il. AAuSluSi III ZIG Op~tUI oIs-
ence Monthly for March, considers, in the
leading article of the number, the growth
and effect of railway consolidation, and
especially the railroad question in Califor.
MA. He points out that the charge of the
politician that the railroads are operated
against the interest of communities is On
error. He makes clear the distinction be.
tween legal and natural monopolies the
one being absolute by law, the other under
the free and equal operation of the laws of
nature and the land, because they monopo-
lie business by doing it more expeditiously
and satisfactorily than others can. So far
as they fail in this, they are not monopo-
lies. There should not, therefore, he holds.
be associated with the idea of natural
monopolies the old hatred against legal
monopolies. Combination and consolida-
ton being the spirit of monopoly, the pub
| lie assumes that it is therefore opposed to
the common good but they contain the
actual substance of natural monopoly,
which is such from its merits and benefits,
and not from privilege. He then points
out that consultations produce RESPONSE
bilty, uniformity of service, economy in
operations, and the minimum of tariffs,
and these are the essential require
ments of the public good, and
these the public constantly receive from
great corporations. These lines indicate
but the opening argument of one of the
abIest of essays on the absorbing railroad
question. Mr.. Lansing concludes that
there is an increasing number of in
curing minds who have come to look with
distrust upon the statements of politicians
and the opinions of the unthinking press,
and that popular Judgment which ia based
upon transformation furnished by these.
He holds that the railroad, heretofore gen.
orally untrammeled by restrictive legisla-
ton, has been productive of more benef-
cent results to the country at large than
the most sanguine enthusiast of a genera
ton ago would have dreamed. As hui
man institution it has contained also the
faults common to humanity. These ex-
perience and interest will in time reduce to
a minimum. 1t is popular error that
railroad companies raise and lower rates at
pleasure The truth is "they are a6so.
luteIy controlled By those general economic
lars, through the operation of aohich every
one is seeking his oaCn good under terms as
nearly equal as is allo,ged By nature itself;
and their interests can only be adoanced By
advancing also tile interests of their patrons"
1t is a popular fallacy that as consolida-
ton of roads has progressed rates have in
creased, but precisely the contrary is the
fact. In 1882 the average freight rate on
the Central Pacific Railroad was 2 96, but
in 1851 fell to ZIG, or eight-tenths of a
cent a ton per mile on the average. This
was a reduction on local traffic, generally
supposed to be beyond the effects of COM
petition, for the increase of local tonnage
in that period was DIG per cent, while the
increase Of receipts from that source was
but 1872 per cent. Had the average rate of
1872 been maintained on the freight traffic
| for 1881, the increased receipts would have
been So, Soc, 2S7 mora in 1881 than they
were. This, then, represents an actual
saving in that year alone TO the
producers and produce shippers and the
commerce of this coast, of an amount equal
to that sum. Had the old rate been main-
tanned, the dividends of the company would
have been in 1881 l6 per cent. instead of 6
per cent. 1t is charged by the "anti.mo.
nopoly press of this State, SO called, that
the Central Pacific rates are higher, to an
unreasonable degree, than the charges of
Eastern trunk lines. Let us see what is
the fact. The lowest average rates in the
United States are on the lines between the
Atlantic and the West. Now the revenue
depends on the thing it is charged upon,
more than on the rate charged. In 1880 the
average rate on those Eastern roads was IS.
100 of cent per mile; on the Central Pacific
Railroad it was 2 54-l00 cents. But the
Eastern roads hauled per mile l, 9S9, S5l
tons, while the Central Pacific Railroad
hauled but 229, $50 tons. The average rate
at the East was therefore two and half
times less, but the tonnage was eight
and half times greater. To haul this
tonnage the Eastern roads, in a ma.
iority of cases, had to operate but 0l0
] miles, while the Central Pacific Railroad
operated 9, 467 miles-the latter operated
in country with an average population of
two to four to the square mile, while the
Eastern roads operated where there was an
average population of fifty to eighty to the
square mile. These natural conditions, it
is therefore seen, have been greatly over
come by a system of consolidation, for
under one management and system that
can be accomplished, to the mutual inter-
est of transporter and producer, not posi-
bic to number of small lines of limited
capacity, and necessarily increased risk to
limited capital invested. This is shown in
the case of Massachusetts,, where there
are sixty-four companies. Compared with
California with one system, practically,
the mileage operated is found to be about
the same. The Massachusetts companies
carry thirteen per cent. more Of tons, and
the earnings are nineteen per cent. more
than in California and yet the rates in
Massachusetts (average) are 1910 of
cent higher than on the Central Pacific
Railroad system, and this though the
through traffic on the Bay State roads was
IS per cent, while on the Central Pacific
Railroad it was but 80 per cent. of the
whoIe-it being well understood, Of course,
that the lowest rates are to be ascertained
from the through traffic, on which, invari-
ably, they prevail.
TREE PLANTING
The subject of tree planting is now en-
gsging the attention of Minnesota, Dakota
and the West generally. While our breth.