Sacramento daily record-union., 1883-09-26

cent, and on a pound of sugar, / cent
These were certainly not exorbitanr rates
Mr.. Fink argued. The trouble about
freight rates among consumers was due tc
Misunderstanding of the situation and &c
the fact that the middleman and retaile,
not only charged their profits to con
sumers, but pocketed what they could make
from freight rates.
Reverting again to the question of trans
! portatIon charges, Senator Pugh asked
" What does the shipper think Of them ?
" The shipper is never satisfied as Ionc
as ne has to pay anything" Mr.. Fink re.
piled with vigor, and the Senators and
auditors laughed; " the shippers endeavor
is to sell his goods for as much as he can.
and pay as little as he can, and the rail,
road company is singled out by him to dc
his work for nothing"
| a reasonable charge for freight handling
is one that is as low as by the lowest pos.
slble competitor - water transportation.
| With charge based on that standard no
dividend could be rightly called an ex.
oesslye one, no matter how large it might
be. Mr. Fink held that the Stats had no
right to limit dividends, as long as only
reasonable charges were made, unless the
State agreed, as is the case in France, to
pay to the projectors all losses incurred
while the road was being developed.
HE DENOUNCED THE REAGAN BILL,
Which has been before Congress go long. az
impJacticsble and ridiculous and a meas.
ure which could never be carried out in a
Government like this. Its enactment.
with It's c2st-iron basis of rates. would xiii
Nff rs AIo
few, and would strsngle the healthy com.
petition which Is the safeguard OF the peo.
pie. While he would approve Of some
Government legislation which would char.
ter and give power to enforce agreements
and so atop rate-cutting snd unhealthy and
dishonest competition Ia such combinations
rs now exist, be did not think the country
ready for 1t, because the people had mis-.
conception of the system. He thought
laws should be enacted TO prevent spscu.
lative men from building roads. bonding
them to their full value, and then, floating
the bonds, making to purchasers a present
of an amount of stock equal 10 their bonds
"A system perniciou5 and ruinous. He
thought it would be
GOOD THING
To pass q law compelling every RAILROAD
which establishes and publishes rate TO
stick to that rate. This would tend TO
prevent wars, be a guarantee to stock
holders In measure, and be of advantage
to shippers. Railroads never had been a
paying investment, and the laws had been
one sided regarding them in that the peo-
pie and the country had been insured a
benefit whether the stockholders derived
any or not. Both classes should be equally
and in all ways protected. Had such
combination of roads existed as there is at
present, with the law he suggested, no
monopoly like the Standard Oh Company
ever could have existed. It was an out
growth of unhealthy rivalry between the
trunk lines to get business, and the people
generally were the sufferers. Now The
company, with it's pipe lines, was free of
the railroads, its own carrier, and the
roads were the sufferers.
STATE RAILROAD COMMISSIONS,
As advisory and supervisory bodies, he
thought, we're a good thing, the only de-
feet being that their powers could not ex-
tend beyond the limits of their respective
States. He thought such Board exceed.
ed it's usefulness, however, when, as in
Georgia, Commission established tariff
and classification without regard to the
conditions existing on a particular line,
and without responsibility to stockholders
"a system that might work grievous
wrong under the sanction of the law. AL
though the country had now more means
for transportation than there was work for
the carriers to perform, he thought railroad
extension would continue for some years to
come particularly in the new and as yet
undeyeloped country.