The Aberdeen examiner. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1866-current, 1883-04-26
Report OF Committee ON Trans
DOrtafiOn
To the American Agricultural Associa.
ton, at their Meeting in New York,
February LIST, 1882.

uiSduNanlnpe SnOulu HOl lOTStt indu tht
| fundamental principle of our institu
tons is "the greatest good for the great
| est number" We should not forget that
by means of cheap through transporta-
| ton the Great West has been enabled to
| send abroad those immense quantities of
! produce which, turning the balance of
trade i'll our favor, have brought pros
perity to every part of our country. Ii
| is not claimed that ralroud officials or
managers are entirely free from the fail
ings common 90 humanity. We cannot
expect perfection in this world. What
we should consider is this; do the adyan-
tages which the railroads confer upon
| the whole country outweigh the evils
which IT is claimed they intiict upon GER
| tain localities? The moment the subie
! is viewed in this com nonsense light the
iquestion is settled AS for the real evils
connected with the railroad manage
ment, we may rest assured that compe-
tition and an enlightened Self-lnterest
striving for public patronage will ieme-
dy all grievances.
The complaints that cheap through
rates injure the farmers in the East ap-
ply as well against good wagon roads,
ferries and bridges, as against railroads
for, rs they are improved, the advanta-
ges which those close to market enjoyed
in primitive days are diilused over IA
great area. Were the roads sufficiently
bad, or railroad charges sufficiently high,
the farmers within five miles of Il city or
town might have the exclusive privilege
(monopoly) of supplying that cominuni-
ty witt, produce; as the roads were inn
proved the distance from which supplies
were brought would increase to Ten,
twenty, fifty, or one hundred miles or
more. As with wagon roads, so 1t is with
railroads, the better they are the more
they increase, the better it is for the
great mass of the people, both producers
and consumers No doubt that when
the turnpikes were first built from BOs-
ton up into Vermont and New Hump
shire, from New York ont into the inte-
rior of the State, from Philadelphia over
the mountains TO the fertile valleys be-
yond, that farmers in the immediate vi
cinity of these cities complained bitterly
| that these corporations with their turn
pixies and plankrOads had ruined them,
| had in fact made their farms of no more
value than those twenty-five or fifty
miles away.
The opening of the Erie Canal was
| thought by the farmers along the llud-
son River to be the beginning of their
ruin. The Western part of the State of
New York was looked upon mt that time,
| by those whose nCarncss or water facili-
| ties enabled them to easily reach the
| markets, with as much ieulousyas is now
| shown by the Western New York farm
ers towards the wheat growers of the
! Red River Time has cured the farmers
of their fears, and time only is needed to
demonstrate that the present fears and
! anXiGtiCs are grourd.ess.
| The increase of railway service and the
| lessening of transportation charges
which are going on all the time, are tht
most active agents III promoting the
| general welfare. Where there il general
| 10 ia
| diciously directed will fail to succeed.
| When the Genesee farmer is crowded out
| of the wheat market by the wheat grow
ers of the Far West, let HIM not waste
! his time in idle rcpining, or III futile at
| tacks upon the modern highway, which
| is mercy doing for the Western farmer
what the canal and turnplkes did for I'M
a few years ago. Let him study his sol
and climate, and raise some money
crop which is best adapted TO il, anC
which will not stand such long carriage
| There are many crops which the Western
farmer cannot compete with him in. Lei
him turn his attention to these, anC
abandon those which the march of civi
iiXatIon has rendered no longer prOtita
bic. In the end he will find that Il
healthy aud active competition between
farmers of different sections, rs well as
between railroads, shall result in each
one finding out and doing that which lie
can do best, and in the end receiving Il
greater reward for his industry than
could possibly have come had his lnJu-
diCious prayer been granted, and Gov
ernment had attempted to Tegtllntc trade
and commerce IN his favor against other
sections and against the whole body CT
| consumers.
While depreciating inconsiderate ac
ton on the part of State or General Gov
ment. this Convention does not by any
means admit that the railroads are nDoV,
the law'as to rates of transportation. /
is the judgement of this Convention tina
diirerential rates on the same articles o
freight when offered in carload lots, arr
lust against the real interests OF The
people and the railroads themselves
That until all railroads are possessed o
equal facilities for transportation, ant
have an equal amount of business Il
transact, and are managed with equa
abilities, that any arbitrary tariit lmpos
ed per mile will injure instead of bene
fitting those sections which now feel az
grieved. That any such regulating o
tariffs by State or National Auth0rlt,
would be entirely inOpcratlve as to th'
great trunk lines. or else bankrupt nine
teuths of the smaller lines in which TIN
mass of the farmers have a far create
interest than in the main arteries o
transportation. Many other condition
besides mere distance enter into AM
have an important bearing upon the COS
of transportation, and which must nee
esSarily influence transportation charges
Farmers in the East should not forge
that cheap bread means ability to pur
chase other articles of comfort and lux
ury which their proximity to the grea
mass of consumers and Il high system q
farming will enable them to suppl,
without fear of competition from til
West.
There We're in operation in the Unite
States January LIST, 1881, 81 IFS miles q
= railroads. The area excluding AliskH
of the United States Is 1854, 800 squaT
miles, or one mile of railroad to each
suIlare miles of territory. If we dedut
from the total area about 1,GOOOOO squai
miles which are considered as mint ft
cultivation, we have one mile Of ralroa
, to each ~ square miles. The Unite
States has one mile of railroad TO eaC
$40 inhabitants.
The area of NJ massachusetts, is 1900 squal
miles. She has 1898 miles of railroad, {
l one mile TO each four miles. of terrltor.
{ That is, if the railways in Massachl'set
were placed parallel to each other the
D would he but four miles apart, so tn;
every lnhabitant of the State would !
S within two miles of railroad. The co
of the railroads of Massachusetts, II
was S152, ,S43, 120. Their gross earnings f'
1880 were :26, 300 1856; their net earning
after paving cost of maintaining an
s operating, were %922l ,l02, or little ov'
81 per cent. of their cost
q The fact that the railways of Mass
chusetts have upon an average earned
/ net income Of over SIX per cent. shoN
conclusively that there are no mo
miles of railway than are needed. III
oyaraup messenger tariff is about
O cents per mile. The freight tariff upC
the long lines is about ~ cents per tt
a per mile, and upon short lines about
cents per ton per mile. These tariffs a
conclusive evidence that the eaInin
above are not obtained through CXhO
q bitaut charges either for passengers
profit.
Massachusetts has but small amOu
of wood and timber, has no coal or iro
|, and very little mineral productions,
i move upon her railroads 1t Is unique
" toned that States which possess lar
amounts of lumber and forest produ
tons, as well as coal. iron copper, al
t. other valuable minerals, require as lar
if not larger proportion of rallro
9 mileage to their area than those Whl
have but a general passenger and frelg
husiness for their railways to transact
Let MS consider the railroad facilti
. of Virginia, North Carolina and Tennt
vi see-three States which possess a larg
f. amount of mineral and forestal veal
than any other three States of the UuiC
l. also AGRICULTURAL resources second
re none. They have area and railro
mileage as Gollows:--Nirginia has Il
ht miles of railways in operation, with
TO area of rs, ,352 square miles, or one mile
railway TO twenty-one square miles
tprritory--one mile of railway GO S2s