, 1884-02-07
True Railroad Pol cy.

~ ANsNAAA OtAh ! VI
Th. inability Of Mr.. Harris, the
new president Of the Northern Pa
c..c ra-',o0d. II answer the Senate
conn it-gC'~ question. whether any
arrangement lad been entered into
,vrw.nu hisroud and the Central Pa
C.-ic wi ich prevented competition be
tween san Francisco and the east
W. s. e. ca-" yylcrciu il would not have
l.0u oily To- he wise" The Pacific
railroads and All the land grant rail
roads s'rud i'm peculiar relation to
d rJyGTU"ut. They are in thr
D.: 2 lis creatures. ard when they :,
{. tie g,yITuo ort to 9ek for an cX'on
st,r'f !;v,r tIcy ought to male :;
tI'l l;Id loTCst statomtut Of then
Gt,5s. GId Cf the reasons for claim
--g Trtl Cr TsSistanco. The uGCplo
-f rln United Statcs granted to Tho
N,Iriolu pacifc 43.OCO.0O0 acres Of
lGI3. ,t,na'Cd to he worth 500.
Irutlo, for the purpose Of develop
i7-rlc resources Of the country. md
especially Of the Pacific coast. I'll,
intention Of the law authorizing tho
construction Of this read and en-
dowiun it so richly was that by act
I've CCmrefitiCn and reduction o.
rates the settlement of the country
might lc hastcucd and its Iroduc
tiJr= stimulated But the managers
Of The Pacific railroads have refused
TO recognize their relations to the
government The public knows. i
Mr.. Harris does not. that the North
err PrcitiC has agreed not to compete
with the Central for the traffic OF
this coast. Instead of competition
10 reduce rates there has deem com
hination 10 maintain them. 1t would
have hoau far better for the Northern
road if Mr.. Harris had admitted this,
and ure, I the straightPned clrcum-
stances Of tie company as a reason
for entering into this agreement as a
temporary necessity. By declining
to answer the question he appears tC
Justify the arrangement as part o.
the policy of the company. and 50 in
tensifiCs the country to the further
indulgence of these roads by
CONGRESS.
This uolicy of combination to main
tain ligh rates of freight and pas
seugpr traffic is not only bad for tine
country. but for the railroads. In
the country south of us there are
constant complaints that the rail
roads are a hindrancP to DEVELOPMENT
It Is said for example that in Ari-
zona that while the Southern PaeItir
I -
country and provide a way for cap
italists to travel through it and see
what there is in il. and invest money
in mines. the road is actually drain
ing the peoule to death, takiug an
average of 80 par cent. of their prof
its for FREIGHT The road has charg
ed on car loads of machinery for the
mines as much rs it has cost to ship
into that country from the east bv OK
teams for the past ten years. The
transit is more rapia, and that is the
onlv advantage the railroad offers
while there is the disadvantage that
now tho railroad sends the bulk of
its freight earnings ont of the conn
try instead of spending them likr
thefeams'ers whore thev did their
work. With lihe~al freight rates
many mines could have been profit
ably. worked which have been aban-
doned. The state of Nevada. which
has some of the hest mines in the
country, has been handicapped in the
same way. Last year a gentleman
wanted to build mill in that state.
and the lowest rate he could get on
lumber was Sl25 per thousand. Ma
chinery and all kinds of supplies cost
in the same proportion, so that a ton
of ore in Nevada worth 500 is less
valuable than ton of ore which only
assays $50 in Utah. This is the rea
son why Nevada languishes. 1t has
been Disseminated against in every
way, and mercilessly fleeced by a
railroad which was built by govern
ment money for the benefit of the
public.