Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1884-03-06


tas szote q KdAsGG
1t seems to be desirable, and indeed
necessary, that statement should be
-1aoe 20 you IN connection with the rail
9eaa law passed by the last Legislature
Ano IN connection with the series of acts
per1ofmed by the old Board of Railroad
NOmmisstone appointed by the Execu
I've Council of the State under the oper
@tlons CT that law.
1ne Interests of the whole community
aEAng upon the line of our road are ou1
H1oerests, and to q great extent, the in
&erests and prosperity of our railroad are
POUR interests, and this is true whether
Ehe people whom we address are engaged
an manufacturing interests, or commercial
tnterests, or in that interest which forms
The bone and sineW of our State, the agri-
cultural interest. It is to the coajoint eff
Sorts chiefly, first, of the tillers of the
Bon, OF the manufacturers the CONNER
cal men, and also to the railroad inter
est, that the present prosperity of the
whole region through which our road
runs, is indebted The people who own
the AtchisOn Road look back with pride
on the events of the last ten years. tits
. satisfaction to them to remember that
during good times and hard times they
have year by year endeavored to pursue
q system of fair and even of liberal treat
ment towards their patrons everywhere
on the line, which has tended in a large
measure to bring prosperity to the peO-
pie. 1t is matter of pride and satisfac-
ton to the owners Of the road TO look
back upon the past ten years and note
the remarkable success which has arisen
TO the road by reason of the enterprise it
has shown not only in developing the re-
sources of the State of Kansas, by build
ing over 900 miles of road in this
State, but also the enterprise which has
been shown by reaching out into the dis
tant countries beyond Kansas and thus
grasping the traffic of the Pacific coast
Old Mexico and Territories lying between.
An examination of the facts and fig
ures, which to some extent have already
been given, and which will hereafter be
more fully and thoroughly given to the
people of our line, will prove conclusive
ly to them, that the reason for the pros
perity of the AtchisoR road has not been
from unreasonable or extortionate rates
which have been collected for the trans
portation of Kansas traffic, as has unjust
10 a high extent, from the vast
traffic that it has Obatined in other
States and Territories west of Kan
sas and brought across the State, besides
opening a Western market for Kansas
products.
The facts and figures will show that
this foreign traffic that has been brought
across the State, has so increased the
business of the road as to enable it to
make a system of rates for Kansas traffic
that compares favorably with the rates
charged for the same kind of traffic in
Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, and portion
of even Illinois.
It is true that the rates charged for
transporting Kansas freight by the Atch-
ison road are not as low as the rates OF
charges on through traffic between Chicago
and Kansas City, st. Louis and Kansas
City, Chicago and New York &c. Is it
reasonable to expect this2 The local
freight of Missouri, Iowa, Wiscon-
sin, Illinois and other States is not
carried at as low rates as the through
rates between these great cities, although
the great lines in those States have twice
and three times as large traffic as ours.
Make fair comparison for yourselves of
the rates of charges being made in the
States have named for D1OVtpg the bust
ness arising IN those States and going to
and from those States with the same kind OF
traffic IN Kansas, and you will be satisfied
that our rates are, prOpOrtionably to
the business we do, lower than theirs.
People who see the excellent class of
improvements that are being made on
the line of the AtchisOn road, and who
zee how the road has grown from a line
of the second class to a road that will
rank with the best in substantial con-
struction and equipment, fail to realize
the fact that the money which accom-
plishes these results arises only in part
from the railroad earnings from Kansas
business, or in the State of Kansas. The
railroad company has made Kansas its
chief place of operation. The larger
part of the fruit of its labors and invest
fnents, it has up to this time spent in the
State of Kansas. 1t has up to this time
operated its extensive system of lines in
seven States and Territories, from the
State of Kansas. And there has grown
I'D the erroneous idea that the property
was entirely Kansas property.
The Railroad law, the Commissioners
decisions, and the discussions which
have been necessary in order to enhght-
en- people as to the facts, have been I'M
fortunate for Kansas, for the attention OF
Ehe other States and Territories must
necessarily be drawn to the fact of the
manner and extent to which Kansas has
been helped in past years above al
others.
The people who 1--we on our Ilne ano
See the large freight traffic being drawn
bV our road on its main line, anC
1hosee in the papers, the published state
ment of our earnings, which have beer
GOOD earnings in the past three or foul
years. reach the conclusion that this bust
ness and these earningsa are coming chiefly
and entirely out of Kansas. Now thes'
are the facts:
The accounts and figures for the yea
1883 are not yet made up. The frelgh
earnings of 1883 were nearly $500, 600 les
than in 1882, 80 I give you the facts TO
1882 as made up by our General Audlto
as closely as he can figure them, 1t benz
difficult to get the figures right to tn
last dollar, as the road is operated as
whole In. all the States and Territories.
In 1882 the total freight earnings of tn
Etchison system of roads in Kansas