Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1885-02-06

| We dott expect the Dispatch to agree with u.s.
seeing that the lowest western rats is as good a
| thing for Richmond as it is a ruinous thing fol
| STANDARDIZATION Vindicator
The VINDIcAToR unintentionally does us in.
| justice. We have neither advocated nor op.
/ posed the passage of a proper bill to regulate
railroad charges We have seen no bill which
we regarded as practicable. We doubt that
any bill can be passed by Congress which will
accomplish the objects Mr.. Reagan has in
view His bill is condemned in the Senate by
Governor Brown, Mr.. Bayard, Mr. Pngh, and
other prominent Senators. We do not even
desire to discuss the general subject. We will
say here only this: That as We could not af-
| ford to publish the large Weekly Dispatch for
| one dollar year if it were not for the fact
that we publish the Daily Dispatch, and YET
readers of the daily edition are in no measure
charged with the cost of tho weekly edition,
SO the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company
may for aught we know be able to carry
freight from Staunton to Richmond as cheaply
as it now does only because it can by offering
cheap rates to western shippers draw large
quantities of freight from the States west of
| Virginia In other words, it may be that the
company is compelled to furnish very low
rates to western shippers or else charge Vir-
ginia shippers even more thar now.-Rich-
maosd Dispatch.
While it may be doubtful that any bill
can be passed by congress, as the Dispatch
says, which will accomplish the objects
Mr.. Reagan and the people have in view
our idea is to give the people the benefit
thing. No one denies that great wrongs
do result to localities from the long and
| short haul plan now followed by railroad
corporations, and from the rebates given;
these wrongs are matters of facts and
| fgures-the smallest village merchant and
| the ten acre farmer can tell them over to
you by heat. This being the case, We are
in favor of doing something in preference
to lying prone on our faces and doing
nothing. If we cannot do the exact right
thing on this intricate subject, the coun-
try wont be ruined nor will the railroads.
| 1t but wears the patience of the people out
when we tell them that they may be suf-
fering good deal from corporations
| chartered under the law. but that suffer-
ing cannot be touched by legislation just
now; and when their patience is gone they
| will send men to congress to pass laws
| without rhyme or reason to effect their
| object, making it all the worse for the
| corporations IN the end. We don't think
| the daily and weekly edition illustration of
| our contemporary fully covers the ground
| the railIoad corporations run cheap
daily through rate and makes the little
local weekly pay for it-instead of doing
business on the Dispatch plan. (There is a
| good advertisement for your weekly y
| The through rates by competition are al.
| ready low and the local rates have to fill the
gap. If the Dispatch will look at the testi-
mony given before the Senate Committee
on Education and Labor on Sept. 18th,
1888, it will find the testimony of Albert
Fink, one of the ablest railroad men in
this country, and who is at the head of a
bureau IA combination] established by a
number of railroads. And in his eXamina-
ton this occurs:
G. AS to this association of which you are
the head, what are the principal westerly
points and connections of your roads, and
what are their principal points of outlet on
the Atlantic seaboard?
A. The principal points west are Chicago,
Saint Louis. Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Toledo,
Detroit, Cleveland, and other intermediate
points. The eastern outlet is the Atlantic
coast from Portland, you may say, to Balti-
more, including Boston, New York, Philadel-
phia, and Baltimore.
@. Would it include the outlet of the Ches-
apeake and Ohio.
A. They have an outlet here at these points,
also one at Newport News Va, but are not
part of the association, although they work
together with the association as far as tariffs
are concerned.
@. They abb e by the regulations and de-
cisions without being actually bound by
them?
A. Yes, they agree to them, but they need
not abide by them if they do not choose to do
SO.
@. So far as actual results are concerned
they are practically part of the association?J
A. Practically, yes.
A. We have to draw line between legiti-
mate competition, that is the life of trade
and competition that results simply in the
ruin of the parties that are engaged in the
competition The object of these associations,
besides that of giving uniform tariffs, and ar
ranging through tariffs for the whole country,
is to prevent ruinous competition. I think
the competition between railroads is some
what different from the competition in other
business. Competition between private par
ties soon comes to an end when prices get SO
low that they can not carry on any business
A