The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1885-02-12
Concerning Railroad Charges.

TO TIE EDITOR OF TIE JOURNAL: There have
been bills introduced and large petitions forwarded
to the Legislature of this State asking the enact
ment OF laws to protect interior towns having no
competing facilities for freighting or travel, as
well towns accessible by water, from exhorbi
tant railroad charges, and unjust and injurious
discrimination. This matter is of vital interest to
the citizens of Maine since it comes home to the
door of every man who consumes a barrel of flour
OF bushel of corn; i'll short, any article or com
modify which from convenience or necessity is
shipped these roads, and the length and char
acler OF the above named petitions show that they
are fully alive to its importance. They are signed
by many hundreds of the business men of the
State, and ask that railroad be allowed to charge
more for carrying freight or passengers a short
distance than a long one. The demand for this
legislation was occasioned by the fact that railroad
companies have been in the habit of charging
double, and often more, for the transportation of
freight to Intermediate stations, than to a terminus
OF their road For instance, the freight charges
car load of corn, -four, or other commodity com
ing from the West to billing points in Maine a dis
lance OF fifteen hundred miles, are less than one
hundred dollars. Thence to Belfast Bangor the
freight is fifteen dollars, but if stopping at Water
Bangor
charges are from thirty to forty dollars. The ex-
cess over fifteen dollars, of course comes directly
out of the pockets of the consumers in the interior
towns who, unless the matter shall be regulated by
legislation, always will be, as they now are power
less to help themselves.
The injurious effects of this unjustifiabe dis
elimination are greater still in the of freight
carried out of the State This may be well illus
trated by case familiar to most of your readers.
1t is well known fact that the Maine Central
charges almost as much for hauling loaded car
from Brooks to Belfast as for hauling it from
Brooks to Boston. The necessary result of this, of
course, is thai all the produce shipped to Boston
along the line of the b. Il NJ. road, goes the entire
distance by rail instead of going by rail to Belfast
and thence to Boston by water. Here, it will be
seen that discrimination not only touches the
pockets of the producers in the interior towns but
that it is more detrimental to the interests of navi-
CATION and, through navigation, materially Injuries
the business interests of Belfast.
a bill presented by b. II. Noble of Poland
prohibiting railroad companies from charging
more than three cents per mile for carrying pas
sengers over their roads Mr.. Noble says that rail
road companies sell mileage tickets for a distance
of twenty five hundred miles, at two and one fourth
cents per mile, and for distance of five hundred
miles, for fifteen dollars or three cents per mile
and argues that the "fellow" who does not happen
to have the fifteen dollars ought to ride as cheaply
as his more fortunate neighbor He claims that
railroad companies would not lose any of their
revenue because the patronage would increase
largely with the cheap rates. A hearing on the
above matter was had before the Railroad commit.
tee Feby. 4th. Col. VIM. II. Fogler appeared for
the petitioners and Josiah II. Drummond for the
II. X. companies Mr.. Fogler said in his argument,
among other things, that "either the railroad com
pany makes profit in carrying a car Of corn from
Portland to Bangor for fifteen dollars, it makes
loss. If II makes profit, then the charge of
fortytwo dollars for carrying similar car from
Portland to i,urnham is exhorbitant and oppres-
sive. IT, on the other hand, the company for the
sake of competing with water navigation, suffers
loss it is unjust to make good its loss by excessive
| charges at the interior stations"
The committee on Railroads will give the matter
a further hearing Feby. 18th. &c. LIBBY