Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1885-01-17

predict such far prices as ElLI Weld fair
profits. When the late reaction In prices
came grain went too low. A JUST equi-
iibrlum VIII follow as certain as any law
Of nature. Even within the last few
days, and since about the time the Board
ealled this conference, wheat has adj
yanced in Chicago and Kansas City
about cents a bushel, or IS cents per
100 pounds, thus enhancing the value Of
wheat now held In Kansas sc least ST.
100000, and this al auce Is firmly held
IN Western markets.
AS to the second question, namely,
what effect a reduction II gram rates on
Kansas railroads would have on the
price of wheat now held III Kan~as
There has been a great deal OF misun-
derstandiEg. All grain rates from me
various wheat growing quarters of the
world to the sections where the surplus
is consumed have been adjusted and
equahZed very closely by the prevailing
market prices, and the action, year by
year, Of the laws of trade and COM
merce, powers which no railroads can
resist If they were disposed so to do, but
which it would be for their interest not
TO resist even though they had the
power.
1t follows from this that a reduction of
rates from any great wheat section would
tend of itself to move the surplus wheat
ron That section TO the exclusion OF the
surplus from other sections. And the
result would be that the movement Of
wheat from the other sections would stop
unless corresponding reductions were
made in such sections. This principle is
so we'll understood that, as a matter Of
practice, rates could not be reduced IN
Kansas without causing similar reduc-
JiOns in adjoining States and throughout
The great West; and if rates were re-
duced on the surplus crop in the West
WORD would at once be communicated
and CORES Ondlng reductions would be
made on the surplus which IS TO be
moved from California, from Australia,
from Russia and from India. Now the
cOnsunl ption of wheat In sections
where the surplus disappears Is
at about the rate of i've and
one-half bushels per capita per annum;
and this does not increase or diminish
within any known range Of prices III
modern times. For example, If the Jates
in Kansas were even cut in two by a re-
ductiOn Of, say five cents per busLrl, the
amount it might save the English con
sumner each year IS so small compared 70
his total yearly expenses, such as rent,
fuel, clothing, groceries, etc, that he
would not eat any more bread IN cOuso-
. y
farmer or shipper or township, where
there Is not enough wheat to be shipped
to affect the market, could secretly get
an unjust discrimination 1t would benefit
such shipper; but a great wheat growing
State, whose system Of transportation Is
so intimately connected with the great
wheat growing area of the West, cannot
openly reduce rates without eHectlng re-
auctions elsewhere to an extent which
viii at once SquauZ6 movements ana
prices, and leave the producers and ship
peTs at the starting place, with a per-
manent injury to the transportation com
panies.
AS an example, the great steel rail mills
of the East are now all idle or running
short handed; but they do not press the
point of a reduction of rates on steel
rails to the West, knowing well that the
roads Of the West are using all the rails
their necessities require, and that, at the
present low price Of rails, a reduction IL
rates would not increase the demand
1t seems to have been assumed as an
axiom that the price of wheat in farm.
ers' hands advanced or declined as freight
rates on the same were changed. Moth.
ing can be farther from the truth. i
such were the case the price Of the wheat
crop of 1884 would be higher in Kansas
! than ever before, for the local rates, after
| the late reduction, are less not only ln
| Kansas than ever before, but all along
/ the way to Liverpool. The results make
/ the error of this assumption apparent
and shows that prices Of grain are af
/ fected by other considerations.
/ 1t follows that as long as Kansas farm
/ ers are furnished with reasonable rates
and such as fairly correspond with rates
/ In other States similarly situated, moth
! ing can increase the value of grain on
/ hand except an increased consumption
/ or a diminished production. The first
condition is being gradually obtained by
an increase in population Throughout
civilization, and especially In the United
( States, while the latter condition is al
most within reach, its effect even now
being felt in the markets.
EFFECT on THE ROADS.
The effect on Kansas railroads of a re
/ 1uction of grain rates at the present
/ lime would be most serious, The figures
/ how that none Of the roads are paying
dividends on Kansas earnings, those
which rely solely on Kansas bus
mess are running behind and are
! only kept up by assistance outside of the
/ State, living IN hopes of a better future
A reduction in rates would cause a re
ductiOn in expenditures for labor and
material employed in operating eX
! penses, and also a stOPpage Of that per
manent improvement of track and road
bed, which this board is aware is Of such
! value to the State and on account Of
which so much complaint has been made
in some quarters.
/ In brief, q reduction in receipts would
be followed by a cutting down Of eI
/ penses with railroads, the same as witt
other business enterprises, and where
such expenditures constitute so large
a part of the business of the
State this result would be in tht
nature of a public calamity. 1t is i'm
possible, as a matter Of practice, to pu
the rates up and down whenever thu
bull and bears put wheat or corn up o.
down in the grain markets.
Last September, spot corn sold from
| 7Oe RI Q0c r,ar brEz6al IN CbicauG We