The Mineral argus., 1885-11-19
,tock, in carrying a double deck Of

sheep that there is in carrying a car
load Of horses or cattle. And then
there was the matter of driving few
nails into car in putting i'm tempo
rary double deck, and the matter Of
the sheep upon the lower deck getting
sOiled by the droppings from above,
and lot Of other equally good ~ rea-
SONS which were very carefully pre-
sented. But we listened and listened
in vain for anyone to say that the tariff
WAS from 25 per cent. to 80 per cent.
greater when single decks were taken,
than it was when double decks were
run. No one thought Of that objection
and it was certainly y great oversight.
To such Of these gentlemen rs we
saw, We propOunded the following
questions and presented the following
view Of the matter: Is it not a law Of
transportation that the tariff is regu-
lated partly by the value of the COM
modify taken! Yes. Beef is worth
from % to 80 per cent. more in the
Chicago market than mutton? Yes.
Under your present arrangement you
take 2i,OO0 pounds of beef for 1900
cents, and 10000 pounds of mutton
for 5000 cents-Or One-sixth of cent
per pound for beef, against nearly one-
third Of cent for mutton; that s,with
mutton not worth nearly as much as
beef you charge nearly twice as much
for carrying it? Yes. II you were to
take double deck Of sheep for the
same figure that you do a car Of beef
that is. $i0-yOu would still he getting
more for transporting pound Of NUT
ton than you do for pound of beef;
there would he 10000 pounds Of the
former against $4,000 pounds Of the
latter. In fact, If you were following
out your law Of transportation you
would take our double deck of sheep
for much less than you do car
of cattle. We do not expect, if we
cannot get as much mutton into caI
as We can beef, to get a less rate per
pound in consequence. But we do
claim that it is not just to charge more
for double deck Of sheep than u
single deck Of cattle; and we do claim
that it is n monumental piece of injus-
tice-having no valid excuse-tO force
us to pay, as yOu do now, twice as
much to get mutton to market as you
do to take beef, and that too with the
former worth much less than the latter.
II is u twO-edged sword that is cutting
us both ways.
To all Of this the answer was that it
did seem as il an injustice was being
done; that, in fact. very little attention
had been given to the matter; it had
not been matter Of much importance
thus far. etc. But we might depend
upon it that justice would he done: it
might he impossible to get the matter
up again in the association this year,
but by next season it would be fixed all
right - and so on, sweet taffy, my
dear!" II fair justice cannot attain
her ends by moral suasiOn, she must
apply the lash--if she gets the chance.
October 18th is past. and our sheep. not
withstanding the Northwestern pool, are
going into Chicago upon double decks
About the time the cast-iron rule forbid
ding double decks went into effect with the
pool, new through line from st. Paul to
Chicago commenced operating. This is the
Minnesota n Northwestern, known as the
Waterloo route. which goes via Mona,
Waterloo and the Illinois Central into
Chicago. This road. not being in the pool.
is glad to get all the double decks that come
along. The Northern Pacific and Canadian
Pacific see very clearly that sheep cannot
be brought from the far west at profit to
anyone without the use of double decks
hence they are with us in our struggle to
break down this senseless opposition.
Under these circumstances II would be well
for all shippers, 81 far as practicable, to
leave the naming of the road over which
their stock shall enter Chicago, in the hands
Oi the western road over which they ship
That il. suppose you ship by the Northern
Pacific, leave the power in the hands OF the
general freight agent of that road to give
the shipments from st. Paul on to whom
he pleuses. II he can give all the sheep
coming over his road to any one of the
roads he likes going to Chicago, he will
have a powerful lever with which to tip
over the double-deck regulation.
And now We believe II is not out Of place
to mention u matter which is more or less
related to the one in hand. That Transport
tation law which fixes the tariff upon Il
basis of the value Of the commodity has
a certain degree of Justice that law which
says tax the industry according to what it
can stand" is often abusive AMI unjust
however, il is "a law. Railroad men who
look over this number of the Wool Grower
will say, "What under heaven are these
Montana men kicking about according to
their own showing they net from 50 10 to
$500 I'er head for their sheep, while Texas
and the Pacific coast sheep men are glad to
net from Sl.OO to 500 per head. To this
We have to say that the thermo meter soine-
times drops down to 80 deg below zero in
winter in Montana; we have weeks in
winter when the ground is coverei with
snow; We construct expensive buildings in
which to house our sheep: put up large
quantities OF feed to insure us from winter
loss, and employ more help at twice the
wages than does our Texas or Pacific coast
brother. Ia short. there is more money in
raising sheep in Texas at 500 per head
than ~ Montana at $500 per head. Hence,
gentlemen. when you figure what you will
ALLOW" us To get our sheep to market tor,
always bear in mind that while Montana
sheep is worth a third more than IA Texas
>leei. huil for Muul aud mn; iuu IL casts