Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1885-03-14
About Railroads.

The Commissioners plan which We
nave adopted, and which is now on tria
IN this State, is the only method which
has proved satisfactory IN any Of the
states where a regulation of freight rates
has been attempted. In Wisconsin, IN
Iowa, in Illinois, and in other States, the
plan Of passing maximum freight laws
was few years ago adopted, and in every
instance il has been abandoned after an
experience of from two to four years, and
the Commission plan has been substl-
tuted. No State which has once adopted
the Commission plan has ever abandoned
it for a maximum rate plan, while every
State which has adopted the latter plan
has been forced by complaints Of the
people and OF shippers, to return to the
Commission. The great troubles which
grow out of a maximum statutory rate
scheme cannot be fully understood or
appreciated except in actual practice
among the infinite variety Of transaction
which arises in the commerce and traffic
of a great State. 1t is indexible, and
cannot be adjusted to meet the require
ment Of commerce, of competition and
ofthe markets, nor can such a scheme
aid the development Of home industries.
All experience has shown this. On so
involved a subject as this, what better
guide than experience can be had?
At the present moment no complaint
is heard except on the one subject OF
wheat rates. 1t is at least an open ques-
ton whether a reduction of wheat rates
in Kansas would benefit the consumer
In the East and in Europe, or the pro-
Queer in this State. Be that as it may,
1t Is a fact that if we abandon our pres
ent commission plan and open wide the
doors Of statutory legislation, by estab-
lishinga maximum wheat rate law to-
dag, we viii be called on TOMORROW or
neat Igeek to pass cattle rate law, and
rates for corn, for groceries, for dry
goods, and for each of the hundreds Of
articles which are carried by railroads,
and thus the whole subject of railroads
and freight rates will again be plunged
into the politics of the State, with the re-
suit of the abandonment Of the plan Of
regulation by commission. Better at
once repeal the law Of 1888; abolish the
commission and pass a maximum rate
law to govern the entire traffic Of the
State. Why keep up the expensive ma
chinery of a commission if we are thus
to take from it the power to investigate
an act and to thus assume and exercise
its functions ourselves. It is absurd to
assume that the Commissioners have
the necessary information to act upon
some branches of the subject placed in
their hands, and that they are ignorant
upon other branches.
Another fact is of importance IN this
connection: Should the Legislature as
sumo Jurisdiction over wheat rates at
the present time, by the passage of a law
and inheXible maximum rate to take
effect for all future time, as it undOubted-
ly would, there is no doubt but that the
railroads would feel themselves forced
to protect themselves as best they could
on the carriage of this product; and
I - mol llrr
profit left to the roads would be IN car
rying the wheat through on one con-
tinuOus long haul as far as possible, TO
the terminal points in the East, rather
than to stop the wheat, as they now do
in many cases. at milling points in the
State. and then haul the -four out at
such rates as will enable the mills to
live and prosper. My investigations
convince me that the future growth
of our milling interests IN Kansas de-
pend largely upon leaving these ques-
tions to be adjusted by the Board Of
Commissioners, who have means of in
vestigating this subject which we have
not. The milling interests of Kansas
are growing very rapidly. They bid fair
to add, year by year, very largely to the
capital, to the taxes, and to the labor Of
the State. The mills do much more
than this; they add several cents per
bushel in value to the producer to every
bushel OF high grade wheat which is
raised in the State. The "patent pro-
cess" mills are all the time over bidding
the Kansas City and Eastern shippers
on all of the so-called "sOft" or high
priced wheat which the State produces.
And now, Mr.. President, one word in
regard to the Commission of our own
State. The Commission needs no defense
at my hands. The result Of the work Of
the Commission speaks for itself. If
Senators here have been led to believe
that no real good has been accomplished,
let me ask them to give their attention
for one moment to a few items that 1
have cleaned from the records and re-
ports. The first matter of importance IS
the reduction of rates, extending to nearly
every class Of freights carried. This re-
duction amounts in the aggregate to
about fifteen per cent. upon all Kansas
traffic. About fifteen per cent. OF all
freights carried over Kansas railroads Is
domestic. The rest is freight billed to
points beyond the State, Z. e, Kansas
City, st. ice, st. Louis, Chicago, and 9th
er points, or originating at foreign points
and brought into the State, and Origi-
mating on Kansas railroads beyond the
limits of the State. This eighty-fYe per
cent. of all traffic that affects the bust
ness and the people of Kansas iS inter
state commerce, and no law that the
Legislature can pass IS competent
to reach or regulate the charges
on any of it. The Commission
ers had no power o effect the rates on
this part of Kansas commerce, but they
effected reductions on this class OF
freights by negotiation with the railroad
companies. The results brought about
in this way by the commission were
equivalent to securing all domestic traffic
in Kansas carried from points in Kansas !
where it originates, to the State line, for
nothing. 1t may be stated in brief in
this way; The reductions upon all the
traffic were 10 per cent the domestic
trafic-that part which alone the law OF
the Legislature can regulate is domestic