St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-02-19

this freight s., 687 ,934.96. At the rate of
the previous year they would have received
So, 500, 977. r. or 81, 912, 042. Is more than
they actually received. For the year 1884
see commissioners report, page 275-
the Manitoba road carried $40, 347, S79 tons
one mile for this they received, at the rate
of l. 70 cents per ton per mile, Sc, ia, 1881.
At the rate of 1882, when the legislature
was last in session, this business would
have amounted to So, $50, 959.59. They
received 50, 455, 50009 less than the rates
of 1882. For the two years intervening
since the legislature has been in session,
the commissioners report shows that the
Manitoba road has received 81, 367, 1922
less from the people who used its trans
portation than it would have received at
the rate enforced two years ago. This
statement ends on the thirtieth of June,
1884 since that time the Manitoba road
has made a still further reduction. These
reductiOnsin rates have been brought about
owing principally to an Increase in the tom
mage carried. About the fifteenth of August
urged upon our stockholdersth that the prices
of grain, owing to an unusually large crop
throughout the world, were lower than ever
before known, and that the interests of the
so identical that l believed it the part of
wisdom for the railroad at this time to so
far divide the burden incident to low prices
with the farmers along the line of its road,
that we should make a reduction of ten
per cent on the rate of grain from all sta
tions on our railroad. To do this it was
necessary to reduce our dividend, and our
stockholders replied that our rates ON grain
were already lower than those of any
railroad in the Northwest. To this
answered that the prosperity of the
farmer was necessary to our prosperity,
and that our work of peopling
the new country served by our lines would
be greatly retarded unless the farmers were
able to make fair living. We did not want
those whom we had induced to come to
Minnesota and settle on our lands to write
back that they could not support them
selves or families in Minnesota. Our board
at that time approved the tariff making a
reduction of ten per cent on the grain rates
from every station on the road. We did
not wait until the first of January until the
legislature was about to convene; we did
not wait until three quarters of the grain
had moved out of the State, but before one
bushel had moved and so that every
man raising grain the past year should
get the benefit of such action, on the
twentieth of August we issued this tariff.
This reduction of ten per cent on the gross
rate is equal to twenty per cent on the net
rate, because our expenses have not been
in anywise reduced And to show you
what this Production means, l have had
figures prepared in our office, and these
figures are open to your committee at any
time for veriticatiOn, representing the
amount of freight hauled during the month
of November Our heaviest business was
in October, and November might be taken
as an average month. During the month
of November, last year. we hauled 4S, 065,-
312 tons one mile. We received for this
the rate of Las cents per ton per mile,
against an average rate last year of 1.79
cents per ton per mile; the amount col
lected was Sill, 1861. At the rate of the
previous year, 80 cents, we would have
received 1897 ,2734S The reduction for
the month of November, as compared with
the rate for 1883, amounts to 1926, 906.S7.
This reduction has been brought about not
by the railroad commissioner, not by any
compulsion on the part of the legislature,
because there was no legislature in session,
but from the natural laws that governed
the situation the interest of the railroad
and the interest of the people along its
lines. These figures are official, and as |
shall deal somewhat largely in figures this
evening, all the figures give / am prepared
to show that they are correct in form and
substance: that they are absolutely true
and your committee must satisfy your
selves as to their truth or falsity and if
they are true, and if they teach you that
your views and the views of the public are
wrong as to the real results of railroad
management in Minnesota, it is only the
part of fairness that you will modify your
action to meet such views.
! want to compare the rates in effect on
the " Manitoba" road with the rates for
same distances at points in other states.
The following table shows the rates of two
leading lines from ST. Louis west to Kansas
and of the Union Pacific Railroad from
Council Bluffs west to Kansas and Ne
braska: