The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1885-01-14


! consumer in our own country gets 4
i benefit of this low price For it ha
pens, under the rule adopted BIZ d
railroad companies of charging "alI q
r traffic will bear between non-competitir
: points, that while the producer gets f,
! less than the value of his goods Il
g consumer pays an exorbitant pric
I and the difference goes to the carrier
5 middlemen. The practice of high loc.
freights and difierentiai rates as again,
the small shipper has prevented a
commerce and traffic between the Or,
, ducer and consumer aud made necessar
the concentration of these products i
large cities, where the become they sui
lect of speculation in futures al
gambling by corners whereby the prie
Is run up or down at the will of larg
spectators. From some observation o
these matters | feel justified in sayin
that high local rates and Discriminate,
against retailers have caused the con
sumers in the South dependent oil
railroad transportation to pay highe
for the wheat, corn, -four, and meat o
the West than those products are sol,
for In Europe. And thus these higl
producer and consumer.
These facts give US some faint idea o
/ the immense / power which the rail
road companies OF the Union have owe
! the fortunes and welfare of that portion
Of our populatiou-about half of it
/ who are engaged in agriculture; power
50 great, so absolute. that enables thes,
companies to fix at their own will tn,
( proportions of these products which
/ shall be taken by them or left to the
producer. As the share or charge o!
the railroad companies goes up The
share of the farmer goes down, anc
rice gersa. The railroad companies thus
become the partners of every farmer il
the Union, with autocratic power to say
what shall be the separate share of each
without consultation with the other as
sociate
The partnership may well be called
leonine IN which the lions share is at the
| absolute dictatiOn of that regal beast a.
represented by the transportation com
panies Such relation between the
TWO parties is condemned by both hui
man and divine laws; vet in spite OF
this it exists here to-day all over the
the charges of the common carrier shall
be reasonable, yet in actual practice the
| reasonableness of the charge is the un-
bridled discretion of the carrier The
rule adopted by the carrier as the guide
for rates has no reference whatever to
the cost of transport or the acquisition
of a reasonable gain upon his actual
investment. The rule is to charge ''all
the traffic will bear" which means that
the charges so to that point where in
the Judgment of the carrier he would
lose money if they were still further
advanced. Hence the excessive charges
which have characterized railroad trans
portation in this country, except only
between competing points, and there
they are reasonable only where there has
been no opportunity for combination
between the carriers.
As cover, sir, for these charges the
railroad companies have invented and
pursued a system by which stocks are
watered and their debts have been
enormously increased as to their nomi-
nal amount; and railroads which under
exceptional and sometimes under dis
honest circumstances have cost greatly
more than they are now worth or would
now cost are made to earn dividends on
this dead excess.
have some statistics which will be
interesting and instructive on this
point. The total of stock and debts OF
the railroad companies in the United
States in the year 1879 was 81 4872,0l7,-
! 5I7, being at the rate of $57, ,730 pei
mile; in 1880 il was So 402, OBS, 257 or $5S,
/ 624 per mile; in 1881 it was sc, ,278, ,565,-
/ 052, or $50 1915 per mile; in 1882 it was
/ 81 ,0l6, ,750, ,I09, or 1903 per mile; in
I 1888 it was 81, ,495, AL ,33l, or S62, ,176 pei
mile
/ The Senate will observe that for these
I five years there has been a steady in,
/ crease in each year over the preceding
/ in the stock and debts of the railroad
companies until in 1888 they amounted
/ to $62, l76 per mile, sum more thar
double what the best railroad author
/ tiles estimate as the cost of roads. AnC
+ yet since 1879 the cost of construction
/ has steadily decreased, and during
i the last three years all materials,for con
struction and maintenance have beer
unusually low, and no expensive line
have in that time been built. Thi
great outrage upon the people will bt
made still more clear when we consider
I the increase in debts and liabilities Of
the year 1883 over 1882 and the mileag,
constructed during the former year
This increase was S477, ,72l ,202, and tn,
mileage constructed amounted to 6,753
the increase being at the rate of S70,72,
for each mile constructed. These fig
ufes are suggestive both of watered stool
and of fraudulent or improvident debt
to very large amount; for it is almos
certain that the cost could not fairly hav,
exceeded $4,000 per mile. The stats
tics for the three years, 1881, 1882 ant
1888, show d similar result of excessive
debts and liabilities, as compared Will
the cost of the constructed roads il
these years. In that time there weT
constructed %, ,405 miles of railroad
which at $4,000 per mile would COS
1852, 150, 600, yet the increase in capita
and debts in those years was S2,093
433, ,054, largely more than double tn
cost.
Under the rule of charging call th
traffic will bear" adopted by the rail
road companies, the people of tn
United States are made to pay profits OF
this enormous excess over the true yalu
of the roads. And here | will notice
fallacy sometimes advanced in supper
of these high charges, namely, that tn
railroad companies should have profit ol
the amount actually expended man
wears ago, when the cost of construction
greatly exceeded the present cost, not
withstanding the subsequent large an
permanent decrease in the cost; that i;
If road many years ago actually cos
$4,000 per mile, but owing to th
general depreciation and fall in cost O
construction It would now cost onl
$50 900 per mile to duplicate it, still th
company may rightfully charge the put
, lie such rates as will be fair profit o
its actual excessive cost. If this wer
! allowed, Mr.. President, it is the onl
, case in business affairs in which the pull
! lie are called on to make good depr,
, citation in the value of property. VIII
: ever has built house, or a machine, {
vessel, and whoever HIS purchased an
species of property at times when th
cost of these things was high, is boun
8 to submit to such n loss as is occasione
BY cheapening of the process of CO..
, struction, or by depreciation in II
/ price given. Nothing can be justly sal
: to be worth more than the cost of dup
! eating it.
5 If the owner of deprecated properi
t attaches to it preti,tm afectionis; if
0 win cherish the delusion that while a
n things else are subject 10 the law
a change, his property, with all its inc
$ dents and accidents, is immutable, the
can be no objection to it, so far as ne
f content to consider himself worth
r much when be is only worth half th
Y amount; but when he, having a publ
| duty to perform for a reasonable chara
s insists on his delusions as realities, i
), sis.s that the public shall buy them al
z nav for them in real money and at /
i r>.n:aa ,-nInatior, I suhrnit he Ia r.,il