Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-05-20
The Inter. State Commerce Bill.

transportation companies to perform
their duties to the public equitably and
impartially. Blue ruin was prophesied
when Illinois established railroad CON-
mission and passed bill commanding
the railroads 20 stop discriminating and
to act justly and now it is asserted that
the creation of National board ac-
cording to the plan proposed in the
Cullom bill, will bankrupt the West and
spread misery throughout the Missis-
sippi Valley.
Under the Illinois Railroad and Ware
house act of 1873 great progress has
been made in removing transportation
abuses. and the commentaries system
OF the State is now in immeasurably
better condition than it was dozen
years ago. Railroad managers must
credit others with short memories when
they renew their discredited, exploded
prophecies now that it is proposed to
establish National commission mod
eled after that of Illinois and the sue
cessful ones in other states. Railroad
managers who have been crying "wolf'
so long cannot expect to create pub
lie stampede because there is a prospect
of the adoption of such mild, conser-
vative, carefully-drawn measure as the
Cullom bill.
To say that the provision of the Gull
lom bill in respect to short and long
hauls will cut off shipments from the
West and give an inordinate advantage
to the Eastern and Middle States is a
gross Misrepresentation. In its present
form the bill is open to no such objec-
ton. The act does not require the same
rate per mile for short as for long
haul. but simply that the total charge
in the first instance shall not exceed
that in the latter; or, il you please. not
quite so much. 1t need only be one
hundredth of cent less for the short
haul than the long one. Read the Sec
ton again, and its flexibility and gener-
osity to the railroads must be apparent:
That it shall be unlawful for any car
rier to charge or receive any greater
compensation in the aggregate for the
transportation of passengers or of the
like class and quantity of property SUBJ
ject to the provisions of this act for a
shorter than for longer distance over
the same line, in the same direction,
and from the same original point of
departure or to the same point of ar
rival, but this shall not be construed rs
authorizing any common carrier within
the terms of this act to charge and re-
ceive as great compensation for
shorter as for longer distance; pro-
vided, however, that upon application
to the commission appointed under the
provisions of this act such common car
rier may in special cases be authorized
to charge less for longer than for shorter
distances for the transportation of pas
sengers or property; and the commits
sion may from time to time make gen.
eral rules exempting such designated
common carrier in such special cases
from the operation of this section of
this act.
1t will be seen there is no foundation
whatever for the assertion that the bill
will require local rates to be levied on
through traffic in such manner as to
double the present grain rate from
Chicago to New York. The purpose of
the short-haul clause of the Cullom bill
(now that the Camden amendment has
been rejected) is not to produce any
such results, but to wipe out the extor-
ionate practice of charging more for
shorter than for longer distance.
Take, for instance, the present charge
on the Union Pacific of 800 per car
from Omaha to Virginia City and only
$500 from Omaha to San Francisco, the
latter place being several hundred miles
farther from Omaha than the former,
besides going over a great mountain
chain. 1t is against just such outrage
Gus determinations as this that the
short-haul clause of the Cullom bill is
directed.
Instead of being required to double
up their local rates all along the line
between Chicago and New York. rail-
road managers are left free to adjust
them as the condition of the traffic may
make necessary, subject only to the
requirement that the aggregate charge
must be no greater for shorter than
longer distance. Suppose for the sake
Of the illustration that road has 100
stations, averaging ten miles apart, be-
tween New York and Chicago, and that
at the first station west of New York it
takes wheat at a three-cent rate. Com
ing west it could add tenth of a cent
for each station and the rate from Chi
cago would be only Is cents. which is
only one-third as much as a railroad
agent yesterday figured out as the
minimum that could be charged under
the bill. If the roads wanted a 25-cent
rate from Chicago to New York they
could shade it down two mills to sta
ton in the same manner as they went
east. The sliding scale might be adj
iusted according to any decimal part of
4 cent. even to hundredth. The Gull
lom bill is not cast-iron pro rata law;
it deals only with aggregate charges.
and the clause in question requires sim
ply that the sum paid for short haul
shall not DO greater than for longer.
Within this limit the roads are still left
free to adjust their charges according
to the conditions of the traffic. For in
stance, it might be argued with force
that the aggregate charge on corn
shipped TO New York should not be
much greater than to Albany, on &C.
count of the cheap water rates down
the Hudson. As there is no corn Of
fered for shipment between the two
places, the railroad could add sim ply a
charge of one-cent on carload more
to New York than to Albany and still
be within the cautiously-drawn pro-
visions of the Cullom bill.