Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1888-03-01

longer do this, is not their fault The inter
State law has its advantages and dlsadyant-
ages; the advantage of II Is, that the people |
OF the State as whole are getting their SER
vice for less money than they ever could be-
fore. ltbears hardly on class but rs APP
prehend. you are not here to legislate for
class. The only way that know Of In
which TO form Judgment as to the reasona-
b,ness Of rate, or the reasonableness of
anything, is by comparison. In fact, there
is no fixed standard, and can be no fixed
standard, of reasoning. Ii Is simply In
every mans mind matter of comparison.
Ask the price of any article, and your mind
instantly reverts TO the price of a similar ar
ticle, or some other article under similar
circumstances, somewhere else. Take the
rates of Iowa as they stand to-day, and by
the standard of comparison, which Is the
only standard any Of us have, and tell me
wherein they are too high? Wherein they
are higher than those of the surrounding
States? What excuse exists for making the
rates in this State lower than they are In the
States north or south or east OF us?
Chairman: Is II not a fact that the local
rates are about forty per cent higher In Iowa
than in Illinois now9
Mr. Ripley: That statement Is incorrect;
that Is not the case.
Chairman: The reason ask that Quos-
ton is that have been so informed by the
Railroad Commissioners of this state, or by
one OF them.
Mr.. Ripley ! think the Railroad Com
missoners, on study of thatqueston would
modify that statement very materially. The
rates in Illinois, as published by the Com
missloners, are just about the same that they
are in Iowa. The rates in Illinois, accepted
by the railroads, taking the whole State OF
Illinois as n criterion, are certainly not TO
exceed % per cent lower than those In force
in Iowa, and the rates In the north half OF
Illinois. upon the roads that run into Iowa,
will not average TO exceed ID per cent lower,
] think, than those in the State of Iowa.
Tie comparison that has been made between
the Illinois and Iowa local rates, Is u false
one, based on false premises. II arises from
the fact that the peculiar geographical situa-
tion of one Of the two railroads In the State
OF Illinois compels them TO ignore distance,
and to charge the same rate upon local ship
ments of two hundred miles that they do on
one hundred and thirty II compels the c.,
Il. d q. to maintain the same rate upon the
distance between one hundred and thirty
five and two hundred and ten miles That
| Is easy Of illustration, IL ! had map or
| black board, but il is difficult TO do without
| Ii arises from this fact that the distance
| from New York TO nearly all points on the
| Mississippi river is substantially the samc
| II is substantially the same distance from
| New York to Dubuque as II Is TO Quincy
| Between Dubuque and Quincy, all the way
| down the river, every town Is competitive
with every other town. Dubuque Is striving
| 10 sell goods In Iowa In competition with
| Clinton Clinton with Rock Island and Ddv-
export Rock Island and Davenport are try
| ing TO sell In the same territory rs Muscatnc
| and Burlngton; Burlington Is competing
with Quincy, and Quincy Is competing with
| Kookuk. Ii is row of bricks. IL Is de-
handed by all these towns along the Missis-
sippi river that we put them on an exact
equality in their efforts 10 control the trade
in Iowa west of them, which we have en-
deavored to do. And in as much as the
goods which they sell originate mainly
in the East, mainly from the seaboard, IL
is only fair that the rate too and from the
east should be the same to all towns. The
distance Is substantially the same. IL so
happens that our line constituted part OF
the longest line between New York, Quincy,
Keokuk and Burlington. The through line
is through Peoria. Ii Is not much shorter
but some shorter. We are necessarily
| obliged to make for Burlington and keokuk
and Quincy the same rate, or our proportion
| of the same rate from New York to those
| points that Is made by the direct line. The
rate from New York or from any lntcrme-
diate point, Toledo, Buffalo, Cincinnati, or
| Springfield, Ohio, all those distributing
| points in Indiana and Ohio, Is not higher In
| Central Illinois than II Is in Burlington and
| on the Mississippi river. We are applied to
| by the merchants of Peoria and Chicago 10
| enable them to do their share of the distrb
uting In Illinois. In Sorder to do that
we have to sink absolutely some hun
dred miles of distance, that is to say, we
have to perform that extra hundred miles of
service for nothing. The result Of that Is,
that one or two roads OF Illinois, our own
and the Wabash, have been obliged TO have
tariff, a special Illinois tariff, which ignores
rates fixed by the commissioners that makes
| II much lower. The other roads of the State
have not done that. and II Is not fair to say
| that because Of the geographical position OF
| one or two roads cOmpels them to accept
| lower rates. that therefore that should be
| taken as standard of reasOnableness on
which to predicate the rates Of other States.
| If similar conditions evist In the
| State of Iowa, you would have found the
| railroads making the same rates undoubted-
| ly, precisely as they are Obliged to do in
many cases now. 1t should be borne In
mind that any rates that should be liked by
| the State, in any State. are simply the maxi
mum rates. There is no law that you could
| pass that will enable the railroads to get,
under any and all circumstances, the rates
| you publish, In fixing the just maximum,
they must be so high as not TO bear unjustly
| on any roads under any circumstances,
whereas nothing you could publish will be
| so low that under certain circumstances and
to protect certain territory and certain inter
ests, the railroads will not DO compelled TO
go below them.
Chairman: With reference TO a statement
concerning comparison of rates, perhaps |
might better say that the information that
led me to the question came from the Office
of the Commissioners of Railroads Of this
State.
Mr.. Ripley: don't know whether any of
the Commissioners are present, but think
they would modify that statement some
what. At all events, it Is matter that can
be demonstrated by figures, because the fig
ures are here and are susceptible of demon
stration very easily.
Believing then, gentlemen, that the only
standard of reasonableness that you, or we,
or any one else can set up by which to judge,
is one of comparison, we are perfectly will
ing to rest the case, so far as the freight
business is concerned, upon that compare
son: and while we admit that Iowa should
have as low rates as any State north, south
or west of IT, we do not admit that there ex-
lists good reasons, by any manner OF means,
for making the same rates for Iowa that are
In existence In Illinois. AS matter OF fact
they are nearly as low as In Illinois, and
there is certainly 10 reason.why they should
not be considerable percentage higher.
But l want to ask again what II Is In