Omaha daily bee., 1889-02-17
AS TO NJ
Omaha Packers on the Protest OF the
Chicago BOARD of Trade.

past SIX month been maintained by the road:
against vigorous aud persistent opposition
from the same quarter. These rates stick be
cause the roads find IL to their interest e
classify the two commodities In Qucatiou, il
this way. on live hogs the average weight
carried per car is 1900 to 1900 pounds, ant
packed product from $1,000 to 10000 pounds
the cost of hauling to the railroad being the
same in both cases; but the risk and care OF
transporting the live hogs Is much greater
than the packed products. In case of wreck
or blockade they must suffer certain loss In
killed or crippled animals, and the loss is nj.
most total, they must also furnish transpor.
tatton both ways for an attendant for every
three cars of live stock, Besides all this, they
must at all times give preference and right
OF way to all trains carrying live stock; SO
that unqucstionably the present classified
ton is the outgrowth of the principle of self.
protection on the part OF the roads. In the
second place, the Iowa and Missouri river
packers are satisfied with this classification
and believe it to be just snd reasonable. The
inter. state commerce commission under this
condition of affairs will protect the existing
classification, Judging from the views they
expressed in their report of last December.
They say: Every railroad serves II certain
territory, ana every part of the country has
to some extent interests to be served which
are special and peculiar to it, = = 3
aud it is always possible for the railroad
manager in making rates to yield something
to the special interests of his section. = "
= = The carriers, it may be assumed, have
%terests, but they have also at the
same time consulted the local feeling and the
local interests and have commonly found that
their own interests were best subscrved in
doing so. y " 4 = They also say that uni
form Classification must be approached with
caution and that SO long as che carriers ap.
pear to be laboring towards uniform classii.
cation with reasonable diligence and in good
| fAttl. - 20 l,ts N, Nl,t, NN,t lN,,1l la 400 N.,.
aged and stimulated to continue their efforts
than that the work should be taken out of
their hands, and that they have u knowledge
OF the local interests which are represented
in existing classiiications, and their practical
experience gives them special fitness for ar.
ranging such elias siications."
Under the Interstate law the Chicago
board of trade must make its fight on the
line of uniform classification under the inter
state law, but in doing 50 they must be pre-.
pared for any burden some changes of rates
upon otter commodities which may be made
necessary. AS the commissioners say in
their report, "Cnifying the classification
means necessarily the placing of the same
article in the same class for the purpose of
rating in all sections of the country, with
the effect, rs to some of them, of lowering
the rates greatly in some sections while per-
haps advancing them III the like proportion
in others; so that in the same business,
while one dealer might be greatly benefited,
another might be ruined. And what would
effect injuriOusly a single dealer would in
like manner effect all in the same line OF
business in the same section of the country
and to some degree the country at large as
well.''
The Interstate commission are a board of
arbitration or court of equity and are judges
of the law and the fact. Now let us con-
slider the position of the Chicago board Of
trade: they say that by reason of the fact
there is a loss of % per cent IN turning the
i've hogs into the packed product, that the
,ntn D,t hn li,,n bn. glnttl Ia Npl,, ~ ,~,
cent of the packed prouuct. This argument
is misleading. They leave out of account
the fact that So to 80 per cent is shipped as
packed product by the western packers, and
when boxed the total weight is l05 per cent,
and besides that the railroads get the benefit
of hauling the materials used IN packing,
amounting to thousands of tons of coal, salt
and other commodities which must be
brought this way. In addition to this, if the
principle OF protection to new and valuable
interests in various sections is TO be observed
by the Interstate commission, consid-
GRAFTON must be taken of all the
drawbacks and disadvantages incident. The
Missouri river and Iowa packers are mt a dis
advantage to the amount additional they
must pay for cooperage, coal salt and the
higher wages for less skilled labor, etc, over
what is paid by the Chicago packers.
IL is IA well known fact that the western
railroad managers are meeting with great
difficulty in arranging IA uniform classified
ton. In fact it is reported a failure and IL is
thought it will be necessary to enact an
amendment to the Interstate law,
making it the unequivocai duty of the inter
state commissioners to arrange a uniform
classification themselves. In fact the com
missioners have shown plainly in their re-
ports that in the absence of such an amend
ment they will be slow to interfere with local
interests whore the carriers and community
are in accord; and it may be safely con-
Guided that they will not take
action on the eSparte statement of
h. fhpnnrn lnntl M tpnIn With
out first giving due notice to the western
packers. To do so would be contrary to the
purposes of their creatiOn-to act rs Il board
of arbitration or court of equity. Assume
that the demand of the Chicago board of
trade be acceded to--that the live hog rate
be made 20 per cent of the packed product;
then as the live hog rate is already low
enough the rate on the packed product must
be advanced; but in order to reach the pro,
portion demanded the rate must be advanced
to 800 cents per cWt--D per cent of which
is the present live hog rate. The logical re-
suit, then, of the appeal of the Chicago
packers to the interstate commits
sion would be an outrageous discrimination
against western packing interests, and the
practical humiliation of their business.
And again, all interests before this court
VIII be protected alike.
Most certainly it would be bad policy for
the packers to defend any other interests
than their own: or in other words to employ
counsel to defend the interests of the rail
roads as proposed by the Iowa packers. 1t
would have the appearance of a combination
of interests not Identical and give foundation
for the interference, if nothing else would, of
the board of commissioners besides giving
unnecessary prominence to the conflict
between the Missouri river and Iowa pack
erS and Chicago.
THE OMAHA PACKERS ASSOCIATION.
RESOLUTIONS
adopted by the packers of South Omaha,
February II, 1850.
Whereas, COMPLAINTS and petitions are
now pending before the inter state COM
merce commission, and others are proposed
to be filed, the purpose Of which is TO seek
Il ruling by said commission concerning the
relative rates on packing house products and
live animals, between the east and the west,
more favorable TO shipment Of live animals
than the product; and
Whereas, Such efforts are in direct con-
hict with the rights aud interests OF western
packers, and If successful wall greatly injure
them and impose unnecessary burdens on
both producers of animals and cOnsumcrs OF
products, for the benefit OF packers less IA.
vorably situated therefore be 1t
Resolved, That we firmly protest against
any proposed change of existing relative
rates, either on the packed products or live
animals lin car lots) for shipment from Mis-
souri, river points east, Us tending TO unjust
discrimination and consequent dcmoraliZa-
ton OF our interests, for the reason that the
Omaha DaClIcrs arc already at a diSadvan- |