Wichita eagle., 1889-03-31
wIcHIrA,s FRE1aHr RArEs.
The State Board OF Railroad Commissioner.
Decide thai Wichita Shall Have Mis-
souri, River Rates.

sOuf1 AScI h9IeB.
OFFICE OF THE BOARD OF RAILROAD j
COMMISSIONERS OF THE STATE OF :
KANSAS
The City of Wichita, by the Mayor, com
plainant,
The Atchison, Topeka g. Santa Fe; Mis-
souri, Pacific: Saint Louis & San Fran
cisco; Chicago, Kansas & Nebraska and
Wichita s. Western railroads, respond
ents.
This is complaint made on behalf of
the city of Wichita by its mayor, upon the
petition of numerous business men and
board of trade of that city.
La this complaint it is represented that
the rates of freight over the several lines of
railways entering Wichita are out of pro-
portion with those to and from other
points within the state; that this alleged
discrimination against the business of the
city is working serious injury to those en-
gagged in merchandising and manufactIr-
ing, and also to the serious injury of said
city and the county. It is
the citizens of Wichita to secure the estab-
lishment of manufactures and other lines
of business, and the advantages derivable
therefrom TO that section OF the state are
rendered impossible of attainment with
the present disposition of rates TO and fro
from Wichita. and that a million or more
of dollars invested within the past year in
manufacturing establishments of various
kinds, employing hundreds of people,
must be idle unless some relief can be OBJ
tanned.
The classes of rates which are specified
as unfair and needing adjustment are
rates On live stock to packing houses and
packing house products, and those on coal,
flour, lumber. merchandise, etc.
The board appointed the 18th of March,
1899, as day npon which hearing should
be had of the complaint, at the city of
Wichita, and due notice was given to the
complainant and the companies above
named, at which time, both parties being
represented. a hearing was had The sit
uation there is substantially this:
Wichita stands in the midst of great
plain of unlimited fertility, whose pro-
ductiveness has hardly begun to be felt
possessing, nevertheless, immense capaci-
ties for growth and development in pro-
duction and commerce. In all this great
region of country the natural resources
which remain to be utilized vastly exceed
those which have already been touched.
Indeed, its various advantages have not
yet been fully realized to the imagination,
its vast stores of material beneath the sur
revealed Enough is known, however, to
assure numerous population throughout
this section the necessary conditions of
future prosperity. To render these condi-
tons in the highest degree conducive to
that prosperity, and to enable the people
to reap the full measure of the advantages
nature has bestowed, it is necessary that
one or more centers of manufacturing and
trade should exist among them, TO the end
that exchange of productions and COM
moditles should be carried on under con-
ditions the least expensive and burden
some.
Great energy has already been displayed
in Wichita in the variety and extent of
manufacturing industries established, in
Guiding one packing house in operation
with a capacity of 10000 hogs and 200 cat
tie per day, and another soon to be COM
pleted with double the capacity of the one
named: extensive car works and quite
number of jobbing houses competing Tor
the trade of the adjacent territory. Tle
number enumerated in the various kinds
of manufactures and jobbing houses being
eighty. The packing industry alone, 1t
would seem, is assuming important pro-
portions. and it is of prime Importance to
the whole western portion of the state that
this should be placed, in so far as tar
and reasonable system OF rates upon live
stock and the products of those houses
will conduce to that result, upon hrm
basis BY diffusing the markets for raw
products the danger of unjust discrimina-
tions is diminished: greater economy IN
the forces of production is introduced by
bringing the market nearer the producer,
and enterprise and thrift Is promoted.
These establishments however cSu only
exist upon conditions of practical equality
with others of like character competing
for the trade of the same territory.
The conditions at present shown to ex-
list are substantially these: The freight
rates upon live stock to Wichita within
distance of 40 miles of that place, are an
average of 161@ per cent higher than the
rates upon the same for corresponding dis
tances 20 the stock yards at Kansas City,
Kan.
A very large proportion of the packing
house products Is shipped to points beyond
the state, and largely to points in the
south, to Memphis, Fort Smith, Arkansas,
and points in Texas. The rates to Mem
phis on dressed meats from Kansas City
being % cents per 100 pounds, from Wlchl-
ia 81 cents; to Fort Smith from Kansas
City, g cents, from Wichita "a cents. To
Texas points from Kansas City and Nlchl-
ia, Is cents per 100 pounds alike. IL Is
sufficient to remark as to these that, being
modify or change them. The rates to the
southeast have been forced down by in
tense competition, competition which
more diffused production of this class OF
freights will tend to moderate.
The magnitude of this business is set
forth in memorandums. which show that
the Jacob bold Packing company re-
Wichita house from February l, 1889, to
March /, 1889, exclusive of live stock, 654
car loads, or %, us, $50 pounds, OF freight,
the amount of freight charges on the
same being s31 ,96747.
The amount of product shipped out to
various points from December Is, 1855, to
March IL. 1889, little short Of three
103 car loads, or 2,5S6, 200 pounds.
Yet during this period the establishment
was operated at the rate of one-fifth its
actual capacity Its operations were thus
restricted, it is alleged, by the force of I'M
due discrimination in freight rates upon
live stock. other material and its outgoing
products
The difference in the rates upon live
stock between interior stations and those
to the great markets at terminals was
based upon the large and regular volume
Of traffic TO the latter as COM
pared with the small and irregular ship
nents for less distances between such in
terror stations The cost of the service in
the class of cases last mentioned relative
to the business done Is considerably great-
ar Cnau the cost OF moving the larger anu
more regular traffic TO the termini of the
roads. The difference in rates therefore
upon the two classes OF traffic was not
without reason and justice. But the es-
OF the packing industry upon
R large scale at Wichita, creating neces- /
sity for the constant use of the rolling
stock, and furnishing steady and heavy |
stream OF traffic changes very materially (
these conditions. For example, the pack |
Dg industry alone at that point. when the |
now approaching completion |
shall be added 20 the one already N OPP
1ration. and both are occupied 20 full ca |
will rho II /