The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-11-26

be made for carrying IL Twelve lnl1es
from Philadelphia To Media, the rate
in the latter case is fifty times as high
as in the former. [ am credible In
formed that such disproportloned
charges are or have recently been
made, and that as a general rule all
local freights, whether the haul be
long or short, are charged without re-
gard to distance the same, or nearly
the same. that would be charged on
the same weight if carried from Chi
cago to Boston. To the extent OF
this enormous discrimination against
our own people they are robbed and
plundered.
The effect of it upon the agricul-
tural interest cannot be a~scertained
exactly without an investigation,
which yoa can make, and | cannot;
but the reasonable probability is that
it takes most unjustly from seven to
ten cents per bushel from the price of
all grain grown in the State and cor
respondingly reduces the value Of all
other products.
Then look how it touches the rights
and interests of consumers in the
great centers of population. Within
a circle of one hundred and fifty
miles in diameter around Philadelphia,
provisions enough might be raised to
feed the city, but they cannot be taken
there without paying a freight on
them as heavy as it would cost to
bring them from Illinois or Wiscon-
sin. Thus an army of a million souls,
so ne of them half mad with hunger,
virtually have their base of supplies
moved back six or even hundred
miles away.
THEY AVE ANOTHER WAY OF CHEATING
THE PUBLIC.
These railroad men have another
way of cheating the public; not for
the benefit of their corporate treas
uries, but to sweU the private fortunes of
the managers. A ring of them is
formed into a separate transportation
company, with the privilege of carry
ing on their own roads at the highest
freights they car extort. By means
OF preferences and determinations,
the parent corporation forces into the
hands of its bastard offspring as much
of the business as it wants; for the
shipper who refuses to patronize the
ring, must suffer the penalty of still
higher rates as well as delay and diff
Guilty. The convention of 1878 be.
lleved that this was one of the devices
for feecing the trade of the Common
wealth which ought to be broken up,
and the people adopted that opinion.
DO you wish to continue it? If not,
why do you hesitate to carry out the
constitutional prohibition?
Perhaps, the most remarkable, Ger.
tainly the boldest thing about the dis.
examinations we complain of, is that
they are always avowediy made
against those who are least able to
endure the wrong. A heavy grain
dealer in the West who ships his mil.
lions, may get rates ninety per cent.
below those extorted from a Pennsyl-
vania farmer, with only a thousand
bushels to carry. Between all rivals
of unequal fortune, the railroad king
is yer found upon the stronger side,
and never fails to make his discrimi.
nation against the weaker concern
whose business is conducted on the
smaller scale. In my town of York,
the demand of some very rich manu-,
%facturers for lower rates has been
conceded with gratifying promptness,
but you might as well plead pity with
a wolf, as ask the monopoly to relieve
a starving laborer by taking the ex-
cessive charges off his bread and fuel.
Indeed, if the tariffs of railway charges
be founded in any rule at all it is this:
That all rates shall be high in inverse
proportion to the magnitude of the
cargo, and the distance it is carried;
for practical effect of which is to grind
the face Of the small trader that the qreat
one mag increase IN ffatness.
The only argument they make
against the equality of rates COM
manded in the Constitution is that
they cannot afford it; that they must
charge higher for short hauls and
light loads, or else their compensation
will be less than for the greater ser.
vice. If this were true, it would be
no ground of justification. But, in
point of fact, it is wholly untrue. 1t
is not more difficult or costly to carry
a hundred tons for fifty shippers, than
it would be to carry the same goods
for me-. The expenses incident to
the reception and discharge of a cargo
may be greater in proportion for short
hauls than for long ones, but you can
make that all even by allowing them
to charge ia addition to their mileage,
for loading and unloading, whether
the haul be short or long. These ter.
minal expenses which they make SO
much ado about r nothing as an ex.
cuse for the enormous excuses OF