New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-06-19
RAILROAD LAK-MARING.

That National policy which finds expression
in the Interstate Commerce law Is aoou' " 10
subjected TO it's first severe test. In oruer "
Judge it rightly, the people must unuers'ant
the forces which tend to defeat the purpose o,
the law, and as it happens, those VINO mosO he9u
to understand them are the very people VINO
have been most Jealous in advocacy OF regu'a-
ton nv Government. For, as THE TRIBUNE
long ago pointed out, the principles OF the IN
.erstate Act strictly applied would work more
harm 70 them than to anybody else.
This was illustrated in the decision obtained
hv Wichita. Kan, and now asked by other
would. he centres of distrb uting trade, allowing
70 those towns special or "jobbing' rates when
are not allowed to other places less distant from
a common shipping point. This decision by inc
Kansas Commission is directly at war with the
vital principles Of the Interstate Act That acb
was intended TO put an end to the 1aVorihs
rates formerly made by railroads in order to
encourape or secure traffic at special centres
of enterprise or points OF competition NO"
the peope of Wichita discover that strict APP
plication of the principle would extinguish their
hopes of becoming great distributing centre
and they therefore obtain from the state oom-
mission a ruling under which Kansas roads are
expected to favor that town, just as they used 10
favor that and other places before the Interstate
Act forbade. .u
The fight over Chicago-St Paul rates Illus
trates another effect OF the law. II it were not
reouired that local rates on each road should
he proportioned to the through rates, the trunk
lines between St. Paul and Chicago would
eagerly make special low rates IN compeu'ioh
on through traffic for the benefit OF western
farmers. But they cannot Correspondence
LOWER their local rates and still earn enough "
keep themselves alive The shorter ana newer
lines to Lake Superior, running IN cohhe' 'i W
with lake steamers, having the least local trafllc
n he sacrificed are also by reason OF shortneSs
able to make the lowest through rates. ana inc
consequence is that during the season OF
navigation they have been getting about oo
per cent of the through traffic. IL the other
lines compete at all, they must slaughter their
local rates. II they draw out OF the through
competition entirely, the loss Of that part OF tho
business must compel them to charge higher
rates on local freight.
The Chicago merchants find themselves prac-
tc,lIv shut out from the entire territory above
Milwaukee and west Of the Mississippi, under
the present working of the law, and they are
demanding separation between the trunk
lines west of Chicago and the Eastern trunk
lines, 80 that rates may be made for the bencht
Of Chicago traders irrespective of those charged
on through freight by lake. But that Separa-
ton, on the other hand, would, if effected, be
found to involve other and more serious DIM
culties. The competition with the lake routes
in summer and with the Canadian lines all the
year constitutes an obstacle to the practical ell
forement of the Interstate Act which appears
as yet insuperable.
II the principle Of the act could be rieidL!
! ennlied and enforced the Western producers
and dealers would inevitably sustain heavy
losses by reason Of higher charges for trans
portation in proportion TO their distance from
the seaboard Reduced to it's simplest terms
the complicated wrangle now in progress Is al
| attemlt to evade that consequence oil an act
| which the Western people themselves have
fastened upon the country. In that struggle
the ,airoad routes must suffer severely. in
the end their il-fortune will inevitably react
| upon the entire Western region, which depends
so largely for its growth and development upon
the increase Of facilities for transportation
|