The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-09-10
RAILROADS AND RAILROAD
COMMISSIONS.
No. III.
From Scotland Neck Democrat.)

eNHAOn NOeAoV WIN OCNOSAobJ
In describing the great evils which
existed in the management of rail.
roads at the time of the passage of
the interstate commerce bill by Con
gress the interstate commerce COM
mission in their report say, amongst
other things, that personal discrimi-
nation in rates was sometimes made
under the plausible pretense of en-
couraging manufactures or other
industries. It was perhaps made a
bargain in the establishment of some
new business or In its removal from
one place to another that its proprie-
tors should have rates more favorable
than yer given to the public at large;
and this, though really a public wrong,
because tending to destroy existing
industries in proportion as it unfairly
built up others, was generally de-
Tended by the parties to it on the
ground of public benefit.
Local determinations, though not.
at first blush so unjust and offensive,
have nevertheless been exceedingly.
mischievous, and if some towns have
grown, others have withered away
under thier influence. In some sec.
tions of the country if rates were
maintained as they at the time
the interstate commerce law took
effect, it would have been practically
impossible for a new town, however
great it's natural advantages, to &C
quire the prosperity and the strength
which would make it a rival of the
towns which were especially favored
in rates; for the rates themselves
would establish for it. indefinitely a
condition of subordination and de.
pendence to "trade centers." The
tendency of railroad competition has.
been to press the rates down and still
further down at these trade centers,
while the depression at intermediate
points has been rather upon business
than upon rates. In very many cases
it has resulted in the charging of more
for a short than for a long haul on
the same line in the same direction;
and though this has been justified by
railroad managers as resulting from
the necessities of the situation, it is
not to be denied that the necessity
has in many cases been artifcially
created and without sufficient reason.
The inevitable result was that this
management of the business had q
direct and very decided tendency to
strengthen Hnjustly the strong
among the customers and to depress
the weak. These were very great
evils, and the indirect consequences
were sven greater and more pernicious
than the direct, for they tended to tx
in the public mind a belief that injus.
tice and inequality in the employment
of public agencies were not condemned
by the law, and that success In bust
ness was to be sought for in favorit-
ism rather than in legitimate compe.I
.tition and enterprise.
The evils of free transportation of
persons were not less conspicuous
than those which have been mentioned.
This, whore it extended beyond the
persons engaged in railroad service,
was commonly favoritism in a most
unjust and offensive form. Free trans
portation was given not only to secure
business but to conciliate the favor of
localities and of public bodies; and,
while it was often demanded by per.
sons who had, or claimed to have, IL