Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-06-06
WISDOM AT WICHITA.

Under the above heading the Boston
Daily Advertiser of May 90 takes up
what is known out here as the Wichita
freight rate matter and discusses it after
this manner:
The broad purpose underlying the
interstate commerce act was to do away
with the many determinations in favor
of individuals and places which were
possible SO long as no legal restraint was
put upon the railroad managers. That
such determinations were habitually
practised there can be no doubt. 1t was
the general theory of railroad managers
that important and promising trade cen
tres were entitled to more favorable rates
than could be afforded to the smaller
towns, and in addition to this voluntary
discrimination the greater competition
at the larger towns would inevitably
have resulted in lower rates SO long as
there was no -and-short haul clause
in the law.
In the process Of building up the west,
the railroad managers in both of these
ways came to give the aspiring cities of
the new states such favorable rates that
the older cities began to rebel against a
system on which they themselves had at
first hourished. For instance, Wichita
being a competitive and growing place,
its merchants would get such rates that
they would control distributing trade
for many miles around. So long as
Wichita merchants purchased their sup
plies at Chicago, the latter city would
not lose; but when Wichita had SO
grown that it bought direct from pro-
a Nd t,.iI 10 70
then the latter city began to think how
to retain a grip on the vast trade Of the
west.
To protect the older cities, an agita-
ton for the mileage tariff of rates Was
instituted-for the interstate act is a
first step in that direction. How popu-
lar with all classes III the west the
movement became is a matter of
history. Today the Wichita mer-
chants are inaugurating a movement
which looks like a return to the old
practice of discrimination in favor of
certain trade centers. They have prob
ably suffered while merchants Of the
older, and larger cities, ike Caicago,
have gained. On the face, at least. the
theory underlying the discriminating
tariff which the Kansas commissioners
have ordered, seems to be directly op-
posed to the theory of equality of rates
for like distances, which underlies the
interstate act. 1t will be all but impos-
sible for the railroads to practice in &C
cordance with both theories. Time will
show whether the action of the Wichita
merchants is anything more than an $50
lated attempt to gain an advantage. If
the movement spreads, it must end in an
effort, on the part of those who were
most clamorous for its passage, to undo
certain portions of the interstate act"
Further comment on the matter thus
so succinctly put seems unnecessary.
law Wichita would have had no
occasion to ask for the inter
ference of the state board in the
matter of discrimination against her,
for the volume of her business and the
strong competition between the railroads
for the business had long since had the
effect of giving her better rates than she
even hopes for under the ruling of the
board. And we will add, bv-the-way,
that not voice was raised from any
would-be rival town against the discrim-
nation G. in Wichita's favor, because if
they knew of it-and we take it for
granted they did-being largely BEN
eficiaries from such concession TO the
wholesale trade of this city, they were
then too discreet to raise howl and
take the chances of losing the said bene-
fits themselves. But it is useless to
further discuss these things now. The
matter has in all probability at this wri-
ting been finally determined as far as
tho decision of the state board can de-
termine it, and there it must rest for the
present.