The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-08-12
NEW FREIGHT TARIFF.

The Kansas Railroad Commissioned:
order sweeping reduction in freight
rates to be made by the railroads of the
! state:
Before the Board of Railroad Commissioners Of the
state or Kansas:
! In decision made before this board
July l, 1890, relative to a reduction of
rates to the Missouri river, it was stated
that we should embrace this opportunity
TO give effect to purpose that we had
Tor sometime been contemplating, viz,
to bring about revision and reduction
OF the rates upon the local distance tar
III. 1t is true that there was no COM
plant or petition before us asking that
this be done, but our views upon this
subject had been before freely expressed
to traffic managers connected with the
Kansas roads. Within the past year a
number of reductions have been made
from this distance tariff upon complaints
located IN various parts OF the state, and
a general revision has been deferred in
consequence of the financial stress to
which railroad companies operating in
IN this state were put by the addition,
withinthe short period of five years, of
something over 100 per cent. to its then
existing mileage, and for the further
reason that no general complaint
of the rates upon that tariff was made to
this office. 1t is estimated that about 10
per cent of all the traffic of Kansas is
carried or handled upon this tariff. Coal
and salt are carried upon special tariffs
adapted to those commodities. In sea
sons of partial or total failure of crops in
portions of the state, by reason of drOuth
or other cause, a large amount of grain
moves upon the distance tariff, but the
eXigencies of such periods have always
been met by the railroads in greatly re-
duced rates.
A large proportion of the wheat that
moves locally to mills is carried upon a
milling IN transit rate, an arrangement
which secures to this commodity, as well
as to flour into which it is manufactured
a cheaper system of transportation than
could very well be arranged upon local
rates.
The traffic from business center5 in the
state having been arranged upon tariffs
adapted to the lines of business, whether
Of whOleSaling or manufacturing, exist
ing there, the class or merchandise rates
on the distance tariff are of much less
Importance. These, however, have been
reduced upon the schedule which is here
with presented, though not to the
same degree as the rates upon wheat,
flour, corn meal, castor beans, flax seed.
millet and sorghum seed, and corn, oats,
rye, barley, bran, and mill stuff in car
loads. The distance tariff rates on these
commodities are more important and
they have been subjected to more radi
cal treatment.
After very careful consideration of
the subject and the condition affecting
both railroads and the people of this
state, we believe these rates to be both
fair and reasonable.
The local rates differ in all the states
They are adapted to the condition of
trade and the traffic existing in each
state. 1t has been asserted by several
persons who appear to possess no IN
formation on the subject, and to whom
unfortunately authentic information is
peculiarly offensive, that the conditions
existing in the states of Iowa and Kan
sas are so exactly similar that distance
tariff adopted in that state furnishes a
as TO what would be reasonable |
in this. In Iowa the local distance tariff |
is lower than it is in any other state, and |
it has been the subject of long legal con- |
fiict Whether it is just and reasonable |
as applied to Iowa we are not called upon
to express an opinion. That the |
conditions existing in the two
states are widely dissimilar is a mat |
ter of public record. The population of
Iowa is very much greater than that of !
Kansas and the freight tonnage supplied |
TO the railroads is cOrreSpondingly |
greater The territorial area of Kansas !
is nearly one-third greater than that of !