Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-06-26

the rate per mile; but the short haul Is
not given an exorbitant rate in order
that the long haul may have all the ben
eft of the lower rate. The principle in
volved in the long and short haul propo-
sitIon is there given just application
throughout the entire scale of distances.
Thus, where the rate is six cents for FIVE
miles it is thirteen cents for fifty miles,
eighteen cents for 100 miles and thirty
six cents for 400 miles. Joint rates on
through shipments over connecting lines
are reekoned on the basis of continuous
mileage from point of shipment TO desti-
nation; but the commission, on special
application, will allow JOINT rates such as
will protect the shipper against being
charged separate full rates over each
road, and yet allow the several roads a
fair difference to cover the exchange and
handling the freight.
Connecting roads under the same con-
troll are reckoned as one and the same
road, and the mileage, IN estimating the
rate, is taken as continuous. The COM
mission having discovered that several
distinct but conn Getting roads were really
under the same control, lately announced
that the rule above would be applied to
them, unless they could show cause TO
the contrary; and as I came through At
lanta, the officers of these roads were
rallying there quite lively to meet the
emergency. Rallying every few years
to confuse and obstruct for short time
a legislature already embarrassed by the
multitude of its own counsel and the
amount of its other business, is perhaps
quite different thi e from rally every
few weeks to deal with a commission
well posted in the hidden things pertain
ing to railroad management.
There is much controversy as to how
freight rates IN Georgia compare with
those in Texas. and it is easy for an ex-
pert i'll such matters to confuse the sub
ject, because of differences between the
two states in the classification of articles,
and in the rates for given distances.
Indeed, it is almost impossible for any
one, because of these differences running
through a multitude of details and other
complications, to make a relative COM
parison that will be exact as applied to
the entire subject. By taking at ran
dom several specific articles for COMPARE
son, we may arrive at an approximate
estimate of the general average of
difference. Thus the rate of the
Texas and Pacific road on a
barrel of -four from Baird to Cisco,
from Atlanta to Duluth, same distance,
it is sixteen and one-half cents; from
Baird to Fort Worth, l42 miles, it is
sixty-five cents; from Savannah to
Oconee, l46 miles, it is thirty cents. On
box of books weighing 100 pounds,
first-class freight in each state, the rate
from Baird 10 Cisco is thirty cents; from
Atlanta to Duluth it is tweuty-four cents,
including the 10 per cent. additional on
the standard tariff allowed by the COM
mission to the Richmond and DanYille
road on this class of freight. On q car
load of cattle the rate from Baird to
Cisco is $685. from Atlanta to Duluth it is
SIS. These examples show, apprOxl-
mately, that the Texas local or short
rates are nearly double those of Georgia.
On long distances the difference is not so
great; but that the people of Texas
should be charged SO oppressively on
their local business, while shippers in
Kansas, Missouri and other states are
gwen q market here for their products at
far lower rates, Is an injustice that af-
fects our interests most disastrously.
The Texas farmer with surplus of corn
or wheat, gets it to a market only two or
three counties distant at a ruinous rate,
and there meets competition OF Kansas
and Missouri corn aud -four, hauled by
the TO DIS ten times as far for the same
freight charges. So, the Texas manu-
facturer pays about as much to reach
home market in Texas as the Cincinnati
manufacturer pays TO reach the
same Texas point. Georgia IS poor
in. soil and cursed with q large
negro population, yet her general pros
perity and the growth OF her manufact-
l.
of Texas, Illustrate the different effects
resulting from the two policies as to local
rates. The commission and the rates
fixed by it seemed to have worked well
not only for the people of Georgia, but
also for the roads there. and to have
stimulated them to an extent of railroad
building never reached before. That
the roads do not want a commission does
not necessarily prove that il would not
really benefit them, any more than the
man IS objection to being healed OF his
twenty years. itch proved that cure
would not have benefited him.
1t will be refreshing news to the enc
mics and defamers of Texas to learn |
from any Texan, even though it be one |
blinded by desire for Office, that her |
conditions are less favorable than those |
of any South Atlantic, negroized state,
with its red clay hills, its worn out |
plantations and its sandy pine barrens. |
Texas, with a far richer soil and more |
snterprising population than Georgia,
could not lag behind in any respect If |
given an equal chance. Her "condI- |
tions' are all right; the impediments to |
her progress are the result of artificial |
rather than natural causes. Georgia is |
an old state, and wisdom pertains speci- |
ally to age. May we not profftably |
''consider her ways and be wise?''
S. T. FRASER.
Tie oriaiunl IEebster Unabridned Diction-