Arizona republican., 1890-10-17
COL. MASTEN'S DENIAL
SAYS THERE IS NO PROHIBIrORV
 RATE ON FREIGHT.
statement Showing the shipments and Receipts of the Valley Together With the Rate Each Way.
OFFICE OF MARICoPA AND PHTNtN RAILROAD,

October lj, lS9O. To the Editor of THE REPUBLICAN:
 In the report of the House Com mittee on Territories, upon the late question of the subsidy, substantially the following appears:
 "rhe charges of the branch connec- ton of Maricopa County with the Southern Pacific Railroad are so ex- orbitant as to be practically prohibitory on exports and tremendous tax upon the necessaries of life that must be i'm ported"
 protest against the false statements embodied in this report, and l do not doubt but that such impressions spread abroad in regard to the transportation facilities of the valley, in the endeayor to obtain subsidy by any means, have done the valley infinite harm.
 Like the statements made to the House and Senate Committees on Terri tories by Mark Smith, w. J. Murphy and others to the effect that the dis tance or length of the proposed road would call for a subsidy of but $l6O, ,OOO when they well knew they were asking for one of nearly $500, ,O0O. All of this is made of whole cloth. Do the farmers of MaricOpa county, a producing popu- lation of less than 5000 realize the difference between these two sums, and that in the end, the whole amount would fall entirely upon the producers to pay in one way or another.
 The records of my office show very clearly that there is no prohibitory rate but that on the contrary rates are such that they tend to foster business, and that business is yearly increasing.
 For instance-in that year, 1889, there were delivered to the Southern Pacific Railroad at MaricOpa, entirely Ol the products ot the valley, 9,l57 ,O65 pounds ol freight.
 In the first eight months of the current year, 1890, there were so delivered 2l, 53l ,lS4 pounds of freight, an increase in eight months over the deliveries of the entire preceding year of 2,374, ,ll9 pounds; this takes no account of the shipments by express which are also largely in excess of the preceding year. The average rate imposed upon these 2l, 800, ,OOO pounds of freight has been 10 and l-lO cents per 100 pounds, this,
 
 costing at Marlcopa Sl2.4O per ton. If the endeayors for subsidy had been spent in relieving the Deer Creek coal nelds of the incubus of the San Carlos reservation, there would have been some sense in it. With tn relief, coal could be laid down in Phoenix for S2jO per ton and it would then be worth while to talk about smelters and reduction work, and all the prosperity that would follow in their train, beside the reduction in railroad rates which would imme- diately take place. A considera- ton worthy of attention is the fact that no inCOnsiderable amount of this freight has been shipped to Southern California, to which rates are now and for some time have been such, that such shipments are not only possible, but are actually made in direct competition with the producers of that locality. It strikes me 1t is time that the fOulIng of its own nest by certain influences in the valley should cease, and l make these facts public that parties who come here this winter with view of investigating the resources, capabilities and future of the valley may not be dissuaded from their projects by false (they may be said to be maliCiOusly false) statements as to its facilities for the export of it's produc- tiOns and the operations of its railroad. The gist of the report being an attack upon this road, sanctioned by the high authority of the House Committee on Territories, and so unfair 1 cannot allow 1t to pass unnOticed.
 As to the "tremendOus tax upon the # | raise their own potatoes, beans, the whole list of food productions, which are now imported by the car load, they certainly will be relieved of SO much of this tax, and it is not to be conceived that a subsidized railroad is going to in- crease their industry in these lines, while at the same time this tremendous tax on the business of lO,076, 72l pounds received from the Southern Pacific Rail- road after all amounts to an average of but l6 4-5 cents per 100 pounds, with coal at MaricOpa Sl2.40 per ton.
 The balance of trade and business is largely in favor of the Salt River Valley.
 It delivered, as stated in the first eight months of the current year, at Maricopa, 2l ,53l ,lS4 pounds.
 It received during this time l0,076, ,72l pounds, showing an excess of shipments out, of II ,454, ,463 pounds, or about 572 carloads.
 With this showing, what becomes of the statement about "prOhibitOry rateS," which false information imposed upon the House Committee on Territories and led it to saddle upon the Salt River Valley, and thus handicap everything we ourselves know regarding it and every advertisement we put out concern ing it. To refer to the proposed north and south road, if, as Governor Murphy claimed to be true in his Fair Ground speech Tuesday, it is essential to the of the entire Territory, why should the whole burden of subsidy, if 1 be imposed upon Maricopa and counties alone? What reason exists why the cost of it should not be distributed over the whole Territory?
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