Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-06-21

4 NAANaOhN Ob4hk luNG5tEu Will
'plenary powers; and the obnoxious
intermingling of legislative, judicial and
executive functions is a thing that exists
rather IN supposition than in fact, and in
! the arguments of our Texas oontrover-
sialists rather than in the operation of
| the law.
Freight rates in Georgia are fixed and
| graded by the commission in proportion
to distanoe-the longer the haul the less
the rate per mile; but the short haul is
not given an eXorbltant 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-
sitlon is there given a just application
| throughout the entire scale of distances.
| Thus, where the rate is six cents for five
| miles il 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 reckOned on the basis of continuous
mileage from point of shipment 10 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
| 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 connecting 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 1 came through At
lanta, the officers of these roads were
rallying there quite lively TO meet the
emergency. Rallyiug every few years
to confuse and obstruct for a short time
a legislature already embarrassed by the
multitude of its own counsel and the
amount of its other business, is perhaps
quite a different thing from q rally every
few weeks to deal with a commission
well posted i'll 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 in 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 relative COM
parison that will be exact as applied TO
the entire subject. BY taking ut rar-
dom several specific articles for COMPARE
son, we may arrive at an approximate
estimate of the general average of
difference tThus the rate of the
Texas and Pacific road on q
barrel of -four from Baird to Cisco.
twenty-seven miles, is ffty-two cents;
from Atlanta to Duluth, same distance,
it is sixteen and one-half cents; from
Baird to Fort Worth, 142 miles, it ia
sixty-fiye cents; from Savannah to
Oeonee, lac miles, it is thirty cents. On
a box of books weighing 100 pounds,
first-cla freight in each state, the rate
from Baird TO Cisco is thirty cents; from
Atlanta to Duluth it is twenty-four cents,
including the 10 per cent. additional on
the standard tariff allowed by the COM
mission to the Richmond and DanVille
road on this class of freight. On a car
load of cattle the rate from Baird to
Cisco is $50; from Atlanta to Duluth it is
SIS. These examples show, approx
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
buOlA AuSdA Ot5ihCbsI oulPpuES AZ
Kansas, Missouri and other states srs
gwen a market here for their products at
far lower rates, Is en- injustice that at
fects our interests most dissstrously.
The Texas farmer with surplus of corn
or wheat, gets it to q market only two or
three counties distant at a ruinous rate,
and there meets a competition of Kansas
and Missouri corn aud flour, hauled by
the 70 DIS ten times as far for the same
freight charges. So, the Texas manu-
faeturer pays about as much to reach q
home market in Texas as tbs Cincinnati
manufacturer pays to reach the
same Texas poiHt. Georgia Is poor
in soil and cursed with q large
negro population, yet her general pros
perity and the growth of her mGnufact-
uring industries, as compared with those
of Texas, illustrate the different effects
resulting from the two policies as to local
rates. The commission and the rates
fixed by il 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 commission does
not necessarily prove that it would not
really benefit them, any more than the
man g 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 1t be one
blinded by desire for Office, that her
conditions are less favorable THAI 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
enterprising population than Georgia,
could not lag behind in any respect If
given an equal chance. Her "oondI-
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 speei-
ally to age. May we not profitsbly
consider her ways and be wiser"
8. T. FRASER.