Sacramento daily record-union., 1890-09-19
: Passenger Train service.

From the foregoing it will be seen that
| the rate on canned goods per carload in
/ 1880 was $500 per car TO the Missouri river,
! to st. Louis, to Chicago, to Cincinnati, to
! Pittsburg and to New York. This rate had
| descended in 1889 to 5000 per car to these
| six principal centers of distribution. In a
| comm ercial sense, therefore, the distance
| to all these places became equal, Iotwith-
standing the difference of distance from
| Sacramento to the Missouri river as against
! New York is 1000 miles. Thus distance
| of 1000 miles is absolutely ignored, and
| New York has exactly the same CONNER
J cial relation to Sacramento as the Missouri
| river. 1t will not be improbable here to
reannounce the principle that economy of
| communication is the equivalent of physi-
cal contiguity, for in the instance above
recited we see that the cost of reaching
| New York with the products of this State
| is exactly the same. or no greater, than the
cost of reaching point 1000 miles nearer
! to US.
| Glancing at the entire list, we find that
canned salmon was carried in 1880 at the
rate of $500 per car to the six cities named,
and that the rate last year was 5000 per car;
! that the rates on dried fruits in 1880 were
| 5000 a car to the Missouri river, $500 to st.
| Louis, S724 to Pittsburg, and $500 10 New
| York, and that they descended in the year
| 1899 to $3.50 q car to the cities named.
/ Green fruit (deciduous) was shown like
| favors The rate on raisins TO the six cities
named in 1880 was 5000 car to the Mis-
souri, river and $500 to New York. In
| 1889. the rates were equalized to $3.50 to
| each of the cities named. On vegetables,
the rate in 1881 was 500 car to the Mis-
souri, river, and IN 1889, to the same point,
+ the rate was 5000 car. Taking the last
| instance of vegetables, and the rate in 1881
was about five times the rate charged to-
day. Thus the vegetables produced in
California are carried to-day at about
twenty per cent of what was claimed to be
| the proper rate eight years ago. If the
above comparisons had been instituted be-
tween the rates Of 1870 and 1890, the de-
| crease would have been much more signif-
cant and startling. But the other side of
| the fact is equally significant. The rates on
articles of import have experienced cor
responding decrease.
The chief significance of all this is in the
question of the elimination of distance.
| When the rate to Chicago in 1881 on vege-
tables was So per 100 pounds. or 81, 900 per
car. the commercial distance to Chicago
was FIVE times greater than in 1889 when
the rate was 81 per 100 pounds, or $500 per
car. The actual distance to Chicago in
miles is 2,275 miles. The rate in 1881 was
S5 per 100 pounds, or 81, 900 per car. This
rate having descended in 1899 to 5000 per
car. or one-fiftb, removed Chicago to with
| in 455 miles of the gardens of California,
thus eliminating and ignoring $50 miles
of transportation, on the basis of the rate in
| 1881.
These facts disclose tendency in trans
portation to base all rates upon the relation
of markets to each other, rather than the
distance in miles between them. 1t is with
in the bounds of reasonable probability
that within q few years this tendency will
have so far asserted itself that the only
question will be the relation between
the points of production and points
! of consumption, with scarcely q refer
ence TO the distance in miles which
separate them. Take, for example, dried
| fruit, and referring to the table, see how
/ this tendency has already produced results.
/ In 1880, the rate on dried fruit to the Mis-
souri river was So per 100 pounds, or $500
per car. The rate to New York was 81 per