Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-04-21

standing interest bearing bonds to the amount
Of Sl9 COO OO0 increase in that time of Sc oea
| same period from the traffic it carried.
| Six years ago the Texas and Pacific bonded
atno n so PS o0d 6od was aaa
900 and the latter SIS coo 600, or clear increase
of SIS 900 900 in that short period of time. Dur
| ceiYe1 $780, 0G1.00Q from traffic charges,
Allowing it the exoFbitant amount
Of 50 per cent. for expenses, there we're left it
! 81, 900, GOO. What it did with that amount and
the SIS, 900 900 increase in stocks and
bonds can only be determined by wild
tervsiews'' of interested gentlemen who
remain in Texas for their health
during the campaign. AT all events no eN-
tension of the railway was made with It,.
just three years ago the st. Louis, Arkansas
and Texas railroad company owed Sic, 600 900 IN
bonds. Now it has outstanding sI7 600, 900 in
terest- bearing bonds to pay, an increase of
$1,000, 900 in three years. By way Of parenthesis
it is proper to remark that these two last roads
Mr.. Gould, whose T'heaHh' per-
mitted him last week to remark
the acknowledgement of the state is such as to
cause some fright among capitalists. Fol
! lowed up and properly applied, these lilustra-
tions viii demonstrate how it is that the rail
ways in Texas so much in debt. Their
| bonds are increased in proportion to trathc re-
ceipts to justify the maintenance Of high rates,
| to prevent any dividend on the stock, and as an
| HonaiFes.' -
Ny fellow citizens, If you will deduct 60 per
cent of the receipts Of these railroads for eK-
| penses, you viii arrive at a fair result as 10
ascertained, or even admitted by their own
| reports, should be applied to the payment OF
interest on legitimate. indebtedness, the
| investments of the parties would simply be
| enormous. Some men in Texas pretend to claim
that the public Is not concerned in the amount
of Indebtedness upon the railroads in this state.
| In such assumptions they are grossly mlsled.
How are such debts to be paid except from the
earnings of their railroads? How are the earn
i5i - 70 ARE e'AiH or toll from pas
sengers and freight that go over their
lines? All their indebtedness bears interest;
that interest must be paid or the road is put IN
| the hands of receiver, which increases the ex-
! penses; the larger the debt the greater the ag-
gregate of interest; and the rates on tratic must
be high enough to pay it, besides
the expenses of operating and man
aging the road. The railroads =, Of THE the
| do. Take the combined stock and bonds issued
and outstanding upon the 5000 miles of railroad
the taxable values within the dominion OF
legal and fctitions there can be no
| freight rates necessary to sustain it are
exorbitant and unjust. So long as the local
traffic of our state is forced to bear such burdens
both the railways and the public will suffer. So
| long the adjustment of the traffic rates is left
| in the control of the railway managers, high
| rates must be paid. Take it out of their hands
| and trust it to commission OF dislnterested,
| competent men, and just and reason-
|
stimulate production, increase consumption,
| swell transportation, give life to commerce and
restore the independence OF our business elias es
| well. For many years the maximum rate
prescribed by the legislature in the face OF the
| constitutional mandate requiring reasonable
| rates to be fixed, has been fifty cents per 100
| pounds per 100 miles. Therefore, under the
| present law, a railroad company can charge for a
| car load of lumber weighing Y, goo pounds,
worth $40 at the mill, the som of 500 for every
| 100 miles that it may haul it. From Orange 10
| Ell Pasy, a distance of $50 miles, they would
haze the right 81 sS off of each SR eaE
| load of lumber hapled out there. And for bale
| of cotton from DeniSAp to Galveston, distance
of three hundred And seventy eight miles,
| weighing five hundred pounds they have the
right to collect more than ten dollars.
For a load of shelled CORN, worth
gregate seventy dollarsrr car tied9rom Sherman to
| Laredo, distance of SOL miles, they have the
| right to collect the very extraordinary sum of
| 5000. These illustrations can be applied with
| equal force to most every commodity purchased
| or sold by the people of our state. Then, ask
for some well posted man to point out any law
that prescribes reasonable rate or that presses
heavily o q tPa gP99 statutes .hg Fa are
convenient, and if there is aHlaw that IS oppres-
sive of them in any particular shall be thank
| cited and quoted; let it be done. On the other
| hand propose to show that these railway com
panies are levying an unjust tribute by
| commerce of this state They are discyimina-
| ting in favor of outside producers, manufactur-
! and they will continue to do so unless they are
| checked by an intelligent commission created
and supported by the strong arm OF the law:
Gross injustice in their charges can be felt and
seen on every hand. Examine them and you
cannot be msled. will cite You few instances
From Lake Fork (the nearest saw mills) to
| Dallas, distance of eighty-six miles, the rate
on lumber is twenty cents per 100 pounds or SsO
seO passing through Tsxas AND Colorado sept.
point to Salisbury in the Panhandle, the rate is
twenty eight cents or SIP car, while from
Shreveport, La, over the same ana connecting
Ca car. From Lake Fork to 81 Paso,
rate is twenty-five cents, or 500 per car, while
from that point over several lines of road to st.
Colorado, to Omaha, Neb., the rate is twenty
two cents, or S8S per car; while from the same
aha loads must pass, the rate is thlr5y,tWo
cents, one hundred and twenty eight dollars !:
distance of five hundred miles, is thirteen cents,
or sixty-two dollars car. In Georgia the high
est price paid for the longest haul is thirty-one
dollars per car load of lumber. In Texas the
railroads get eighty dollars for hundred miles
haul while in Georgia they get fourteen dollars
car load for the same distance.
I could go much further with such compari-
sons but feel that these will serve in part to
plain why our thrifty cities cannot afford to in
vest in support factories Tor fu Fnlture or any
other article made of lumber; and why our mill
men complain of hardtimes, and the people in
some sections can afford no better houses
If you are on a railroad one hundred miles
of a Touring mill in Texas, you must
pay S92 freight to get car load of 400 sacks of
flour delivered; if you have the wheat to ship
that distance, the charge is $50 load for 1t.
If you have surplus of corn and ship it to your
neighboring town 100 miles off, you
have to pay $50 freight on a car load of
$50 bushels IN the ear. For distances of forty
miles between Texas points the railways charge
$40 car for cattle. Passing through those places
to st. Louis, distance of 1000 miles. the charge
is sf2, while from ST. Louis to Chicago, 800
miles they only charge S13 per carload.
They charge Texas ice factories $50 carload
for distance of 200 miles, while the rate to their
outside competitors is $50 a carload for a 1000
miles haul.
These items are given to illustrate the average
Determinations made by our railroads against
the people who have been len
lent towards them. Confronted with
such difficulties and high rates, whole
sale merchants. factories, business men and the
producers in general must fail. wagon manu-
facturer in Texas wrote me last year that his
competitor in Illinois shipped wagons by his
door to points within forty miles of him ct
cheaper rate than the railroads allowed him, OF
course hs had to close mis- shop. One who man
ufactuTes ploWs complains that hs has to pay q
higher rate TO points within fifty miles of him
rir- boh has 70 CHI nd mill