The farmers' union., 1891-08-27
HOGS GO As FREIGHT.
CHE APER THAN f1EW--CUEER
KIND OF FAVORlTISAl.

t.itc on tattiroatt> tf'ohi =" Siit'ai,!N a
Hogs Are Carried s"rrarste i:ai,hrry
Fm!1y s:Nio,rI by ;isurc.
Jerry Simpson is disposed t" tiul
fault with the railroads because they
90 not charge more for hauling Il hog
than for CARRYING !. man. derry has
apparently trlookei the fac that,
with the exception ot isolated cases.
aud Pullman coaches. htttiS.t< Gin
STIR.
| clio he above hlnn lcr;ng With
cisn from the Kansas City str. Let
us examine it an see upon whom the
laugh falls.
In the first place, mon weigh less
than hogs. Secondly. they loaI and
unload Themselves, which hogs do no.
50 let those matters rest. In the third
place, nl"n reI'!irr better aGd ,nur,,
costly recommendations than hos: and
hence that becomes :hc main l,uIlt OF
III. discussion.
What is the difference, then. in cost
to the railroad company of carving
with hogs! Il is found mainly in the
com ..aratiye capital invested in = hog
car on the one h:t:l,i, aud 4 frst-rla3>s
coach On the other. We can afford to
be liberal in this calculation. and viii
put the cost oi til" hoe car y. nothinG
That surely is low cno%g,. The
coach for til, laan ". Will put a:
| Sln 900. Good Judges tell me that
this sum will buill alout five good
coaches. Eo"r rrr cent per annum is
said to be the average income on rail
road invest mrnts. Let us add 6 per
cent. per annl1m for repairs and re-
building
We have then a &lo.GN1 coach n 10
per cent. per annUin for the mon, with
no cos. fey the hog car. The interest
cost on the investment il the coach
for men Is $1,000 per annun, or about
S3 per day. or - cents for q hours.
SUPPOSE, how. that onr coach is about
half-full of people say - passengers.
Divide - cents hv - and we lave >
cents eaci. as the cost of accommodate
tions for each passenger on a 8 hours
ride, or Il cents on a II konrs' rile.
To use a local illustration with which
| ! am we'll acquainted | will say that
six hours is about the time occupied by
a stock train or passenger train run
ming from junction City TO Kansas
City, a distance of 13S miles. The
charge Of carrying hogs over that
route IS usually about - cents per
head. At the same rate Of profit, men
should be carried in SluO0O coach
over that route for not exceeding -
cents each. II there were more than
- passengers III the coach the cost
would be still less per head. The pres
ent charge FOR passengers between
junction CITY and Kansas City Is over
II. How much of this extortion is
robbery? Nobody can answer that
question better than people who are
robbed.
Some one may object that the charg,
per capita is not the true basis of cal
culation. Let rs then take the car
load rs the basis. IN that case We
will fill the coach with people as the
car is filled with hogs LIT 56 be the
number in each case. And let the
route be from junction City to Kansas
City, at usual rates for hogs, which We
assume to he so per car Then add
- cents to the charge for the coach tc
cover the extra investment. This
makes 30 cents per head for hogs and
ahont 81! cents for the people
The present rate for people is S413.
If it is objected shat the peoples
coaches would seldom be fnil, l reply
that the experiment Of low rates is
worth trying. At one-third of a cent
per mile for travel, many more people
would travel than now The wondc,
is that. at present rates. there is as
much travel as there is. The same
rate on hogs as is now charged for peo
pie would stop thcir shipment entirely
Bnt there are other sides to this
question. Passenger trains usual,
carry mail and express matter The
| charges on these are said to bc enough
to pay for running the trains. Til.
will reduce our figures for men down
below the price now charged for carry
iug hogs.
Now turn to page - of the Intcrstat.
Commerce Commission Report fol
! 1858, and we find it officially statet
that people are frequently carried from
New York to Chicago for 81 per per
son, or less than onc-tlird the price
!
Now on whom is the laugh Simpson
or the .Sf0,?
: Again: The average cost of run
: nlng the average passenger train il
: the United States, in the wears 1885
and 1889, one mile. was 81 cents.
= tlIat official statement is correct, the,
- passengers in train At Kansas
rates Will pay for running the train
All passengers over and above tha
amount and the mail and express mat
ter are profit. Turn the matter an,
way you please, and Simpson has tn,
, better of the star. Your old part
newspaper hack reminds me of tn,
famous old admiral on her majesty
ship Pinafore: Il always voted at ny
party's call, and never thought 0
thinking for myself at all.
,, In closing, desire to say that Jcrr,
: Simpson never said that ''thc railroad
charge more for hauling hog thar
for carrying Il man. as the Star blum
dcrlngly has it. On whom is tn
laugh?
This discussion is based on the the
; DRY that the present rates for ca rvins
:, hogs are Just But this is not the fact
The present rates here i'll Kansas. an,
generally throughout the country, ar
, many times too high, occasioned b.
the millions and billions of fraudulen
+ or ''waterel stocks" resting on tn
roads, on which dividends and interes
are charged, amounting to hundred
of millions of dollars per annum.
JOhn DariS, N. e., IN JonrHaL OF Il
of L.
, \ New Christ Wanted.
The demands of the 18th century