Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-09-14

l
! OF Kansas contains the clearest, plalnest
! and most succinct statement of what the
commission has so far done that has yet
| been made, and as an earnest OF what
| 1t Will do, is conclusive and crushing
| answer TO the Misrepresentation dissent
! mated by the enemies of the commission. If,
| after reading this letter, they can still rail
at the commission and its friends rs the
enemies of progress, it may be said of them
! as Judge Reagan expresses 1t. they are
more TO be pitied for their imbecility than
scorned for their nlaliciousness."
OFFICE OF
RAILROAD COMMISSION OF TEXAS
AUSTIN. TEX, Sept. II, 1891.
! Hon. P. b. Plumb, Emporia, Kan:
| DEAR SENATOR-l am in receipt of your
| letter of the 9TH instant, with which yon in
| closo TO me the letter of President Marvel
| of the Atchison. Topeka and Santa Fee rail
! road. ! All glad TO receive your letter, be-
| cause it gives me the opportunity to dis
| abuse your mind as to the action of the rail
road commission of Texas, and TO show you
| that Mr. Marvel has been badly advised as
| TO our action, if he is sincere in the belief
! tnat il iuStitieS him in saying that his COM
| pany cannot consider faVOrabiy the build
| ing of any new lines of railroad in this
state, nor extensions or enlargementS IN
| any of Its Investments here. We have not
up TO this time adopted i tariff of freight
rates on general merchandise.
Our commodity tariff No. l on wheat
-four, corn, corn meal and other small grain
and on hay and salt, went into effect on the
9Th OF this month, two days ago. Up to that
date no rates in this state were i'll effect
except those made by the railroads them
selves, so that up to this date Mr.. Manvers
road cannot have been injured very much
by the Texas commission.
BY the above named tariff the rate we
have fixed on grain and hay per ton per
mile
For 100 miles is...........a......2.2 cents
For 200 miles is..................1.5 cents
For AGO miles is. ...................I2 cents
The rates on the same commodities from
a central point in Texas, say Waco to New
Orleans, 5iS miles, is 9 mills; to St. Louis,
as miles is D mills 10 Chicago. 1870 miles,
is = mills.
The commodity rate we have established
on -four and meal per ton per mile is
For 100 miles ......................2.3 cents
For POO miles ......................L6 cents
L OF foU mics IL cents
The rate on the same to New Orleans
from Waco, 5S4 miles, is LIZ cents: to St
Louis from Waco, 94I miles, 9 mills; TO
Chicago from Waco, 1880 miles, ) mills.
Our rate on salt Is
For 100 miles .....................1. cents
For 200 miles cents
For ib0 miles Observation-Disclosures q mills
Waco, is 1.2; to st. Louis, 94S miles, is =
mills; to Chicago. 1870 miles. is : mills.
This is the only tariff we have put in
effect, and you see the rates we have
adopted are much higher than the rates on
tfe'Same lines of road beyond the borders
of Texas. And where the foregoing com
modltieS pass over two or mora roads in
Texas the rate is determined by adding the
local rates less 20 per cent. which makes :; |
considerable increase on our local rates.
Our commodity tariff No. .. fixing the |
rate on cotton, gives TO the railroad from 20 |
oents per ton per mile for the shortest haul |
to > - cents per ton per mile for the longest |
haul; averaging 5.5d cents per ton per mile. |
This is largely over three times as much |
per ton per mile as the average rates on |
merchandise. as made in this state by the |
railroad afficials. y sense of common de- |
cency should prevent complaints by the |
railroads at this rate. But this rate will |
not take effect so as TO supersede the rates
made by the railroads, until the 18th of this
month.
Our commodity tariff No 9, on lumber, is
satisfactory to all the railroads. There is
no pretense of complaint by them against it.
This rate viii not take effect until the 23rd |
instant.
The existing cotton rates on the roads in
Texas are unreaSonably high, and we
aimed by our rates TO reduce them about II
per cent.
The rate per hundred pounds from Dallas
TO Galveston, $40 miles on the Gulf Colora-
do and Santa E'e railroad is now 20 cents.
Our rate for the same haul will be 62 cents.
The rate of that road from Dallas 10 st.
Louis. rs miles, is 50 cents. The rate of
that road per ton per mile from Dallas 10
ST. Louis IS > lI-l0O. Our rate per ton per
mile from Dallas TO Galveston viii be
cents. The present rate per 100 pounds
for the Gverage haul on the Gulf. Colorado
ayI -.tilt nd of &c !
cents. Our rate for the same VIII be 5ii4
cents; difference Il. cents, making "A per
cent reduction.
our rates on general merchandise will he
as soon as practicable
IL would not be proper TO assume that
President Marvel is insincere. And il this
assumption is waived the foregoing facts
show that he is 4 very poorly informed rail-
read president: and that there is i'll fact no |
ground for his making the state
mentS to you which are contained i'll his
let ter.
Sometime ago one OF tie vice presidents
Of that road, III Il newspaper review, made |
statements about the Texas commission |
running the railroads OF Texas, and that he |
would have to be enjoincd b. the supreme |
court of the United States, indicating that
he knew rs little about the law as his pres |
dent does about the facts. 1t would take !
very hard faced lawyer to ask for an iniunc- |
ton on the foregoing facts; and certainly
no honest court would grant one.
These officers of this railroad. instead of |
as they should the real facts.
seem 10 have become very unhappy over ly-
ug newspaper reports. such as are coming
rom some of the railroad journals and from
some papers in New York and elsewhere |
The real war is not with our rates, but |
with the existence of the commission and |
he law under which it acts. They repre-
'ert the interests of the stock iobbers and
abroad wreckers, who use the traffic man
ayers ang freight agents to increase or de-
'rease the revenues of the railroads to suit
heir schemes of speculation. Their policy
S 10 retain, ii possible the absolute con-
rOl of the roads and their rates, unfet-
cred by either morals or law, and they
Know If this commission can successfully
AIRY out our commission law that il viii |
ecure stable rates, prevent raising or low
ring them to suit the spectators and |
prevent rebates and the allow |
nee of special rates to friends whether in |
ollusion with officers or not. and take |
rom them the power to terrorize the people |
nd prevent them from reporting discrinl- |
nations and other violations of the law
att hot 1