The Port Gibson reveille. [volume] (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1890-current, 1891-02-04

AS the Revellle some weeks since
criticized the Railroad Commission in a
way that Major Sessions considered
rather unfair, it takes pleasure in pre-
senting the other side Of the case in
the following interesting letter to Hon.
Frank Burkitt:
BRooKHAvKS. Miss, jan II, 1891.
My Dear Sir:
For another part of your speech
yesterday I wanted to commend aud
TO thank you, and that was what
you said relative to what had
been accomplished by r0ilroad SUI
peryisioa in Mississippi Only an
infinitessimally small proportion Of
the people of tho state know anything
of the aggregate saving 10 the people
through the revision of freight rates.
That which has been saved bY reduc-
tion of passenger tariff TO uniform
rate of cents per mile is not difficult
Of computation, aud amounts to many
thousand dollars annually. Since
have been on the board (and that has
been ever since active supervision be-
/ gan in Miss.) the passenger rates on
the V. Il NJ. (now a. a. W. the NJ. ~
o., the N. j. q g., a,d other branches
of the l.. N. q. & I. and the Ripley
Road Chicago & Ship Island) have
been reduced in some instances from
four cents and in others from three
and fraction 10 three cents, so that
now no road IN the state is nj owed
to charge for passengers over 3 cents
per mile where the distance is three
and one-third miles or over, For
short hauls, that is where the mileage
would be less than 10 cents, they are
allowed TO charge 10cts as a maximum
total, where tickets are procured, or
ID cents where payment is made to
conductor. This last deduction (min-
imum charges for short hauls) was
made recently.
But compared with what is saved
by freight reductions in the aggregate
il (all passenger savings) is a mere
bagatclle. Take nearly, if not quite
every article that our people use most
generally, bacon and bulk meat, -four,
meal, salt, bagging and ties, hay and
grain, fertilizers, cotton and cotton
seed meal, etc, and the savings on the
|. c., the ". ~ o., the A. Il N, the n.
O. & N. E., the NJ. a. r., the X. G. NJ.
q b., aggregated are enormons--so
large that fair computation by dis
interested party would hardly be be-
licved by the general public. On
the other roads some, but not so great.
Like the results OF the governments
import tariff, tho export Is only felt
indirectly and then is often unknown.
A fraction of cent on bacon, or
few cents on q barrell of meal or flour,
or roll of bagging, is not noticed by
the retail buyer, although BIO gets the
benefit of it. But million of dollars
10 The whole state ia year affects |
seriously the general prosperity, al
though each individual cannot nc
count for il as far as he is separately |
concerned.
You did not mention In your speech /
the enlarged power that the constitu-
tion authorizes the legislature 10 vest !
in a commission-that is the right TO
supervise express and telegraph COM
panies. regard this as most inn
portant provision Of the new consti-
tuition, and have over and over again
seen the necessity for the exercise of
such power. | hope the legislature
to be elected this fall will lose no time
in conforming legislation to that re-
quirement
With best wishes for your success
individually and for the ultimate tri-
umph of the great farmers association
In all its efforts for the liberties aud
welfare of the "pack-horses" of the
that Is what the tillers OF
the soil are fast becoming under in
iquitous legislation--f ann very truly
yours, j. Il. SESSIONS.