The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-04-08
INTERIOR TERMINAL POINTS.
Is There Discrimination in Favor of
San Trancfscos

cSiA IThs1clScOf
tStockton Daily Mail, April 6th.l
1t has come to light through the dis
cusslon OF the transportation question
evoked by the Traffic Association that a
hundred pounds OF freight shipped from
Chicago to San francisco costs for its
carriage 81 IS, whereas if the same ship
ment should be consigned to Fresno the
charge for carriage would be 81. This,
too. when the consignment would have
TO pass through Fresno on its way to San
francisco. we thought there was a law
against eXacting more for a shorter than
Tor longer haul in the same direction
and over the same road. We thought
such wicked determinations as this in
laFor OF one point and against another
were prevented by the Interstate Com
merce Act. This Is interstate traffic and
therefore comes properly under the pur-
view OF the Commerce Commission. But
II seems that the discrimination IN favor
OF san francisco goes right along, with
nobody to interpose an objection. The
Fresno people ought to look into the
matter.
How is Stockton situated in this re-
Spect-do we pay more for Eastern i'm
portations land down here than the San
francisco merchant pays when like
freight IS delivered 10 him in that city
The discussion evoked by the Traffic AS
l
abHse, and one of our interior exchanges
suggests that 1.-The merchants of Sacra-
nento, stockton, san Jose, Los Angeles
and other places should institute a very
full inquiry as TO whether these are iii
| truth terminal points and enjoy u rate rs
low as that accorded San Francisco" IN
deed they should. If there is no remedy
Tor such injustice there certainly ought to
be.
What does the Traffic Association pro-
pose to do about it, the reader naturally
asks. Here we come 10 the nub OF the
whole thing. The Traffic Association
has 10 complaint to make against the
discrimination III favor of San Francisco
(and why should it have, seeing it is com
posed exclusively OF san Francisco mer-
chants? y. What the association wants is
a greater discrimination. Think of that.
/ he fact Of the existence of the present
schedule was brought to public notice by
the complaint of Il San Francisco rner-
chant that the discrimination against
Fresno and other interior points was not
great enough. Think of that also. What
the metropolitan importers by rail want
IS rate In their favor so low that they
can snip from Chicago to San Francisco
and reship back TO Fresno, Stockton,
Sacramento and the other interior cities
now enjoying some sort of terminal facil-
tiles at a less total cost for carriage than
the merchants Of those cities would have
to pay on similar freight taken from the
.carS as the cars pass through en- route TO
their final destination. Fresno is a good
deal nearer to Chicago, on the line of the
Southern Pacific, than San Francisco is.
but for the purpose of centering all trade
IN the metropolis San Francisco must be
considered as being nearer and Fresno
farther away, as, for instance, somewhere
out IN the Pacific Ocean, we suppose.
Thls merely proves what the Mat has
said all along was the purpose for which
the Traffic Association was formed.
namely to crush out those interior towns
which venture to make of themselves dis
trIbutIng points for the trade naturally
tributary to them and center all that
trade in San Francisco. The geographical
advantage which the Lord gave Fresno
by placing her nearer to the East, on the
line OF rail communication, must be over
come by the creation of artificial condi-
tons. San Francisco is not naturally the
eatrep0t OF California, except as concerns
such shipments as come by water 1t is
preposterous to suppose that shipments
by rail must pass through the territory
for which they are ultimately designed
and go 10 some distant point for reship-
ment back again, in order that certain So
called merchants may make profit by
handling them.
But what the interior distributing
points want to look out for is not only to
hold securely the privileges they now
have, small as they may be, but to secure
such an enlargement OF the same as thew
may be entitled to under the law. Why
should the charge for freight taken off a
west-bound overland train at Fresno be
greater than Tor similar freight hauled
several hundred miles farther to San
Francisco? If it We're hauled by teams
the charge would be less instead of more
What mysterious difference is there in
railroad transportation that reverses this
rule?