The record-union., 1892-06-20
MINNEAPOLIS DEMANDS A HIGH
PROTECTIVE POLICY AT THE
HANDS OF THE RAILROADS.

q
PROTECTIVE POLICY AT THE
HANDS OF THE RAILROADS.
The Minneapolis Chamber of Com
nerce recently had hearing before the
Interstate Commerce Commission. in
which these representatives of the com
mercial interests of Minneapolis declared
that the milling interest of that city
wanted the railroads to serve their inter-
ests by fixing rates on -four and wheat
which would place Minneapolis at an adj
vantage, and competing points at dis
advantage. with reference to the manu-
facture Of flour. That this question may
be reduced to its plainest terms, and
within the range of easy understanding
on the part of the non-protessional mind,
we adopt simplicity of statement. At
Minneapolis there is a large number of
-four mills. The manufacture of flour is
the chief industry of that growing city.
Duluth is point at the extreme west end
OF Lake Superior. Duluth has prac-
tically ocean communication with the
world. Minneapolis is at the headwaters
of the Mississippi River, a waterway
closed by low water and ice about seven
months in the year, leaving but five
months of navigation. Duluth has direct
communication with Liverpool and the
rest of the world through the lakes the
Welland Canal and the st. Lawrence.
Minneapolis has communication by water
only through the entire length of the
Mississippi, the Gulf of Mexico and the
Atlantic Ocean. The wheat raised in the
Northwest, even in Iowa, is shipped
largely to Duluth instead of Chicago.
All of the wheat raised in the Dakotas
Montana and the territory living
west of Duluth is shipped to Duluth.
This accumulation of material, out of
which -four can be made at Duluth, in
cites milling interest, and the natural
commercial forces are transferring the
milling interest from Minneapolis to Du-
luth. Now comes the Chamber of Com
merce of Minneapolis to ask that the rate
of freight shall protect Minneapolis
against any diminution Of its milling In
terest. The Chamber of Commerce OBJ
jects that Duluth is receiving wheat at a
lower rate proportionately to the distance
carried than Minneapolis.
Let those unfamiliar with the techni-
calities of railroading understand at this
point that when the maximum rate is
found on wheat, that is, the maximum
the traffic will bear and move, it cannot
be raised; that just as soon as the maxi
mum is reached the miles cease to oper-
ate. For illustration, the maximum rate
on wheat in California is 81 per ton. Let
US assume that the maximum NAV be
reached at 200 miles from the seaboard.
All the wheat beyond distance of 200
miles from the seaboard must, therefore,
be carried at 81 per ton, no matter what
the distance, because the railroads want
the tonnage, and because the tonnage it.
self will not bear higher rate. 1t rises
to the point at which it will move and be
favorable to the development of volume
of freight each year and stands at that
level for all other distance, however
great.
This being understood, Minneapolis
objects to carrying wheat to Duluth at
lower rate than at the same rate that it
is carried to Minneapolis. To quote the
RailUay ReUieaO:
It is also asserted that the rate on wheat
nom producing points to Minneapolis, added
10 the rate on Hour from Minneapolis to Du-
1uth, is such as to make it impossible for the
minneapolis miller 10 lay down the flour in
Duluth in competition with the mills located
at that point, and that in consequence there
is danger that the milling interest coucen-
trated at Minneapolis viii suffer material
loss.
Reducing this to common terms, the
freight rate on wheat to MINNEAPOLIS.
added to the rate on -four from Minneap-
oils to Duluth, as compared with the rate
on wheat from the points of growth to
Duluth, is such as Will enable Duluth to
manufacture flour; that is all there is OF
the statement
Now comes Minneapolis to ask, and
again we quote the Raitway Reuieao. as
follows:
For this purpose they ask that the rate from
the common wheat-growing territory in Min
nesota and the Dakotas 10 Minneapolis shall
be fixed at 70 per cent. of the rate TO Duluth
and that the rate on flour from Minneanoli1,
10 Duluth shall not be more than 81 cents per
hundred pounds.
Reducing this into palmer English. if
possible, Minneapolis asks that its citv
shall have wheat delivered to its mills at
three-fourths the price charged to take it
10 Duluth, and that the rate on flour shall
not be more than 81 cents per hundred
pounds, or 81 per ton from Minneapolis
to Duluth; and the object of this petition
is simply and solely to prevent flour be-
ing manufactured at Duluth. In this
petition the Chamber of Commerce of
Minneapolis wants the railroads to exer-
else power which eventho Coy ernnent