People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1892-09-09
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES.
Why Should Not the Letter Postage Prin-
ciple BE Applied to the transportation
OF Freight:

''P'N Dt hPPhta W Aht
OF Freight?
What is transportation on the postal
system? 1t is forwarding freight any
distance at an average cost for such
service. Where do we find the most re-
liable data on which to base an average
charge? In the interstate commerce
reports. Where do they get their in
formation on which to make their re-
ports? From sworn statements of the
railroads of the United States In the
fifth annual report for the year 1891, on
page seven, the average distance of haul
is shown to be a fraction less than one
hundred and twenty miles. The aver
age receipt for carrying one ton Of
freight one mile is nine and forty one
hundredths mills Multiplying the
average distance of haul by average
gross revenue we find that one dollar
and thirteen cents per ton, or less than
six cents per hundred pounds was all
the roads received on the average for
all tonnage Of freight they moved dur
ing the year covered by that report.
In other words, if the shipping public
had bought of the railroads a freight
stamp of five and three-quarters cents
for every hundred or fraction of hun
bred pounds shipped any distance, re-
CARELESS of classification, the roads
would have received the same gross rev.
enue they did receive; they would have
had the same income with which TO pay
interest on bonds, dividends on stock.
operating expenses, betterment of
roads, disbursements legitimate and
illegitimate as they did receive and the
public would have been treated exactly
alike as they are now in cost
of postage and postal service.
Let me quote a late editorial
of the Omaha Bee, which will serve to
show the average business intelligence
and honesty Of the corporation subsi-
died press and how closely related to
the jacliass family many of the so-called
snort (?) men are who suppose they
shape public opinion. In order to show
how crazy we Independents are the
Bees man says: "A campaign orator
of the peoples party in Georgia is re-
ported as saying that the time will
come when poor man can stick post,
age stamp on mule and ship it from
Georgia to Texas. When that time
does come there will be fine facilities
for the colonization Of voters by the
peoples party"
The people Of the country have heard
great deal about Iowa local freight
rates being ruinously low We know
there is some power building up certain
localities and tearing down others; we
realize there must be a screw loose
somewhere in freight transit, but it is
hard for us who are not expert machin-
lists in science OF railroading by tariffs
to discover where it is. When we get
grand roundup Of statistics laid before
us, even though those facts have moth
ing but the oath Of railroad manager
to support them, and when we learn
that one dollar and thirteen cents per
ton per haul is all they charge on the
average, we are led to believe that rail-
reading If administered to all alike
makes very reasonable charges for its
service. Letus look at the practical fact
as applied to US in the west on our level
prairies and tahe the so-called low rates
of Iowa as basis Let us ship ton of
groceries mot otherwise specified for
distance of sixty miles under Iowa rates
and the charge is four dollars and six
teen cents If it is shipped one hundred
and twenty miles the average distance
of haul for the whole country it is
four dollars and forty-fve cents (s445)
Iowa rates against an average gross
charge Of one dollar and thirteen cents.
To man who rides on pass at the ex-
pense Of his neighbor this may look
like no Partially was used against us.
Groceries are luxuries and Of course we
ought to stand large expense to get
them.
The fact is that Iowa local rates are
fifty per cent. too high If we continue to
base reasonable charges on ton per
mile rate, Under the Iowa rates six
teen Of her roads have increased their
local tonnage almost two millions Of tons
during the past year (see page IL Iowa
reports Of '91) and her receipts have.in-
creased from over. thirty-seven millions
dollars in so TO over forty-three mil
lion dollars in 1891, (see page 0 Iowa re-
ports 81
The truthful ~ Jameses Of Iowa,
who manage railroads, swore under SOL
emn oath and in virtuous indignation
that the business mems demands for
rates which were put into force by the
Iowa legislature would ruin them! II
Ananias and Sapphire, the Bible char
acters noted for careless handling of
the truth, had been inbred and all their
progeny treated on the same scientific
principle down TO the present time to
develop the highest genius in thorough
bred lying the net result would not pro-
duce an equal TO some Of these traffic
manipulators who claim Iowa rates are
ruinously low. Fourth-class goods,
Omaha to Kearney, are eight dollars a
ton. First-class goods twelve dollars,
and yet the railroads make such rates
to more favored localities and classes
that the average haul is but one dollar
and thirteen cents. In the face Of this
we have majority Of the state board
Of transportation, consisting of "clean"
men who are renominated on the repub-
lican ticket, who have the power to re-
duce our local rates to the Iowa basis
and yet they do not do it.
Kearney, Neb. A. J. GUsTIy.