Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-02-04

terms than the foreign manufacturer, in
view Of the less amount of service the rail
roads perform for him2 think not.
Two answers are generally made to Texas
manufacturers and wholesale dealers when
they ask for rates TO which their situation
entities them
The first is, that they do not handle as
large quantities of raw material and goods
as foreign dealers and manufacturers, and
are, therefore not entitled 10 the rates
given them VIII they not cease to handle
goods altogether, unless they are placed on
terms of equality with foreign interests2
The second is that if lower rat es are
given them on account of their proximity
to the consumer and the less amount the
service performed for them costs the rail-
roads, the consumer will not get the benefit
of 1t. Admitting the truth of this for ar
gument's sake (but it is not always true) it
may be asked why do men of capital and
enterprise come 10 Texas, establish fac
tories and engage in the wholesale trade If
1t is not to get the advantage which local
enterprise should enjoy by reason of its
uearEess to the cons umer2 II there is
never to be any difference in rates from
Birmingham, Ala, by way of Cincinnati to
Abilene and from the same point by way of
Dallas to Abilene. nearly thousand miles
nearer, why should a capitalist build fac
las at all n What would be the advantage
in moving from some point East TO Dallas
to engage in the manufacturing business2
Absolutely none But the trouble is, as
before stated, Texas manufacturers and
jobberS are not even able to reach the
Texas consumer on equal terms with for
elgn dealers and manufacturers, to say
nothing of the advantage OF nearness to the
consumer, and instead of men Of capital and
enterprise seeking to invest their means in
Texas factories, those who have already
done so are being drawn 10 trade centerS
outside Of Texas by the discriminating rates
given such places by railroads whose very
existence is largely due to the splendid pri-
vate subscriptions of money and public do
nations of land given to them by the people
of Texas. In view of what Texas has done
for railroads and the facts as they now ex-
ist in regard to discriminating rates against
Texas commercial and manufacturing en-
terprises. who will say that the people of
Texas have ever been more unjust in their
dealings with the railroads than the rail-
roads have in their treatment of them?
The same discriminating rates have here
tofore prevailed against agricultural
products in this state. It cost from two TO
three times as much to move bale of cot
ton 4 given distance in Texas as it did on
the same road out of the state, but this has,
in a measure, been corrected by the COM
mission.
Can the commission afford our mercan-F
tile and manufacturing interests similar
relefl is the vital question interesting the
merchants and manufacturers. 1t is also
the question now engaging the serious con-
sideratlon of the commission, and 1t occurs
to me that Mr.. Albert r. Greene, anember
of the Kansas railroad commission, indi-
Gated what viii doubtless be the answer of
this commission in q recent article in the
Cosmopolitan, in which he summed up the
result of the work Of the Kansas commits
sion as follows:
by persistent effort, the commission has
secured such recognition, in reduction of
rates of the natural resources OF the state,
that its mining and manufacturing inter-
estS have been immensely stimulated. This
remark is especially applicable to ten cities
Of the state which now produce from one to
fifty cars of salt each, daily; also with
scarcely less force to eight coal producing
counties, which supply this and several
states adjoining with fuel, and in a marked
degree to the milling interests, which have
q capacity for the manufacture of every
buShel of wheat produced in the state in the
most favorable season"
Texas has salt of as good quality and in as
great abundance as Kansas. Our wheat
area is larger than the entire state of Kan
sas and quite as productive. Our coal 4
fields are IN process of development, and in
the course of time will produce large part,
if not all, OF the coal needed in Texas.
The Texas commission is undertaking 10
do for these and other local industries what
the Kansas commission claims to have done
for like interests in that state 1t desires
to do this peaceably and without any I'M
necessary reduction in the revenues of the
railroads if possible. But when the COM
mission attempts to give home enterprises
a fair chance to supply home demands if
las in the case of our salt industries) it is
met with a cut in rates from interstate
points that has no other significance than
an announcement that local enterprises
shall not enjoy the advantages in rates to
which their location entities them, then it
will hardly be held responsible by an en-
ightened public for any reduction in rates |
and consequent loss of revenue to the roads |
that may be necessary TO shield such enter |
prises from the merciless assaults of for |
eign interests, whose purpose is to crush |
them and pave the way for continuance of !
their monopoly of the Texas trade.
L. L. FOSTER.