St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-01-01

safely say that our railroad facilities are
ample.
But when our waterways are QueS-
toned we must admit our deficiencies.
While it is true that the river divides
| our city and affords cheap tranSporta-
| ton, which should be carefully hus-
banded and not under valued, its course
does not lie in the direction of our main
sources Of supply, nor does it reach our
best territory for distribution. Until
the problem of the continued mainte-
nance of navigable stage of water dur
ing the midsummer months shall have
been more successfully solved. traffic
upon the river cannot be economically
and regularly conducted. and our advan
tages In its possession are correspond
ingly limited. Therefore we find our
selves at a decided disadvantage in the
| matter of water transportation when
compared with Chicago, Milwaukee and
tiles and lines of boats reaching directly
toward il not to the bases of supply.
At the Terminals.
Second-Are we situated at the term
mus of such railroad and boat lines?
Actually yes as to the river, and prac-
tically yes as regards the railroads. ST.
Paul has ever been a basing point for
railroad rates, and although the c., st.
p, Nj. IL o., NJ. IL st. L., 500 and g.,
Nj. & st. p. systems have lines or con.
nectlons reaching the lake ports to the
East, and distributing territory to the
West. the adjustment of rates is not
materially different from what would be
in effect if the eastern and western
branches of these lines were owned and
Onerated indeDendently
Thrd-Do we reach the basis of sup
ply by two or more lines closely paral-
elling each other? This specification
would have been very desirable had we
never had legislation to interfere with
the management of railroads, but under
the long and short haul clause OF the
interstate commerce law, it Is one of
great consequence. AS you are aware,
the practical effect OF this law is to
make the rates between the termini of
any line, the maximum at all inter-
mediate points. Let us glance at the
map to see how we are affected by this.
A large percentage of our jobbers' ton
mage is from territory east and southeast
Of Chicago and Milwaukee, and from
those cities. As this business can be
c.. NJ. d St. p, c., b. 81 n, c., st. p. &
K. c., or NJ. d st. L., it follows that
practically all points in the territory be-
tween the Wisconsin Central on the
east and the Nj. Il st. l.. on the west
have the benefit of st. Paul rates or bet
ter; whereas our jObbers have to pay in
some instances the freight to st. Paul
and return freight to point of consump-
ton, to meet the competition of Chicago
and Eastern houses. This additional
expense puts an embargo upon the bISi-
ness just as soon as the freight from st.
Paul to destination equals the profit OH
the goods, which, of course, varies
greatly with the kind and value of the
article, usually reaching its limit with
in $50 miles. Similarly the rates az
forded by the 500 and d. S. S. & A.
lines of freight from the Middle and
Eastern states make st. Paul rates or
better TO nearly all points in Northern
Wisconsin and the peninsula Of Michi-
gan.
Therefore. if we describe a circle
with St. Paul as a center we shall find
about 200 deg, or fve-ninth5 of it's cir
conference, lying in what we may call
disputed territory, territory in which
the profits must be curtailed or sacri-
feed to meet the prices of jobbing
points east and southeast of us.
Ii we apply our protractor to Chicago,
however. we find that instead of 200 deg
of disputed territory, they have perhaps
80, and it is to this happy situation
that that marvellous business community
owes no small measure of Its prosperity.
Could the roads reaching our bases of
supply have been confined to the terri
tory between the 500 line and the Bur
lington, our position would be similar
to that of Chicago today, and we would
hear less complaint regarding the di fiji
Guilty of reaching territory in South
eastern Minnesota and Northeastern
Iowa. The restriction of so many lines
to the district mentioned whoul have
been disastrous to the lines. but would
have made all that terri DRY north OF