The record-union., 1893-02-13
OPERATING DIFFICULTIES.
Facts Which Cannot be Successfully
Disputed.

Comments of an Eastern Journal on
the Present Railroad
Discussion.
The reference made in our issue of jan
uary 9th to the report of Colonel r. T.
Morgan upon the subject "What would
be just and equitable rates of freight and
fares for the railroads of California;" has
called out from several of the newspapers
OF San Francisco responses in which the
effort is made to break the force of the
statements showing the injustice of the
popular demand for sweeping reductions
in that State. The high cost of fuel, the
heavy mountain grades, the unpeopled
and unproductive character of a large
part of the territory, the large holdings of
lands for pasturage and the remoteness of
the producers from the markets of the
world were mentioned by us as among
the causes for the heavy expenses and
small earnings of the railways OF Califor-
MIA, and these are all facts patent to the
most casual observer. Yet so unfair is
the popular attitude toward the railways,
inspired largely by the mendacious So
phistries of Mr.. Leeds, that even the facts
of nature are denied if they seem to in
terpose a plea for fairness toward the
railways. Under the unjustifiaDle head
ing, "A base plot; the effort to perpetu-
ate excessive freight rates; the misrepre-
sensations in tie report of Expert Nor
gam" the EUenlag Bulletin of San Fran
cisco, a fairminded Journal except when
the Southern Pacific Company is under
consideration, dev0tes several columns 10
an attempt to get around the facts cited
by the h0tLtody Age and Colonel Morgan.
1t is not our intention to appear in the
defense of Colonel Morgan's report, for
he has long since established the reputa-
ton of being quite able to defend his pro-
tessional statements, not one of which
has yet been disproved, but we reiterate
the statements which the RdiitUGy Age
has made. The BHttetR attempts to
prove that the cost of coal is not so great
in California as has been stated by quot
ing some statements made in lSS7-siX
years ago-about the price charged for
coal at mines in Nevada, Utah, oregon
and Washington Territory, many hum
drads of miles away, and requiring a
costly haul over tremendous mountain
grades and desert wastes before delivery
in California. AS we'll might the Bulletin
quote the low price of coal in the mines
of Pennsylvania and argue that therefore
fuel is cheap in California. Facts cannot
be set aside by argument so manifestly
unfair. Here is what Colonel Morgan
says:
The actual average cost of the coal
used by the Southern Pacific Company OF
its lines in California is So 40 per ton, de-
livered on the locomotive tenders. The
average cost TO the San Francisco and
Northern Pacific Railroad Company is
81 % per ton. The average cost to the
railroads in Southern California is 81 so
per ton, the cost to some roads being as
high as 50.
all of the railroad companies of California
is at least 81 per ton, delivered on the
locomotive tenders and at the other places
of consumption.
"From Philadelphia and Baltimore to
Chicago and st. Louis, and thence to
Kansas City, the average cost of coal de-
livered on the locomotive tenders of the
roads extending throughout Pennsylva-
MIA, Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, In
diana, Illinois and Missouri, may be
safely estimated at not more than 81 26
per ton-lS per cent. only of the average
cost per ton to the roads operated in Cali
fornia."
We believe that these figures are under
rather than over the actual cost of coal
delivered on the locomotive tenders in
California. There is no good coal found
in the entire State, and the supply for the
railways comes from England, Wales,
Australia, the Island of Vancouver and
the State of Westinghouse course max
ing the cost at the points of consumption
very great. The cost of the fuel used by
the Southern Pacific Company in oper-
ating its roads in California in 1891 was
S., Us, SS6-equal to 81, l56 per mile. The
same item of operating expense on the
Chicago u Alton road was S4l6 per mile
an enormous difference. The lack of
fuel is the great misfortune of California.
which it is useless to deny or ignore, and
fuel is tremendous item in the cost of
operating the railways in that State.
In answer to the ailusion to the exist
ence of long stretches of arid and unpeo-
pied lands which furnish no traffic for
the railways, the Bulletin urges that
while there are regions of desert and
mountain the valleys and foothills have
great productive possibilities, which is
very true. But the fact remains that the
| Southern Pacific road was built for hum
dreds of miles through an almost unin-
| habited wilderness, and that after wears
of operation the greater part of the line
still affords but meager traffic which
does not warrant. the low rates that are
demanded. The future possibilities of
the country do not furnish money to nav
present operating expenses. The exist
ence of large holdings of land in the CEN
trail and upper parts of the State is ad-
mitted, but the Bulletin says that it is
because the Southern Pacific Company
will not bring hither people who will
buy small parcels" which we submit is
a poor reply. The large land holders.
who have continued even of late to add
to their vast domains OF unoccupied
lands, TO the exclusion of productive set
tiers by whom the railways as well as
the State would have benefited, might
much more justly be charged with re-
tarding the development of the country.
The RGit,Cay Age has no pecuniary
concern in the Southern Pacific Com
pany, and it has had no communication
with any Southern Pacific man in regard
to the warfare against it in which some
OF the people of California are now in
dulging. But the Rdilaoau Age believes
in justice to railways as well as to indi-
viduals, and it cannot but condemn the
unfair attitude toward those interests
which is being exhibited in California in
even more surprising degree than in
any other portion of the country.-Rail-
way Age.