The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1894-04-27


roads practically own the state. 1t
matters little under present conditions
who holds the deeds to land. The
surplus crops of the land go to enrich
the railroads. The nominal owners
of the land are doing we'll if at the
end of the year they are not poorer
than they were at the beginning. The
people are engaged in an arduous
struggle for existence. Under present
conditions the accumulation of wealth,
or even of enough of the worlds goods
to make the struggle less doubtful, is
an impossibility and it is an impossi-
bility because the railroads, not con-
tent with the lions share, stop only
when the profits of the crops of the
state are exhausted.
A study of the freight question in
Florida shows that in carload lots 10
cents per box, or $50 per carload, is
the smallest charge for any distance.
The basing points are Jacksonville,
Palatka, Gainesville, Callahan, Fer
nandina, Baldwin, High Springs,
Lake City and Live Oak. Not an
orange will be carried to any of these
points for less than 10 cents per box
or $50 per carload, even if it is carried
only mile.
The people are 100000 in number
with 100000 minds. The railroads
are as one. They have combined to
extort their rates. Talk about compe-
tition! There is no more competition
than if the roads were under one
management. The roads are all in
accord to keep up rates. How do we
know this? We know it because the
rates from points that have two OF
more roads are not particle lower
than those which have only one.
Take Ocala, Leesburg, Tavares, Or
lando, Dade City, Plant City and
Tampa ;the rates from all these towns
are as high as from the villages depen-
dent on one road only. Competition
There is none. The people must rely
on the power of the law or they must
surrender to any demands the roads
may see fit to impose.
There is but one section in the state
where competition cuts any figure and
that is not between railroad and rail-
road, but between railroad and river.
The charges on the Jacksonville, Tam
pa and Key West road, which paral-
lels the st. Johns river, are lowest by
far in the state. The rate on this road
is uniform, regardless of distance, and
is, in every instance, the lowest rate
imposed anywhere in the state.
Whether the fruit is hauled one mile
or the whole length of the road the
charge is only 10 cents per box. This
charge is not unreasonable, and it
shows that if the st. Johns river only
ran through all Florida we would
have little if any need for a railroad
commission. Sanford and Enterprise,
sixty-eight miles from the nearest
basing point, pay only 10 cents freight
per box on oranges, Or $50 per car
load.
AS soon as we leave the river we
see the difference. Longwood is only
ten miles from Sanford, and yet for
hauling carload of oranges that ten
miles the railroad charges an extra
S24. That is $40 per mile, while
from Sanford to Jacksonville the
charge is only "a cents per mile. On
other roads leading from Sanford the
charges are proportionate. Paola is
only six miles distant, and yet it takes
SIS to carry carload of oranges that
distances per mile.
1t costs the shipper $50 per carload
on oranges from Hammock Ridge to
Gainesville, distance of only five
miles. The charge is $45 per carload
from Archer to Gainesville, only fif-
teen miles; and $48 for all points be-
tween Rosewood, forty-seven miles
from Gainesville, and Cedar Key
ten miles further.
But it is South Florida, both on the
east and west coast, that suffers most
from railroad overcharges. Almost
as soon as Barlow is left, which is
about $50 miles from the nearest
basing point, and which has rate of
$50 per carload, the rate jumps be-
yond 500 and goes above 800. From
Wachula to Robinson inclusive, the
rate is 500 for less than 200 miles.
From Arcadia to Fort Ogden, inclu-
sive, the rate is 500, and from Cleve-
land and Punta Gorda the rate to the
basing point-about 225 miles-is $102.
These are about the average rates for
the west coast of Florida below
Tam a.
And on the east coast it is worse
| still. Commencing at Tillman, 1874
miles from the nearest basing point,
and continuing to Sebastian, the rate
is 500 carload for oranges. Com
mencing at st. Lucie, only us miles
from basing point, and continuing
to West Jupiter, the rate is Sill per
carload. South of Jupiter, and only
four miles distant, at Venus, the rate
jumps to Sal per carload, and con-
tinues to Juno, only eight miles south
of Jupiter. These rates for only ABOUT
225 miles are higher than the rate
from Jacksonville to Louisville or
Cincinnati, 826 miles distant.
If the rates north of basing points
are too high, the rates to basing points
are nothing less than robbery.
There has been great deal of talk
about the building up of Florida, es-
pecially in the fruit-growing sections.
For whom are the fertile lands of
Florida developed? For the people?
After paying the expenses of getting