The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1894-08-31
MANKATo FREE PRESS.
ANOTHER FEATURE IN THE PROB
LEM.

days ago, it seemed to be the general
opinion of a large number of witnesses
that the only manner in which the
railway problem could solved was
through government ownership. The
prevailing idea, SO far as we noticed
covered only the question Of the diff
Guilty between the management and
the employees. There was no particu.
lar reason given why government
ownership would in every particular
serve the purposes of the people bet
ter than our present system. The
problem of labor seems to be not the
consideration in the government
ownership of railways, as the follow
ing from the A1g,lS, of Melbourne,
Australia, which we find in tie report
of ID. w. Maratta, the consul general
at Melbourne, will show:
No discussion is awaited with more
interest than the promised Parlia-
mentary debate on railway rates and
railway management. "The diSSatiS-
faction with railway charges is gen.
eral" is the tale told from day to day
by one man after another, and neither
ministers nor members are likely to
overlook the fact Of this deep-seated
discomfort OF course, there may be
grumbling without cause and dissatis-
faction without Justification, but in
the present instance we maintain that
the complaints are well founded; that
the high freight and high passenger
rate policy introduced by MeSSrS.
Shiels and Wheeler is radically wrong
and will have to be abandoned, as well,
also,as the high-taritf rates sanctioned
by those mistaken, or rather those
grievOusly miSled, gentlemen. Mr..
Richardson, when he assumed office,
showed an inclination to follow in the
footsteps of his predecessors, and still
occasionally speaks as though he were
in the lightweight camp; but it is
affirmed he is Succumbing to the in
eXorable logic of facts. The event
will show.
1t is essential, of course, that Par
lament should have fair grasp of
the railway problem, and hence our
recurrence to the subject. 1t is a sub
from the clerk who Journeys daily to
and from his suburban home to the
settler who is heSitating as to whether
he should or should not abandon culti-
walton. Apparently, even first princi-
pies are in dispute. Thus the high
freight, high-taritf party ridicule the
idea that freightS are affected by the
value of the goods carried. The drop
in agricultural produce, it is assumed,
has nothing to do with the railway
department, which is entitled to make
the same charge whether wheat is 5S.
or IS. per buShel. Such is not the COM
mercial principle applied in other
countries. The Interstate
Railway Commission-the great tribu-
nal of the United StateS-repOrted in
1888 as follows:
'.Thepublic interest is best served
when the rates are so appOrtioned as
to encourage the largest practicable
exchange OF products between differ
ent sections Of our country and with
foreign countries, and this can only be
done by making value an important
consideration"
According to this authority, which
is, perhaps, the most practical and
most valuable authority in the world,
value is 'san important consideration"
in fixing charges, or, in other words,
when values fall, charges may reason
ably fall also, whenever it is possible
to reduce them.
A word may be required as to Ameri-
can rates. No doubt we in Australia
will never be able to obtain rates as
low as those that prevail in the United
States, our conditions being radically
different, but the extraordinary thing
is that the assertion should be per-
sisted in that our Victorian rates are
lower than those that are charged in
America. The force of mendacity
could scarcely further go. In one
sense, there are no American rates to
quote. There are a thousand and one
railways in America, and each line
has it's own schedule, and any fancy
list can be prepared. The inquirer
can only deal with averages, and, tax
ing averages, there is no doubt posi-
BILE. The current number of the Fort
nightly ReUieaU is tOlerably accessible to
most people, and the inquirer has but
to open the article by Mr.. j. S. Jeans
on the railway subject, and he will
find the allegation that freights on the
United States lines are the lowest in
the world. Mr.. Jeans adds:
"There is no need for any cOntro-
versy on this point. The fact is set
out in the clearest possible light in
the published accounts of the princi-
pal American railways. The Pennsyl-
vania system may be taken as a typical
case. Over large portion of this vast
system-the largest and most import
ant on the face of the globe under one
designation and contrOl-the average
tOn-mile rate in 1890 was less than
farthing per ton per mile. The average
tOn-mile rate for the whole of the SyS:
TEN was three-tenthS of penny"
That is to say, that throughout this
great organization, the average for
goods of all classes, first-clasS goods,
Second-class, and so on, was just over
farthing per ton per mile, while, in
Victoria, the average for all classes
would be more like Sd. per ton per
mile; and it is obvious that wheat and
similar low-priced goods may be car
ried over the Pennsylvania lines at
rates which appear to us to be nomi-
nal. Still, when the average
American rate for wheat is under one
fourth of penny per ton per mile and
the average Victorian rate is Id. per
ton and over, the handicap appears to
be excessive.