The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-04-20
ADVANCE In RAIES
A Higher Tariff for the
Pacific Mail.
TO 90 INTO EFFECT SOON.
Another Advance Promised by
the Panama Railroad
WHEN THE SATURN SAILS.
An Agreement in Favor of Shipping
by Sailing Vessels-Giving the
Coasters a Chance.

Hereafter. when merchants desire to
ship goods 10 New York via the Pacific
Mail Steamship Company they will have
10 pay an advanced rate.
When the steamer San Jose sails on the
18th for Panama and way ports she will
accept consignments at the following rates,
which were announced yesterday: Flour
81 so and merchandise SIS per ton, and lum-
Der SO per thousand feet. a 40 per cent ad-
vance over the old rates.
The Panama Railroad Company will
meet the advance when the steamer Saturn
returns to Panama on her next down trip,
but 10 information could be obtained at
the Office of the Johnson-Loeke Company
as to what the rates via the Panama CON-
pany will be.
An announcement is made on the agen-
ey's circulars that "all information regard
ing shipments can be obtained at the Office
of the company" but with the usual I'M
success that attends the visit of a reporter
to Front and California streets. nothing
definite could be obtained for publication
beyond the fact that the raise of the Pa
citc Mail would be met.
The news of an additional tax for carry
ing freight by steamer to New York and
Central America was expected IN business
circles, but nevertheless the strong moral
that il carried with ii was the subject of
much debate.
No one supposed that the Pacific Mail
would make such a greedy jump TO get
back that which IL had lost by competition,
the general impression being that the COM
pany would wait quietly until the news OF
the defeat of the North American Nsylga-
ton Company had got cold before COM
mencing again to put the screws on tue
people of California.
That the Panama road should be so
hasty also created surprise, even among
its friends, and there were some pretty
hot words spoken about the transportation
companies trying to press their advan-
tages.
One merchant expressed himself very
f0reibly about the proposed advance, say
ing: well, it won't do the transportation
company any GOOD to try TO force the rates
up so high after we have enjoyed the bene-
fits of a reasonable tariff.
There are too many unchartered yes
| sells in the harhor, and guess the mer-
chants OF San Francisco will probably lip
around the Horn or not at all.
"The crisis has arrived In mercantile
| circles, and business Is just now in such a
state that il cannot stand any unjust rail-
road or steamship taxations.
I'VE will have to ship by sailing vessels
or shut up shop II another single cent is
added TO the schedule announced by the
Pacific Mail Company"
gentleman connected with the Mall
company gave as one reason why the cor
poration could not remain in business ex-
cept when q good price for freight is
obtained, that the passenger traffic causes
a loss to the company that has TO be made
up on freight.
In Justice to the corporation it is we'll to
say that this party is not very high Of
fetal.
The Pacific Coast Steamship Company
figures that it costs 80 cents per day to feed
a cabin passenger, and as the Pacific Mail
Company gets Sl10 for a passenger for
Panama and S9O for through passenger
for New York, there is apparently big
margin for profit
TIE old rate on -four was SIS per Pacific
Mail. thus il will be observed that the 81 90
is still far from being as high as 1t used to
be. But the SIS rate was subjected to a re-
bate Of Is per cent 10 regular shippers, re-
6ucing IL to S13 80, or only Sc higher than
the new rate.
The SIS rate for lumber is to cover way
port shipments. The lumber rate before
competition was iDaugurated was $50 and
$50 per 1000 feet, and was reduced as low
as So during the North American Com
pauy's fight.
Large quantities of lumber were shipped
by steamer 10 Central America while the
low rate was In vogue. and 10 one way the
advance of the steamer tariff will be good
thing for the community, for now the
coasting schooners will be given an op-
porrunity to engage in the trade. For over
wear they have been almost excluded
from the traffic.
The merchandise rate of IS is an ad-
vance of about SO per ton over the old
competitive rates.