Milford chronicle., 1895-06-21
mora mani on Fauing PnOes.

More Light on Falling Frlces'
There is. perhaps,no single factor RI
that has playeda larger part in mod
;Sring agricultural, manufacturing J
o3d Industrial conditions general
within the past twenty years nan
che enormous reduction in abroad
cbsroes If the advOcat',s of free
silver coinage were no.. utterly un.
candid, they would net for moment
pretend to attribute the whole of the
fall in prices to the characterization
of silver. Those of them who are
intelligent enough to be acquainted
with the history of American railroad
developments during the last two
decades are certainly dishonest in
doing so. It needs no argument to
enforce the perfectly obvious truth
that a continuous cheapening of the
cost of distributing commodities
must be accompanied by continu-
Gus fall in the prices Of the commod-
tiles themselves. The cost of pro-
duction, if by that term we mean the
price of any given commodity in the
market in which it must be sold,nec-
essarily includes transportation
charges. If those charges are greatly
reduced, it is equivalent to a great
reduction in the cost of production,
and a corresponding fall in market
prices at once follows.-BaltimOre
Sun.
The enormous reduction in rail-
road charges which the Sun refers to
has reached all parts of the country
with the exception of this little State
OF Delaware. The reduction here is
so small indeed that it cannot be dis
covered by even the most careful
statistician. A car load of peaches,
eight hundred baskets, weighing
twelve tons, cost from this town to
Boston two hundred and twenty
seven dollars, or nineteen dollars a
ton an car load lots. Where is the
reduction here? A great railroad
attorney, with offices on Wall street,
New York said a few years ago that
the railroads could make money by
hauling peaches from Delaware grow
ers to Boston for forty-fve dollars
a car, and, he added, 'lf there was
competition in Delaware in this line
the peaches would be carried for this
money" Here is an over-charge of
one hundred and eighty-two dollars
a car, if this gentleman of experience
knows what he is talking about. Is
there not wisdom in the Pennsylva-
MIA railroads owning the dominant
party in Delaware, owning all par
tiosY Two years ago in a single day
this company hauled four hundred
and nineteen cars of peaches from
this peach peninsula. OF course
they did not all go to Boston but
we're distributed to many points, half
Of which did not go beyond Jersey
City, to which point the charge was
$I17.O0 a car. Half of these cars
probably went to New England and
Western points. Allowing forty-fve
dollars as fair charge for hauling
to all these points, the overcharge
would easily average seventy-fve
dollars on each car or th5rty-ta0o
thousand four hundred and ta0enty-
fue dollars ($32, 425), overcharged
the peach growers Of this peninsula
in a single day, and that on a single
article of farm produce. During the
season of 1898 the Pennsylvania
Railroad Company, hauled 4,275,OOO
baskets Of peaches,or 5344 cars of
eight hundred baskets each on which
an overcharge of at least seventy
five dollarsa car was collected which
makes the vast sum of four hundred
thousand and eight hundred dollars
forced from the growers more than
should have been taken in accord
ance with justice and equity. How
long will the people of this State sub
NIT to being thus robbed? Do they
not see where all their toll and labor
goes? Will they lie still and allow
the leaders of the great political par
ties to blindly lead them further into
the meshes of the great Pennsylya-
MIA Railroad monopoly As long
as their paid attorneys are allowed
to 90 to the United States Senate
and allowed to direct all Legislation
in this-just SO long will the people
be thus robbed, and just so long do
they deserve to be robbed We have