The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-05-23

aeep We're the oceans. as well as the
rivers. all made for Kansas City, Atch-
ison. Leayenworth, ST. Joe, Omaho and
Lincoln?
The humble petition OF the people or
Wichita is that they may enjoy at
least some of the natural advantages
of their loca ton. If they buy goods in
Chicago, which is nearer to Kansas
City than to Wichita, the expect to pay
and do pay more than double the rate
that Kansas City pays. But If they
buy in Galveston. which is nearer to
Wichita than to Kansas CITY, they De-
Eeye il the grossest form of injustice
to force them to still pay rate double
or three times the rate TO Kansas City.
Suppose the traffic managers, in an
Unguarded moment, were TO reverse this
game for a few months, and 10 demand
of the Kansas City merchants. on their
shipments from Galveston, double the
rate to Wichita: and also demand from
them on their shipments from Chicago
the full rate from Chicago to Wichita
with local charge added from Wichita
back to Kansas City? What shrieks
and bowls would go up from the Mis-
souri, bottoms: and how every kansas
City, Atchison. LeavenWorth and St
Joe man would insist that he was
being robbed of his birthright and ruin
ed by the soulless corporations Yet.
substantially what the trafficmen are
perpetrating every day in the year up
en- the merchants of Wichita and
southern Kansas.
How much longer can such business
continue? One of the gravest symp-
toms in our natural life today IS the
growing prejudice of large classes Of
people against the great corporations.
Unreasonable as that prejudice Is, and
! baseless in many ways, il has already
reached a dangerous intensity and
magnitude; and il is just such practices
as we are here discussing which fos-
ter and stimulate the prejudice even
! among fair-minded men. Such prac-
| tees are not only harmful 10 individ-
uals; they weaken the foundations OF
/ the social structure. No substantial
| injustice to large numbers of people
| can long continue without many and
! far reaching results.
TT is no answer 10 all this to say that
/ the system is the result OF anteceCent
! conditions; that the present traffic man
| ayers did not create IL, and that bus
| mess relations would be disturbed if IL
were changed. That is the argument
offered in support of every long-stand-
| ing abuse in all ages of the world.
admit for the sake of argument.
| merely, that any justification whatever
has been shown for higher rates from
| Galveston to Wichita than TO cities
| hundred of miles further north; and the
! existing disparity is yet enormius and
| beyond all reason. A difference of 10
or - per cent would be great: but what
/ shall be said of differences ranging
| from 65 20 $50 per cent?
IF a Kansas City merchant ships
sugar from Galveston and pays $500
| freight. the Wichita merchant, for a
| like shipment a shorter distance, must
pay $500. If a Leavenworth merchant
ships rice from Galveston and pays
| $3.50 freight, the Wichita merchant,
for a like shipment a shorter distance
must pay 500. If a St. Joe merchant
| ships coffee from Galveston and pays
! $3.50 freight the Wichita merchant
| for a like shipment shorter distance
must pay 500; and so on through the
| long list.
such rates subvert all natural laws;
| and, without regard to personal merit
| of any kind, enrich one man and impov
| erish his neighbor; upbuild one commu-
| nifty and tear down another; arbitrari-
| ly lower the cost Of living to the peo-
| pie of one section and as arbitrarily
| increase its cost to the people of an
! other. Nor does the influence of dis
| elimination end with this alone. 1t
| drains off their population. and. by
| making business Improbable. retards
| the growth of every small town within