St. Paul daily globe., 1896-02-03
WHAT A "KID" DOESN'T KNOW.

One Of our farm papers has a depart
ment which it incautiously commits to
the editorial care Of its kid" who
mixes up a couple columns Of what
he calls chopped feed for his readers
In each issue. Like most kids" he
aims to be sprightly rather than
factful. In one Of his paragraphs he
says: "If you want to find some arti-
cles the price of which has not de-
clined, go into your neighboring bank
to your railroad agent and ask him
the price of hauling freight and pas
sengers"
Perhaps the"Kid'' really believed this;
IDENTIFY he has not investigated the facts
to ascertain the truth, though these
facts are accessible to any one. AS
to interest rates, were he to ask any
banker whose experience covers the
time since that epochal date from which
the kid" as we'll as his "old man"
date everything, the year 1873, what
We're the current rates then and now,
very decided decrease in the price
bankers ask for the use of their de-
poSitorS' money. He would be told
that in 1873 the common rate was L. per
cent per annum; and that, in the
earlier days of the "dollars Of the
daddies," a rate of 2. or per cent
month was customary Even the
state of Minnesota has indulgently low
cred the rate it charges on it's school
loans and on delinquent taxes quite
materially. John Sherman tells us
in his ''Recollections" how, at the out
break Of the war, the government paid
10 and II per cent interest on loans.
and now per cent is thought a suffi-
cient rate.
Then, in the matter of railway rates,
the Kid has something to learn, as
we'll as those Of his unfortunate read
ers who take his fiippancy for wisdom.
Let us take the year preceding de-
monetization, 1872, and compare prices
for hauling freight and passengers by
rail with those obtained now. In that
year 1t cost the wheat farmer, to get
a bushel of wheat by rail from Chicago
to New York, 33.5 cents; and 269 cents
if he-sent it by rail and lake. Whether
he sent it or the man to whom he sold
1t is immaterial; for, like Jones, the
farmer pays the freight. In 1872 the
average freight rate was 2.01 cents per
ton per mile; in 1895 it was 1856 of a
cent for carrying one ton one mile. In
the latter year the railways carried,
in round figures, 1920, 100000 tons Of
freight one mile. If the same rates
prevailed as 'before demonetization,"
the railways would have earned $685.
600, 900 more in 1895 on the freight they
carried, or $250,000,0O0 more than they
did earn. In other words, it would
have cost the people Of this country
in 1895 $1,650, ,000, 900 for the transporta-
tion Of their goods, instead of 500, ,O0O,-
900. There has been, shall we say as
a result of ''the crime of '73," reduc-
ton Of 81 per cent in freight cost.
Again, the average passenger rate in
1884 was 236 cents per mile. In 1895
it was EOS cents mile. In the latter
year the railways carried 13,60O, ,531, ,635
passengers one mile. If they had re-
ceived for this service the rate of 1884,
their earnings from this branch of the
service would have been $44,S ,754
more than they were The subject might
be pursued further, to show the de-
crease in the values Of stocks and bonds
Of railways "since demonetization," but
enough has been given to show that
the earning capacity of railways, like
| that Of the farms, has undergone de-