People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1896-05-07

= HNASN@f kbNhNNAhE bhN ~
ceipts, and calling the proceeds profit
on their investment. which generally
consisted of time, little labor, prom
ises and gall.
The stock exchange completes The
job. The power behind the ostensi-
bic manager may secretly sell the
stock Of the road he is managing, or
any other road, short. and then or
der cut Ola the line he controls. de-
preciate the value Of all tue stock,
then buy IN the stock. Ur assist in
getting up scare and forcing the
road which they are after into the
hands of a receiver. This mode is a
sort of legal way to play "freeze
out" in high places. 1t has always
proven a harvest. Again, the idea
of all lines to make enough to pay
operating expenses and interest on
the entire capitalization is simply
prepOsterOus. The So, 900 to $4,000
salaries paid presidents, managers,
and Others, rebates, drawbacks, IN
necessary litigation, and free passes,
all together pave the way for a re-
ceiyer.
l shall now condne myself to
the railroads of Kansas. It i gener-
ally conceded that the railroad cor
poratiOnS Of this state have received
by land grants, voting county, town
ship and municipal bonds, donations.
etc, gifts which, all tod, in value.
will equal if not exceed the true value
of the roads: yet we find the farmers
are charged for hauling their produce
and stock to market about as much
as is charged tie farmers of Iowa
or Illinois for a like service. For in
stance. the charge on sugar from san
Francisco to Kansas City, Mo-, is 60
cents per hundred, or 60 cents per ton
per mile: distance, 1850 miles. The
charge from KanSas City to Salina,
Kas., is % cents per hundred, or 50. u
per ton per mile, which is five times
more that the Kansas road receives
for hauling than the roads Of other
states. The Salina man who orders a
car load Of sugar from San Francisco
must bill to Kansas City in order to
get the advantage OF Kansas City
rate. If the car on its way to Kan
saS City. should pass through Salina
and is left there, The agent is COM
PEELED 20 add the % cent rate from
Kansas City to Salina to the rate
from San Francisco to Kansas City.
The merchant is compelled to pay the
same, and adds it to the cost of the
sugar, which is, in a manner, levying
tribute by the Kansas railroads, or
filming the Kansas man because he
lives in Kansas.
spectators from points in Iowa
and Nebraska can ship corn via Kan
Sas City to Galveston for a less rate
than the grain dealer who lives on the
south border Of Kansas, 800 miles near
erGalveStOn. Corn could be shipped
from Wichita, Has, to Kansas City
a distance of 225 miles, and rebilled
from Kansas City to Galveston, for
2cents less per bushel than the
charge from Wichita to Galveston:
the railroad companies virtually
hauling the car of corn 500 miles for
2 cents per buShel less than nothing.
| am not advised as to whether these
conditions exist now or not; they did
exist only short time ago.
again by examining the inter.
state commerce report of 1889, pp. 4O3.
All, L find 1t cost slO12 $40 to carry
Is tons of wheat 100 miles in Kansas.
In the same report it shows the cost
of carrying 10 tons of wheat in Iowa
is 1881 6-lO, difference in cost being
only .3l2. the comparison being made
on five Of the best railroads OF each
state and the general average, taken.
I'VE now have the cost of transpor-
tatiOn Of the two states; the next step
will be to compare the charges for a
like service of the two states. The
only way to ascertain this is to COM
pare the schedules of each state in
force in 1889 and 1890. The distance
selected as basis is 100 miles.
ave shall compare, first, the
charges on merchandise by the JOG
pounds, in classes l to 5. TIE LIST
to 9Th will suffice; the 2nd, Bird and
4th classes are very similar: LIST class
merchandise per 100 pounds per .OC
miles, schedule charge 10 Kansas is
IS cents; Iowa, % cents for same
amount, class, and distance. which is
9 cents less than half, or 116 per cent.
more is what the Kansas man paws
than the Iowa man. Glass 5: Kan
Sas, p cents, Iowa s cents, which is a
difference of 221 per cent.
"The charges for carrying a car
load of wheat of Is tons 300 miles. in
Kansas, is sos; in Iowa, the same