The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-05-23


Superior, Neb ..............2S 33
kingman, Kan ..............30 "a
Leavenworth, Kan ........22 26
kiowa, Kan .................30 35
topeka, Kan ................26 81
STAFFORD, Kan ................30 50
Carthage, Mo. ............~..2 Is
Harrington, Kan ............28 81
Mcpherson, Kan ............27 80
St joe, Mo. ..................Zz 20
jefferson City, No ...........22 2S
Great Bend, Kan ............30 35
Fort Scott, Kan ............31 35
your committee could continue these
comparisons a great length, but we be-
lieve we have shown enough to prove
conclusively that discrimination exists
Your committee found anothec
which. to US. seems to be yet more glar-
ing and inexcusable. to-wit: The ex-
porter can have his grain shipped at a
rate OF from 9 to II cents per hundred
pounds cheaper than the local dealer, as
the railroads make one rate for the ex-
porter and another one for the local
trade. For instance, the xpor: rate on
49, a. w lIulid Is - CcIlS per
red. while the local rate is 80 cents per
hundred, and your committee fails to
find any just ground for discrimination
1t simply acts as a premium to the ex-
port business on the one hand and acts
is bar to the local trade on the other.
Your committee was invited by the
officers OF the Gulf and Interstate rail-
rooI 70 c; tta ~ -.
is the present termination Of the road.
Your committee gladly accepted the in
vitation and visited that point Our stay
was necessarily brief. but the informa-
ton We gained during our few hours
stay is Of much Importance 10 the people
Of Kansas and Oklahoma.
eve found three great sawmills locat-
ed there, the smallest Of which has ca
pacity of 100000 feet Of lumber per day.
The timber cut is the long-leafed pine,
one OF the most valuable Of its species
FOR building purposes, and We are assur-
ed that the supply is such as to be prac-
ticaily inexhaustible We examined the
lumber and found II Of superior quail
ity, and the owner Of one of the mills
gave us the price Of house building ma
terial at IS per 1000 feet. and your COM
mittee found Kansas corn selling on the
streets of Beaumont at IS cents per
bushel. So 1t can be readily seen how
a reduction Of freight rates could bene-
fit both sections and stimulate the trade
in each. The day your committee was
on the road going to Galveston they
n sse5 ahovY Irai, loads 80
cattle going north. and each train con-
sisted Of from twelve to eighteen cars,
and but short time before your COM
mottee visited Galveston a ship load Of
some 800 head Of cattle was sent from
Galveston TO Liverpool, being the first
shipment of the kind that was ever
made from that port, and word came
during our stay of their safe arrival in
good condition.
Texas is one vast pasture filled with
of head of cattle, and the
people are just awakening 10 the fact
that they might as we'll fatten their own
CATTLE for export trade as TO send them
north 20 be fatened in Illinois. Missouri,
Kansas and other eastern and northern
states.
1T takes corn 10 fatten a steer, and
Texas can hardly be counted a corn
state. being more adapted TO cotton.
which is really more profitable crop,
while Kansas is one of the greatest corn
states in the union and has a larger ex-
portable surplus one year with another
than any other state in the union. But
SO long as the present freight rates pre-
vail Texas will have 10 send her cattle
20 the east TO be fattened, While Kansas
will be obliged 10 send her corn after
hem, and New York will reap the final
benefit which by right belongs only TO
he west and south.
kansas in 1895, furnished 81 100 900
bushels OF corn for export, despite the
act that her crop for that year was the
smallest for many years. Her crop OF
wheat in 1892 amounted 10 10000, 900
bushels, and under ordinary conditions
Kansas can be counted on for crop Of
1t least 81, 900, 900 bushels. and II must
Re borne in mind that the larger the
,rop the larger the exportable surplus.
kansas in 1896 had 622.es2 milk
'oU-s and ls.7es,345 head of other cattle, |
md her cattle interests are constantly |
Increasing, though she now stands sew
nth in the union as a cattle state.
In 1896 there were 1,676,iS7 head OF |
logs in Kansas. These figures prove |
ne value and magnitude OF the Kansas |
rade.
But your committee found tia: while |
he determinations against grain were |
normous and inexcusable and against |
he best interests OF our state and the |
tate OF Texas and The territory, the dis
rim;nation against the interior and i'm |
,orted goods are even greater; and as an
Instance We found the rate on sugar
rom Galveston 20 ST. Louis 20 be % !
ents per hundred. while The rate to
Wichita is 50 cents a hundred. despite |
ne fact tha: Wichita is much the short
r distance.
The excuse alleged is the low rates
rom New Orleans 10 s.. Louis. While |
Se are willing 20 conceds that there is
ONE ground for discrimination in ia /
-or OF s.. Louis in the matter, we fail /
o find any just reason why Kansas
'oint- located within seven hundred /
niles OF the sea should pay rate one
hundred and fifty per cent higher than /
5 paid by point some eco miles dis
am, or why an Oklahoma point $50 miles
ct nearer 20 Galveston should pay this
anne rate. which IS absolutely prohibi-
ory: or why even points in the state Of
'exas herself should pay these same
ates
And while We are discussing this
roblem We beg leave - call your as,en-
ion 70 the fact ;hat the Determinations
gainst the territory Of Oklahoma ara as
reat. or even greater. than shose suffer
i by the people OF the STATE % Kansas.
While Oklahoma Is new. she Is rapidly