People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1897-04-29

Newton, Kan. 80. 26 81
Superior Neb. ......... % 8;
Kingman, Kan.... 80 81
LeavenwOrth, KAN. - q
Kiowa, KAN. ...... 80 3;
Topeka, Kan...26 81
Stafford, Kan. 30 3:
Carthage, Mo-. 80. % q
Harrington, Kan. % 81
Mcpherson, Kan. p 3.
st. Joseph, No ...... - q
jefferson City. Mo. .... % q
Great Bend, Kan. ..... 80 8;
Scott City, Kan. 81 3;
Your committee could continue
these comparisons at great length,
but believe we have shown enough tC
prove cOncluSively that discrimi-
nations exist, and your committee
found another, which, to Us, seems to
be yet more glazing aud inexcUsable,
tO-wit: lhe exporter can have bis
grain shipped at rate from 9 to l.
cents per 100 bounds cheaper than The
local dealer, as the railroads make
one rate for the exporter and another
flr the local trade. For instance,
The export rate on corn from Wichita
is 26 cents per 100. while the local
rate Is 80 cents per l0Opound, and your
committee fails TO find any just
ground for such discrimination, it
simply acts as a premium to the
export business on the one hand and
acts as bar TO the lUcal trade on the
other.
Your committee was invited by the
officers Of the Gulf and Ihterstat,
railroad to visit the city Beaumont.
which is the present terminus OF
their road, and at which pOirt is
situated three great Saw-miliS. Your
committee gladly accepted the in
yitation and visited this point. Our
stay was necessarily brief, hut the
information we gained in orr few
hours stfy is of much impo lance
to the people of Kansas and
Oklahoma.
We found three great Sawmills
located here the smallest OF which
has a capacity of 200. 900 feet OF lumber
per day. The timber cut is long Leaf
pine, one of the most valuable of its
species for building purposes. and we
are assured that the supply was sue.
as to be practically iDexhaustible
We examined the lumber and found
it of a superior quality. and the
owner OF one Of the mills gave US the
price of house building material as
Sc per thousand, and your committee
found Kansas corn selling on the
streets of Beaumont at 50 cents per
buShel.
So it can be readily seen how a
reduction of freight rates could
benefit both sections and Stimulate
the trade in each.
The day your committee was on
the road to Galveston they passed
about twenty-five trainlOads going
north and each train consisted of from
ten u eighteen cars, and but short
time before your committee visited
Galveston a ShiplOad Of some 800 head
Of cattle was sent from Galveston To
Liverpool, being the first shipment
OF the kind that was ever made from
this port, and word came during our
stay of their safe arrival in good
condition.
Texas is one vast pasture filled with
thousands Of head Of cattle, and the
people are just awaking to the fact
that they may as well fatten their
own cattle for the export trade as 70
send them north to be fattened in
Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and
other eastern and northern STATES
and shipped via New York and New
port News.
1t takes corn 70 fatten a steer. and
Texas can hardly be counted as a
corn producing state, being more
adapted to cotton, which is really a
more profitable crop, while Kansas is
one OF the greatest corn states in the
union and has larger exportable
surplus one year with another than
any other state in the union. But 80
long as the present freight rates
prevail Texas will have to send her
c title to the east to be fattened,
while Kansas will be obliged t. send
her corn after them, and New York
will reap the final benefit which nv
right b longs to the west and sopth.
Kansas in 1895 furnished 81. 100. OOC
b !shels OF corn for export. and cut
three states in the entire union
furnished more corn for use outside
the state than her.
In the same year she furnished H.
9l7,SS0 bushels Of wheat for export,
despite the fact that her crop for that
year was the smallest for many years.
Her crop Of wheat in 1898 amounted
to 100000 bushels. and under
ordinary conditions Kansas can b.
united on for crop of at least 25
100000, and it must he borne in mind
the larger the crop the larger the
exportable surplus.
Kansas in 1896 had 622. 500 mich
COWS and l6,766.245 head of other
cattle, and her cattle interests are
constantly increasing, while she now
stands seventh in the union as a
cattle state.
In 1896 there were 1.676. 4S7 head of
hogs in Kansas. These fgeres nroye
the value and magnitude of the Kan.
sas trade.
But your committee found that
while the determinations against
grain were onerUus and inexcusahle
and against the best interests OF orr
state and the state of Texas. the
determinations which are against
the interior on imported goods are
even greater and as an instance found
the rate Oh sugar from Galveston
To ST. mis- IN ho On oon,, - 100