The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-02-14
Daily Ea9le
NJ. NJ. MURDOCH, Editor.
THE POP HOLD-UP.

Il
the railways OF Kansas that they con
sent TO an all-around horizontal cut IL
traffic rates, in addition to a proposed
empowering of the state railway com
missioners to make still further reduc
tioDs, or otherwise the legislature VIII
make that or a greater cut This as an
unreasonable demand, "hold-up
which even the pronounced enemy oil
the railroads, if man of reason, would
not endorse. 1t lacks common sense
There are certain leading commodities
which the people desire carried AT low
er rate But on even these there must
inevitably be different rates on different
lines. A branch line which runs but a
single, half-leaded mixed train per day
cannot carry freight at the same rate
per ton per mile as that Of main line
with its numerous trains and thousands
of tons per day. Such a horizontal cut
would mean the crippling of the service
by just so much. in the cutting Of wages
and expenses. or otherwise inevitable
bankruptcy The railway arrangements
must simply refuse to acquiesce in such
a sweeping and one-sided proposition.
The greater mileage Of the state is in
branch lines and connecting links. SO
far as the average customer is concern
ed, he would prefer present rates with
,,resan+ Sorrioa fhan SI1ch q chpananinu
Of operating expenses as would contem-
plate but one or two trains week or
trains run at ten or twelve miles an
hour. The reduction of the schedule
which is really asked for. is on car load
lots, and on these not as a horizontal
cut but as an equitable reduction, based
on the tonnage of the commodity at
the points of its origin or consignment
respectively, otherwise the discrimina-
ton is transferred from one extreme 10
the other. practically. A mill or factory
at a common point which consumes one
or five car loads of coal per day IS en-
titled 10 better rate than the indvid-
wayside station, on branch line. who
uses but one car load in a week or 4
month. The man who buys his supplies
at wholesale must succeed in purchas
ing at lower rate than that of the re-
tail price, or otherwise the wholesaler
is forced out of business and the Gus
FOL oha
the retailer who at greater expense and
loss of time looks to the scattered and
distant manufacturers. Railway traf-
fic simply embodies and must be con-
trolled by the commercial law OF whole
sale and retail. A retailer can no more
sell at wholesale prices and live than
that railroad can deliver hundred
pounds Of traffic to an individual for
the same rate per ton per mile as that
delivered in car load lots. A retail gro
Ger cannot deliver his wares to his coun-
fly customers for the same price at
which he delivers the same goods to
the occupants of the next block, and the
law which would compel him to do so
would be at the expense Of the nearby
buyer.
The hope Of Kansas railways is in
Kansas itself, in the states growth and
development. Kansas has her special
lines of production and her special
cenusrs Of trade. These should be con-
nv
just in proportion to their relative i'm
portance. When that is not done then
there ensue determinations. Still. and
necessarily, there is such Il thing as
equitable determinations as between
the greater and the less. Ii is in this
that the traffic manager often falls
down. There is a difference in the
traffic consideration to which the pack |
ing house with its distant customers |
is entitled, TO that which should be ac- |
corded the local butcher shop. The |
legislator who fails TO comprehend this |
principle or fact is in no wise fit to pass |
upon laws. If a railway finds a whole |
'hAN DOlHl
Its line, it should stand by such point; |
If mining district. it should develop it: |
If salt producing or other special in |
terest. il should help it: if a grain or |
live stock shipping point of more than |
ordinary prominence, it should not be |
permitted discouraged by distant and |
foreign competitors. and all this conser-
Yation should be by equitable discrim- !
nations. TO the end that the state or ter
ritory being served by such road, as a
whole, should be strengthened. built I'D (
and developed into n paying patron.
The Pop party. in the Kansas legis- |
lature, failing OF comprehending these |
simple propositions. have gone 10 work /
wrong end 10. by taking up and adopt |
ing the crude and drastic policy of n |
state which has lost more than il has |
made in its attempts TO reverse the
laws of trade and commerce by confin- |
Ing them to unnatural and arbitrary
channels
DO NOT COUNT FAIRLY.
nT hA H..