The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-28
TARIFF ON COAL.
Not AbnOrmally High as Compared
With Other States.

Mr. Bum, general counsel of the
Northern Pacific railway company, was
also questioned by reporter for the
Glob in reference to statements
made in the house Of representatives
in the debate on Friday, to the effect
that no showing was made before the
grain and warehouse committee Of the
house in denial Of the charge that the
tariff on hard coal was abnormally
high, as compared with the rates in
any other state, made the following
sta tenent:
'"The statement of Mr, Douglas, if correctly
reported in the newspapers, is not true.
attended before the committee and person.
ally made a statement touching the rates
on hard COAL and giving a comparison be-
tween the rates in this state, which are com
planned Of and the rates in some other states.
This statement made to the committee
in the presence and hearing of Mr.. Douglas.
The facts stated to the committee were sub
stantiallv as follows:
con the 18th Of March, 1891. the inter
state commerce commission decided the case
of Coke Bros. VS. The Lehigh Valley Rail-
road Company. A full report of this de-
cision will be found in volume of the inter-
state commerce commission reports, page 400.
It appeared in this case that the Lehigh VAL
ley Railroad company carried S,e00.00O tons Of
anthracite coal per annum from mines tribu-
tary to it's road. to Perth Amboy distance
varying from different mines from 123 to III
miles. The average distance from Coke
this average distance Of 135 miles had varied
considerably in different years before the
hearing When the case was commenced the
charge was $40 ner ton. During the hear
ing of the case the companies reduced the
rate to S1.60 per ton. The commission, after
very elaborate hearing and a comparison
of this rate with other coal rates then and
heretofore existing on the coal roads of
Pennsylvania and adjoining states, decided
that $3.50 per ton was a reasonable rate for
this distance viz: 1876 miles. This rate is
one cent and mill per ton per mile, ard
applies to a traffic of 900 tons of coal
per annum.
at was shown to the committee that the
Great Northern road moved out of Duluth and
West SUPERIOR into Minnesota and North
Dakota about 81 900 tons per annum.. The
but would be larger 1t shown to
the committee that the average coal rate of
the Great Northern road on shipments local
to this state is about one cent per ton per
mile The average rate of the Northern
Pacific will not vary very much from that.
! The rate of the Northern Pacific from Du-
luth to Moorhead is one and one-fourth
cents per ton per mile. The traffic In Min
nesota, to which these rates apply is infin-
itesimal as compared with the traffic on the
Reading, the Lehigh Valley the Jersey
Central railroads. 1t was shown to the
committee that the Reading road carried over
100000 tons in a year, and received an
average rate Of nine and sixty-three hun
dredths mills per ton per mile. The Lee
high Valley road carried over 5000 coo tons
in year, and received an average rate OF
eight and siXty-three hundredths mills Der
ton per mile. The Jersey Central carried
over 100000 tons in year and received an
! average rate of one cent and two mills per
! ton per mile.
| with a small business and in a country
! where operating expenses are much higher
than on the coal roads Of Pennsylvania, we
| contended to the committee that this compari-
son made the rates on hard coal in Mime
| sofa extremely low"