The Bemidji pioneer., 1900-10-11

e For the last six months, and, indeed,
d ever since John Lind determined to
stand as the candidate of his party
& for governor. the railroad and ware
house commission has industrio usly
employed itself in the work Of making
campaign capital for the Democratic
party, and has made pretentious
claims to the saving that it would
/ accomplish to shippers in the lowering
OF freight rates. "A great hue and cry
has been raised by the Democratic
press Of the state concerning the COM
missions famous order to the compa-
MES to lower their rates upon certain
classes of freight; or, In the event Of
their refusal to make such reductions,
to establish terminal points at. various
{of the smaller cities throughout the
state.
This widely scheme was;
as all well informed persons knew at
the time, simply a political manoeuvre
which it was never expected or intends,
III ed to develop in the shape Of an sactu-
al reduction of rates, or to actually
i bring about any substantial changes
in the matter of tariff charges. 1t
might be well, for thorough UNDER
standing of the case, to give a briet
history Of the proceedings leading up
to the late order Of the commission.
In February, the commission called
on the railroads to appear before that
body and show cause why the dis
tributing rates made by. reason Of the
great shipment out from the distribute
ing centers. should not apply between
all cities In the state. The attorneys
for the railroads appeared before the
commission and asked If any COM
plant had been made, citing the law
under which the commission was au-
thorized, to order a revision OF rates.
upon complaint being made. The
commission admitted that no such
complaint had been lodged The mat
ter ran on for some time, being care
fully kept before the public by the
commission through the medium Of the
press. The position was then taken,
and has since been adhered to, by the
attorneys for the roads. that the
wholesale idea obtained In the matter
Of shipping. just as pit would in the
matter or barter and sale-in other
words, that point from which freight
was shipped by the thousand tons
should have better rate than point
from which freight was shipped by the
single ton. After repeated conferences
between the governor and the COM
mission. some time in, the month Of
August, the commission served notice
on the roads that It proposed to adopt
rates on merchandise, and the rate to
be adopted would be q reduction upon
the then existing rates between all
cities to an extent approxima ting u
per cent. This reduction, 1t will be
observed, applied only to merchandise,
such as was not included in the '.cor-l
modify rate. l 1. s2s.:4 f..
Cor clear understanding Of this
term, it should be stated that all
freight is classified, The roads affect
ed in this case coming under the
classification, western adopted by
the commission for some time and re-
cognized as distinct classification at
the present time. When the railroads
make rates on different classes Of
freight lower than that fixed iii the
classification or distance tariff. that is
what is known as a commodity rate.
Wheat, fax, all kinds Of grain. lum-
Der, coal, binding twine and such arti-
cles, coming under the classification Of
'scommodity.') n as
The commission distinctly stated in
its order that nothing herein shall be
taken as proposing cancellation or
modification of any existing tariff
That means, In plain, unmistakable
terms, that the proposed reduction
could not, in any way, affect the rate
on the following named commodities,
which are, specifically exempt under
the order Of the commission from the
proposed reduction, namely: Brick
bran, mill stuffs, coal and coke, emf
grants rnovables, -four hay and
straw, ore. potatoes, wood, wheat
stone, corn, flax grain, cattle, hogs,
horses and mules. These are the
horses and mules. These are the things
which were exempted from the re-
duced rate proposed by distinct
specification of the order. The articles
upon which the reduction should
take effect were as follows: Paints
glass and oils, dry goods clothing,
boots and shoes, groceries, barbed
wire, iron. nails, hides and pelts, ma
.chinery and castings and furniture
Except emigrants' movables) 1t will
be seen instantly that the value Of COM
modities exempted from the reduction
as compared with those upon which
the reduction would be in force, are as
in the proportion of 100 to l.. OF
course, the greatest shipping is that of
wheat live stock, corn, and other
grains, lumber, Hour and other articles
contained in the list first named. Had
the reduction originally ordered been
made, the direct benefit to the con-
sumner would have been very, very
slight; but the reduction was never
made, and was never even ordered.
The railroads, on receipt of the COM
MISSIONS notice. served a reply that
they woHid not comply with the or
der; that the proposed rate was too
low and could not be complied with
without an actual loss upon every ton