Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1902-06-12

oiiS iHt service 10 Nc
rendered to the country by the ALWAYS
1 mink | an safe in saying that next IT,
tne christian religion and the commor
sSnoois; no other single work enters int,
the WeIIare and happiness of the peopl.
or the whole country to the same extern
as the railway; no other work could hav,
MADE II possible to occupy the enormou
stretches through the interior OF on
country and people them with cities
towns and villages.
While the railways have to answer 70,
many mistakes of judgment. or of in
tent. on the whole the result has heen :,
create the most effective. useful, and h,
far, the cheapest system of land trans
portation in the world. In England IN.
average amount paid by the shipper fol
moving a ton of freight one hundred
miles is S2.35; In France, 81. 10; in Aus
tria, Sl.90; In Germany, where most O
the railways are owned and operated h,
the government. s1.s4; in Russia, also
government ownership, where the ship
nitnrsr are carried under conditions more
similar to our own than in any other
country as respects long haul, 81. 20; In
the United States the average cost ia
20 cents or less than 40 per cent of the
average cost in Europe. And this is done
while every article used by the railroads,
labor, costs more i'm this coun.
Try than II costs in Europe. with the ex-
Ceptloh or coal and right of way. Wages
IN the Chlted states are. as q rule, more
than twice as high. and this high cost in
the United States is constantly increas-
ing Take, for instance, the material in
an ordinary box car. the cost OF which
has increased in the past three wears
over ~ per cent. You gentlemen whose
manufactured articles are sold through
our the country are always able to base
your selling price on the cost of produce
ton, and when YOUR raw material and
laDof increases the cost, your prices are
advanced, but, Notwithstanding the
enormous advance in wages. in material
or every Kind, the rates OF transportation
IN the United States have gone steadily
down from year TO year until they are
by comparison so much lower thar those
OF any other country that there is no
comparison between them.
If these results nave been accomplished
under all the changing conditions of
financial prosperity and adversely in the
past thirty years, have we not, as a ma
ton. reason to rejoice In what has been
accomplished rather than to seek to de-
Stroy or appropriate tie means which
have brought about these results?
When We consider what has been &C
comrlished by the railway companies in
the past thirty years, the %singularly low
rate of transportation which prevails, the
average cost being not to exceed one
thlru or what II was thirty years ago, the
reduction OF freight c~laSsifications from
nifty or more to three, the increase by
thousands of through routes and rates,
the Improvement of facilities for trans
p~ortation In roadway, equipment and ter
minalS, has not the country abundant
reason to congratulate itself on what has
been accomplished? And l will say fur
ther, that all this has been brought about
by the railway companies IL their efforts
to serve the public and help themselves
rather h by, any legislative or other
Interference. The railways Of the coun-
try are subject to the interstate COM
merce law. IT. Is said that carriers do
not observe the law; that rates are UNI
reasonable; that the public are oppressed.
To remedy the evils growing. as Is
claimed, out of the violation of the law,
government ownership is suggested by
some, and an increase of the power Of
the interstate commission by
others.
Government ownership means the con-
troll and operation of railways by govern
ment officials. A mere statement of the
proposition arouses in the mind of al
most every thoughtful man the fear that
such power would end In the destruction
of the government itself.
Price of Transportation.
10 II the earnings which the railways are
entitled to receive were 20 be derived
solely from traffic beginning and ending
on their respective lines, the rates or
price of transportation would necessarily
be must higher han II is. The interest
of the public served by the railways is
largely in. the increase OF the volume OF
Interstate and international traffic over
the lines. Take, for instance, the lines OF
the Great Northern and Northern Pacific
from Lake Superior and the Mississippi
river to Puget Sound All the interstate
traffic they can obtain from the great
freight producing area south OF Lake Su-
perior and east of Chicago must come TO
them across the lakes, which are closed
10 navigation one-half of each year, or
around the south end of Lake Michigan
by way of Chicago. To increase the vol
ume of traffic and thus be able to reduce
rates, these two companies must secure
a share of the interstate traffic from the
territory named and must also be able to
reach territory furnishing market for the
freight produced along their lines and re-
turn freight to be transported over their
lines and by steamship connection with
the Pacific coast terminals.
II the stock of the railway is held as an
investment by those Interested in the
territory served by the lines, in increas-
ing the volume of traffic and N reducing
rates. the territory will be built up and
rates will be lowered. .
II the question of the ownership OF
stock was left to the public served by
the lines of the railways of the country,
would il not be for the interest OF the
publIc TO have such ownership placed In
the hands of those who had acquires IL
as an investment and whose interest Is
directly connected with the building up
of the lines and building up the territory
served by them?
Railway Competition.
There has been during the past year a
great deal of public discussion about ran.
way competition and a large amount OF
Volunteer literature has been written on
the subject. lit is always q safe basis TO
assume that no DuSlDesS Will Sohtihuo "
any length of time II the result or It's
transactions is a loss, and this Is equally
true of your business and or that or the
raIIyays, No individual, community or
nation can afford TO build up It's COM
r,srce on the foundation that ilwa
viii destroy each other for the general
heneht, This has been done In some
cases in the past and the roads when
have followed this course. have gone
through the portal of bankruptcy into
The hands of rival wners, and, In some
csses into the hands of owners whose
oreater interest Is in other directions,
and whose object In obtaining them mas
been more to restrict the growth or the
country than to increase II.
Competition in railway rates IL eltner
active or Inactive. All railway rates are
the subject of conference between the
lines Interested, followed by an agree
mant as 10 rates, and the conditions, OF
The business OF the country demand that
this course must always be followed. All
rates are by law made public, ana Wnat-
aysr rate is adopted by one road must DE
adonfed by the others, or they Will lose
thsIr share OF the traffic. In TINS there
a. a. active competition. When compeu,
tjon is active, tariffs are d~isregarded ana
nrIr,to rates are made TO large shipper
Pand rebates paid, amounting, as has peen
a,ihlished TO Tor SUNS IN the
Parry aggregate. To prevent TINS active
co,nnetition both the federal government
ond the several states have enacted laws
n,hich have been a dead letter on the
statute hooks until public opinion has de-
.eandod that the various COMMISSIONS