The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-01-11

OF COMPETITION.
The great freight producing area of
the country is along the Atlantic sea-
board and in the territory south of Lake
Erie. The freight that is the product
OF all the manufacturing enterprises
which find market west of the Missis-
! sppi river to large extent must pass
| through the lakes to Duluth and to ST.
Paul and Minneapolis, and into the ter
fltory between those cities and the Pa
| ciflc, or around Lake Michigan AMI at
| that point going largely to Southwestern
| lines. The question of stock ownership,
SO far as the public along the lines
! served by the Great Northern and
! Northern Pacific is concerned is to be
considered III the light of a great COM
! petitive condition between the territory
served by the Northern lines and those
| Of the South and West; between lines
| whose interest it is to secure traffic
as against the Northern lines, to pOpu-
late and build up the country in which
| the people along the northern lines have
/ no special immediate interest
| few years ago the transportation on
Lake Superior was mainly in the hands
| of what was known as the Lake Su-
| perIor Transit company, a pool line made
| up by steamers operated by Eastern
| trunk lines, who also operated boats
| running from Chicago, and whenever we
! reduced the rates from the wheat fields
| to Lake Superior a corresponding ad-
vance in the water rate was made to
| offset our reduction on land and equalze
| the rate by Lake Superior and by Chi
| cago. We built six steel steamers
! which at that time were the largest on
! the lakes. The first cargo we landed at
| Buffalo We were told that it would have
| to pay the local rate from Buffalo to
| New York, which was practically the
|
/ to New York. We found way to get
around this, and the result was to break
! up the Transit company, and break down
| the rates on the lakes to a reasonable
! figure.
Later the elevator charges at the head
| of Lake Superior were ia cents per
bushel, and at Bupffalo IA cents per
bushel with an additional charge for
/ shoVelng of q cent. We built large
elevators at both places, the effect
! of which has been to reduce the rates to
| Il cent both in Buffalo and at the
| head of Lake Superior; in other words,
! where the grain paid 2A cents per bushel
| ii is now paying l cent. The difference
! TO the Northwest on 200, 600 900 bushels
I Of wheat is $3,50O,000 per year. The pro-
! portion of this we handle through our
! elevators is probably Is per cent We
| did not build the elevators for the pur-
| of the Northwest, but in order that they
might have fair play and that their
| grain might go forward without undue
and unnecessary taxation. I say this
| to show you that we are at all times
mindful of everything that Will add to
| your material prosperity.
RATES CUT IN TWO
IN TWENTY YEARS.
! In 1880 the average rates on grain
from the Red River valley to Duluth
were from % to IS cents per hundred;
today they are from IA to 16 cents per
hundred, or about one-half the rates of
twenty years ago. The rates on coal
and lumber nave been reduced in about
the same proportion.
Reductions of rates in transportation
must be made with the greatest care in
! order to- avoid unfair discrimination
against persons or localities. reduc-
ton in the rates of the whole country of
10 cents for moving q ton of freight 100
miles would make a reduction of over
$3.50, COO 900 on the traffic handled during
the past year, and would wipe out a
large part of the income of the railroads.
The conditions of the general railroad
situation in the United States at the
present time are hardly understood. For
the year ending June 3d. 1880, the num-
Der of tons carried one mile by all the
railroads was 76 207, 600 900 ton miles; in
1900 it was 141 800 G00,00O as shown by the
interstate commerce commission reports.
In 1901 a safe estimate will bring this TO
l65, 000, COO, coo tons carried one mile, an IN
crease of 100 per cent in eleven years.
During this time the mileage Of tne rail-
roads in the United States increased Is
per cent. While the tons moved show
an increase of 120 per cent, the earnings
show an increase of less than 40 per
cent. During this time the rates have
been reduced to the extent of that lif-
ference During that period of eleven
years, notwithstanding the enormous in
crease in traffic, four of the so-cailed
trunk lines nave through destructive
competition failed and ..cen reorganized
and all but one of them have been
absorbed by the stronger surviving lines.
| Destructive competition has forced the
weakest lines into bankruptcy and today
they are owned by the lines that were
able to maintain their position and cred
it, giving them ability to acquire these
bankrupt roads. The Baltimore & Ohio
and the Pennsylvania for half century
have been rival roads. Both states and
cities have actively aided in building
them up-destructive competition be-
tween them has finally resulted in the
Pennsylvania road owning the Baltimore
& Ohio. Have the rates advanced?
Have the people along the line of the
Baltimore & Ohio suffered? On the con-
trary, the first step has been to furnish
money to cut down the grades, to double
track tne line from the Ohio river to Chi
cagO and to furnish cars and terminal
facilities to handle the business to the
best advantage and at such rates will
enable the shippers along the line to
open ZIP their mines and increase their
business in every branch of trade and to
rely upon the solvent company for the
facilities necessary to transact their
| business.
ALLEGED CAR SHORTAGE
LACK OF CAR MOVEMENT
Hardly a day passes without a railroad
accident, many of which are attended
with much loss of life. What is the
cause? In an effort to handle the buSine: S
of the public trains are run in such
numbers and at rate of speed which is
entirely beyond the capacity of the roads.
| Today there is an absolute blockade OF
traffic between Chicago and the Missis-
Sippi river points in the West and the
! Atlantic Seaboard. Furnaces within a
short distance of the coke ovens are cold
| and thousands of men are idle for want
| inc from PittSburg to Denver. People
! say it is due to shortage of cars. Ten
! years ago, with ton mile movement Of
| f6,OO0,000,000, the average freight car move
ment was about thirty miles per day;
| at this time it is not more than twenty
miles per day 1t is not more cars that is
wanted, but more movement of the cars
/ now in use Freight trains move GER
! talnly an average of sixteen miles an
| hour while on the road. Twenty miles
| cars movement daily means that the cars
! twenty -four hours. No business in the
! world can thrive under conditions when
it can use its facilities Tor earning money
! less than one hour out of the twelve.
| When many of the roads were built
capital was scarce and high A very
| large proportion of the original railway
! enterprises failed losing a large part
of the investment--they had no idea of
| the future growth and from want Of
money and want of forethOught tne
| terminal facilities are today totally in
| adequate. If the cars could be moved
| at the principal terminals the main lines
would be able to do better than at pres