The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1902-06-19


railways never realized tho service to be
rendered to the country by the railways.
1 think am safe in saying that next TO
the Christian religion and the common
schools, no other single work enters into
the welfare and happiness Of the people
or the whole country to the same extent
as the railway no other work could have
made II possible to occupy the enormous
stretches through the interior OF our
country and people them with cities,
towns and villages.
While the railways have to answer for
many mistakes of judgment, or Of i'm
tent, on the whole the result has been to
create the most effective. useful, and, by
far, the cheapest system of land trans
portation i'm the world. In England the
average amount paid by the shipper for
moving ton of freight one hundred
miles is S2.35, In France, $40; In Aus
tria, Sl90; in Germany, where most OF
thu railways are owned and operated by
the government. s1.s4; in Russia, also
government ownership, where the ship
ments are carried under conditions more
similar to our own than in any other
country as respects long haul, S1.70; in
the United States the average cost is
70 cents, or less than 40 per cent of the
average cost In Europe. And this is done
while every article used by the railroads,
including labor, costs more In this coun-
try than II costs in Europe, with the ex-
ceptlon of coal and right of way. Wages
in the United States are as a 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
over 20 per cent. You gentlemen whose
manufactured articles are sold through
out the country are always able to base
your selling price on the cost OF produc-
ton, and when your raw material and
labor increases the cost, your prices are
advanced, but, Notwithstanding the
enormous advance in wages, in material
of 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 than those
OF any other country that there Is no
comparison between them.
If these results have been accomplished
under all the changing conditions OF
financial prosperity and adversely in the
past thirty years, have we not, as ma
ton, reason to rejoice In what has been
accomplished rather than to seek to de-
SrOy or appropriate the means which
have brought about these results7
When we consider what has been &C
complished by the railway companies in
the past thirty years, the singularly low
average cost being not to exceed one
third of what IL was thirty years ago, the
reduction Of freight classifications from
fifty or more to three, the increase by
thousands of through routes and rates,
the Improvement of facilities for trans
portatiOn in roadway, equipment and ter
reason TO congratulate itself on what has
been accomplished? And l will say fur
Their, that all this has been brought about
by the railway companies In their efforts
to serve the public and help themselves
rather than by any legislative or other
interference. The railways of the coun-
try are subject to the Interstate COM
merce law. 1t is said that carriers do
not observe the law. that rates are I'M
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 commerce commission by
others.
Government ownership means the con-
troll and operation OF railways by govern
ment officials. 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.
II the earnings which the railways are
entitled to receive were to be derived
solely from traffic beginning and ending
on their respective lines, the rates or
price of transportation would necessarily
be must higher than IL 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 SUI
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
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
If the stock of the railway is held as an
investment by those interested I'm the
territory served by the lines in increas-
ing the volume OF traffic and in reducing
rates, the territory Will be built up and
If 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 acquired IL
as an investment and whose interest is
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 rail-
way competition and a large amount OF
volunteer literature has been written on
the subject. 1t is always a safe basis to
assume that no business will continue for
any length of time If the result OF its
transactions is loss, and this is equally
true of your business and of that of the
railways. No Individual community or
nation can afford to build up its COM
merce on the foundation that railways
will destroy each other for the general
benefit This has been done In some
cases in the past and the roads which
have followed this course have gone
through the portal of bankruptcy into
the hands of rival owners. and, in some
cases, into the hands of owners whose
greater interest is in other directions.
and whose object in obtaining them has
been more to restrict the growth of the
country than to increase It.
Competition in railway rates Is either
active or inactive. All railway rates are
the subject of conference between the
lines Interested, followed by an agree
ment as TO 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, and what
ever rate is adopted by one road must be
adopted by the others or they will lose
their share of the traffic. In this there
is no active competition. When competi-
tion is active. tariffs are sregarded and
private rates are made to large shippers
and rebates paid, amounting, as has been
published. 30 enormous sums In tho
yearly aggregate. To prevent this active
competition. both the federal government
and the several states have enacted laws
which have been a dead letter Oh the
statute books until public opinion has de-
manded that the various commissions
take some action under the law. The re-
cent activity OF the interstate commerce
commission has resulted, i believe, to a
large extent in correcting this abuse, and.
If they follow IL up with the power COM
ferred upon them by the act Of congress,
tho entire system of private rates Will
DIR. ID. Frank Powell, So. Paul, MINI.