The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-03-20
RAILROAD MEN
ON WOOL RAISE
Attempt to Show That Nobody Is
Hurt.
TALK OF BETTER PRICE
JESSE M. SMITH WILL CALL A
MEETING.

While the heads Of the local railroad
systems seem to have no knowledge of
the advance on wool tariffs &c is fart
that the roads which simply have an
office here received their rate sheets a
week ago announcing the change. The
advance is confined TO the roads east Of
the Mississippi The western roads will
observe the same rates as last year,
which were SIPS to the river, and IS
cents from western terminals east. This
made the rate s. to Boston, or SL95 By
rail and water.
8. H. Babcock. assistant traffic man
ager of the Rio Grande. said that he
had no knowledge Of the advance an
nounced in The Herald yesterday morn
ing. The 81 rate, he said, has been eff
fective for the past ten years
T. NJ schumacher acting traffic man
ager Of the oregon Short Line. said yes
terday that he had not yet been advised
of an increase in the rate. Contracting
Agent Mcclellan Of the ST. Paul Charles
A. Walker Of the Santa Re, +. Drake
Of the Rock Island and other Of the
local representatives of the western
lines. have their tariff sheets ann0unc-
ing the advance. Whether the rate Will
be continued is a matter of speculation,
but il is exciting CONSERVATION among
the wool growers. Some of the con-
tracing agents seemed to have their
first knowledge of the raise when they
read The Herald yesterday morning.
1t is the general railroad sentiment
that the advance Is the natural cOnclu-
sion to the increase in wages which the
eastern roads have been forced 20 make
i'm connection with the increased COST
of operating expenses generally. They
believe it is a condition which ought q
occasion no surprise. One Of the Of
tiCials said:
81 see no reason why the growers
should evince any special alarm. The
Increase will be distributed The grow
er does not have to shoulder it all The
buyer stands a share of 81, some of it
may fall on the grower I'm making
fractional reduction in the price for the
wool and the rest goes into the i'm
creased cost to the manufacturer The
consumer who uses the manufactured
article viii doubtless shoulder some OF
the increase. The losses of which the
wool growers complain cannot enter
into the discussion, and they already
have the assurance of an increase In
the price for their products which win
more than overcome the advance In the
freight rate.
Side of the Growers.
Again one of the growers is quoted
as saying that some 100000 pounds OF
wool have been sold for future delivery
On the basis of the 8 rate. This not
good argument A grower selling on such
a basis as that takes his chances. for the
rate is always an uncertainty The rate
may go down as well as up. Again, ln
selling on future delivery he takes "a
chance i'm the output Accident may re-
duce this during any untaVOrable season
and IL is "a chance he has 20 take The
buyer takes the same chance when he aG-
vances the grower money on clip which
may fall far short of the early promises
Wool Growers association declared that
the increase was outrageous.
the Increase was outrageous
ut simply means, he added, that
quarter Of "A cent for every pound sheared
In the west viii be taken out OF the pOck-
cts of the growers and put into the treas
uries of the railroads. Two dollars was
more than enough TO pay on freight, nut
this raise of lSia cents Is eNtortiOnate. i
believe that the lowest published rate was
Si.S5 some years ago, and even that was
rates were held up and the railroads did
so well in that direction that guess they
think they can put on the screw ana
stnl hold up the tariff Our only saliva
tion now Is the water lines, and what
they win do. Of course, } Dc not know.
Growers viii Meet.
Mr.. smith thought there would be a
meeting of wool growers in the near lu-
ture 70 consider the proposition, But
] do not see that we can do much, he
concluded.