The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-07-25
BERRYroN GETS A DEPOT.


the annals of the board of railroad
commissioners. for Berryton has secured
a depot The board has waged this
noble and memorable battle for the peo-
pie for more than a year. Battalions of
witnesses have been marshaled to prove
that Berryton might. could and should
have a railway station. Reams of testi-
mony have been spread upon legal cap
to this end For time it looked as
though the people would lose, but this
week has brought glorious victory
and the commissioners have heralded
it in black type in all the newspapers
that they have won and that at last
Truth crushed to earth has risen and
Berryton Gets the Depot.
What matters it that the railroads
charge the shipper of grain fourteen
cents per hundred pounds for hauling
wheat from Herington to Kansas City,
14S miles. when the same railroad only
charges fourteen cents per hundred
pounds to haul the same wheat IN the
same car from Kansas City to Chicago,
SIT miles, for
Berryton Gets a Depot
What matters it that the railroads
have recently issued a statement that
on September they will increase the
rates on cattle from the Neosho river to
Kansas City seventeen per cent, al
though two years ago they made
similar increase. for now
Berryton Gets This Depot
The railroads of Kansas have all their
rolling stock occupied. have greater traf-
fic than they can handle, have more
business than they can do, in fact have
more than ideal commercial conditions,
more freight than they can care for, and
yet they will not give Kansas just and
reasonable rates. but always remember
that
Berryton Gets That Depot
Berryton is located in one of the best
counties in the state. near the best city
in the state. 1t is only nine miles from
Topeka and while it's population is not
large it has a blacksmith and a general
store and will now have a depot. This
is due to the unremitting and persever-
ing efforts of the board Of railroad COM
missioners of Kansas.
What matters it that the railroads are
collecting extortionate rates from the
people for freights, and we say extor-
tionate on account of the following facts
which are within the intimate and pain
full knowledge of this paper:
The State Journal uses over a ton of
white paper each day. There are made
at the mills and shipped to US every
month in the year sixty thousand
pounds of paper. This material comes in
two car loads each and every month
For hauling this paper from the mills in
Wisconsin to the Missouri river, a dis
lance of 600 miles, the railroads charge
for FREIGHT fvrc
pounds, or S12O for the two cars FOR
hauling the same paper in the same. cars
and some times over the same system
the railroads. charge from the Missouri
river to Topeka. a distance of so miles,
twelve cents per hundred pounds, or
$72 for the two cars.
To put the matter in another form, for
hauling the freight 600 miles the rail-
roads charge twenty cents per hundred
pounds and for an additional haul of 80
miles, or one-tenth the distance, the
charge is twelve cents, or ten cents per
hundred pounds more than the pro rata
rate IS there any good reason why the
railroads should not charge the same
rate per hundred pounds per mile for
hauling this paper from the Missouri
river to Topeka that it charges for haul
ing the same stuff from the mills to the
river.
In other words. for what the rail-
roads charge $72 each month for haul
ing two cars from the Missouri river 10
Topeka they should charge, to be fair
and just, only one tenth more than the
charge east of the river. for the dis
lance is but one-tenth, or two cents per
hundred pounds. This would make the
cost S12 instead of $72, an overcharge to
this one institution on one commodity
Of $50 per month, or $72O per year.
Does not the reader think that this
paper is warranted in using the some
what harsh word extortionate, but re-
member we have a board of railroad
and that
Berryton Gets a Depot.
When the reader computes for a mo-
ment and figures on the millions of
pounds of freight which come into To- |
peka and to the various points of the
state and go out from the same, and re-
that grain men and cattlemen, |
manufacturers and shippers !
are paying freight rates equal |
~ unjust with those cited above, how
much longer are the people OF Kansas |
going to be satisfied with the great ben
eft conferred upon them in the an
this week from the Office |
Of the board of railroad commissioners
that
Berryton Gets a Depot