The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-07-08
RAILROAD RATE STORY
People OF Southern Minnesota Dis
eliminated Against Badly.
The Cost to Haul Lumber From
Duluth to st. Paul.
Also What 1t Costs to Bring Car
Load to Mankato.
Commission Should Make Investiga.
ton of the Tariff.
From Wednesdays Daily.

Minnesota been almost sleeping in ignor-
ance of the fact that other parts of the
state and of the northwest are profting
at its expense. Unjust determinations
in railroad freight rates have indeed
been emphasized by the Mankato board
of trade and the Business Mems associa-
ton and been aired more or less in The
Free Press from time to time, but lit
tie if any actual and substantial good
has been accomplished. Whatever has
been said on the subject will certainly
amount to nothing at all, if the agitation
is not followed up and campaign for
justice pushed forward with vigor and
indefatigable perseverance.
Actual figures that cannot be disputed,
since they are given in the rate book
published by the railroad companies
themselves, show how southern Minneso-
ia and in particular the city of Man
kato are kept from growing and develop
ing as they should, simply because the
railroads do not find it expedient to treat
all parts of their territory alike.
A car load of lumber, shipped from the
wharves of Duluth to st. Paul, to help
build up that city, distance of l67
miles, is paid for at the rate of cents
per 100 pounds. If that same lumber
is shipped on to Mankato, eighty six
miles farther, the full rate from Duluth
is Is cents, or cents more. Here
the companies are charging less for the
haul all the way from Duluth to St.
Paul than from st. Paul to Mankato.
This is a hard proposition, but it is
nevertheless true and incontroyertible.
1t affects not only the citizens of Man
kato, but all the surrounding region.
1t affects every farmer, who wants to
put up a house or barn. It makes every
man who wants to build in the city pay
far higher price for his lumber, than
if the rates were adjusted as they should
be.
The same thing is true with regard to
coal. Talk about bringing manufactures
to Mankato, to give employment to peo-
pie and help the city to grow. How can
they be induced to locate here, when the
railroad rates on coal put them at such
disadvantage with their competitors
in the north of the twin cities? How
can the manufactures be brought to
Mankato, when they see that they will
have to charge high prices in order to
make up for the unjust freight rates,
and will consequently be weaker than
their competitors in the market, that
should be common to both?
The same is true in the matter of fire.
wood. The frewood grown here in south
ern Minnesota is being rapidly burned
away. It may not be long before the
railroad companies will be depended up
on for all the frewood that comes into
Mankato. How will the brickyards
, thrive thenf Will the brick companies
continue to manufacture their product
on high priced wood, or will the yards
be turned back into vegetable gardens :
Is it not time to wake up?
1t is simply astonishing to see how
the rates from Duluth leap skyward,
as soon as one gets south of the twin
, cities. AS said before, the rate on lum-
Der from Duluth to st. Paul is
cents per hundred. Now, look at Men
dota, only six miles from st. Paul. The
rate from Duluth to Mendoza is nine
cents per hundred. In other words the
haul of hundred pounds of lumber
from Duluth to st. Paul, 1877 miles, costs
cents; while, to carry that same load
to Mendoza, six miles farther, it costs
3 cents more.
All through southern Minnesota, they
are catching the worst of it in the same
way. Worthington pays 10 cents per
hundred. Away in Sioux City, the rate
from Duluth is 20 cents, only one cent
higher.
What is Sioux City doing to compel
so much better treatment to herself
than Worthington gets? In the words
of prominent Mankato business man.
sit is evident that Sioux City is going
after them" It certainly behooves the
business interests of Monkato to ego
after them" too.
Why are these most vitality important
rates from Duluth so partial to the twin
cities and those settlements that lie be.
tween the twin cities and Duluth? Every
intelligent man knows that the business
men of the twin cities 'go after them.
The benefit of course will be shared by
the intervening points.
Now is the chance for the people Of
southern Minnesota to get member OF
the state railroad and warehouse com
mission, who lives their part of the
state, and of whose efforts on behalf
of Mankato and her sister towns, mucl
may be expected. Without doubt, it i:
right in order for every loyal southern
Minnesotan and every Minnesotan, wht
is friend of right and justice, to Civ
his support to w. E. Young.
Judge Buck yesterday received tn,
remaining nine hundred copies of his ex