Marble Hill press. (Marbel [sic] Hill, Mo.) 1881-1923, 1905-08-03

/
! rose of summer hit with brick. II
| there is 10 be any legislation what
ever on this subject in the next >rs
| sion OF congress, it will be the bill
prepared by the senate committee
that sat here this summer and took
testimony, and that bill is not GO
ing to hurt any body in the railroad
business very hard, and is not going
to give to the Interstate Commerce
Commission any greater power
than It now possesses. Just PUT
that prediction in your pipe and
smoke it.
MANY of the old jokes about the
Baltimore and Ohio railroad being
rough and making you seasick, and
about the fellow who said he want
cd t. 90 to New York the worst
way and was advised to take the
B. & O., will have to be sidetracked," )"
said one OF the biggest railroad men
IN the country to me the other day.
They are now putting in a piece
of track between here and Baltimore
continued he, that will straighten
the alignment. eliminate the curves.
place the roadway we'll above high
water and free from damage by
fre>hets which occur almost every
year The work will cost in the
neighborhood Of Il million dollars
and will make the main line Of the
old road one Of the best pieces OF
railroad in the country.
merely mention this piece of
railroad news to show that II the
railroad people were very much
afraid ofthe republican party enact
ing legislation to place their pro
perty in the hands of the govern
ment they would not be spending
that much money on improvements.
I picked up bunch Of statistics
the other day that had been compil-
ed by some statistical chap, showing
the increase of railroad freight rates
betwcsn 1897 and 1905, and also
giving the average wholesale price
for the things that you and | eat
or Wear in these same years.
That table set me to thinking
how little we common people know
of this rate making business, con
cerning which there has been such
a hellobaIoo for the past year or SO.
The more | studied it the more it
strikes me that to st fellow who is
paying market bills evey day, it IS
q good deal Of tempest in 4 teapot.
OF course that cuts out the question
of the principle involved entirely.
But that is another story. But |
find for instance, that while the
price of wheat had increased about
80 per cent, corn 100 per cent, and
oats SO per cent, that the actual
cost Of transportation of both wheat
and corn had been reduced, not
much, but enough so that the broker
handling a lot of it, would add
quite q bit to his income. He gets
a rake off, but We people who eat
ii, have to pay practically double
for the same stuff that We had to in
1897. Take the cost of a barrel Of
flour for instance. In '97 the rail
roads charged 27 cents to haul it
1000 miles-uOw they charge 30
cents. In '97 the average price of
. barrel Of flour At wholesale was
S2.90-to-day it is S4.00. That
don't line up exactly with the claim
that the increase in cost to to the
consumer is due entirely to freight
rates. 1t strikes me that there is a
nigger in the wood pile somewhere,
and that the broker and middleman
knows Just where to locate him.
[ know my loaf of bread and break
fast rolls cost me Just as much now
as they did in 81, and my wife says
the loaf of bread is smaller than it
was then.
I don't come from Boston, but |
like baked beans. In '97 they cost
the dealer through whom ] buy
them so cents bushel. They cost
him S2.l0 Il bushel now and the
freight rate on these beans from
some place out west where they are
raised. is just the same now as II
was then. As Il consumer | can
not see how | can get any the worst
of 1t because of these freight rates,
but | know | am getting 100 per
cent the worst Oft on the price ofny
beans. Perhaps the farmer gets the
benefit, perhaps it is the middlcman
and my grocer tells me there is
about 25 per cent, profit on the
bean business. But he certainly
can't charge that increase in price
mp against freight rates in face OF
these official statistics.
have lpnLaI praC +hic vy-h n ! -