The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-09-16
LESSON In RATES
FROM GERMANS
Government Made Railroad Tar
ifs Elastic Enough to Meet
Industrial Demands.
BY w. w. Jermane.

A@AS ShN W &oVA - SA4AS@ASASs
BY w. w. Jermane.
Washington, Sept. 16.-How the in
dustrial outlook of any community
hinges on it's railroad rates is striking
~ shown by the exceptions which the
Prussian railways have been compelled
to make from their regular schedules.
From a list of these exceptional or
preferential rates may be seen some
thing of the widely diversified inter
ests concerned in railroad charges; it
also shows that government-made rates
in Germany are not so inelastic as COM
| monty supposed. e Z"
The worldwide difficulties of the
rate problem, on the one hand, come
out clearly in the German experience,
| and also the evidence that the govern
| ment has been careful to respond, as
| far as possible, to the industrial needs
| of ythe various commercial interests,
| especially where the encouragement of
| the export trade of the empire has been
| involved. TX ~. -. :
Most Freight Preferential.
| In 1908 not less than SO per cent of
| the total ton-mile freight was dis
Pe~oSAASu ONC1 CuO L llSS1ctu 1d411 OduS ILL.,
der preferential rates, which are off
cially described as 'applicable to
+ agricultural and Industrial products,
and intended to assist and facilitate i'm
ports and exports and increase the traf
ic Of the country These apply
sometimes to the whole country, some
times to districts only, and are often
granted only when "a Considerable guam
Fifty of goodssis sent at oneStime orr
certain amount every year: But they
are granted TO everybody alike, a desid-
Secure In the similar adjust 1nents BY
privately -owned railroads here. Some of
the typical examples, of preferential
rates will explain what Germany at
! tempts to do *7z'' -
| :, Coal, coke and briquettes are carried
from Westphalia to Hamburg and to
ports on the Weser, at a very low rate
/ to encourage the use Of coal from tie
interior Of Germany, at those places
most severe. Rate making is thus an
adjunct to the protective system. Coal
for use on steamships is also moved at
preferential rates. Private enterprise
In America does practically the same
thing, not so much perhaps from the
national point of view as to make bus
mess for the railroad system concerned.
| If it saw that certain traffic depended
/ on undertaking certain water borne
keep the business. germany officially
| does just this.
Aid for Exporters.
| To favor German exporters, the Ger
| man Levant tariff was introduced in
| 1890, and besides low steamship rates,
the railroad charges were reduced
4 varying inversely. with the distance
from the dispatching station to Ham,
burg e, on goods sent to Piraeqas, salon on
| ca, Constantinople, Smyrna, Syria al1d
certain ports in Rumania This tariff
was afterwards applied to goods going
j as far north as Odessa and south tc
Alexandria. In 1893 certain classes
Of iron and. steel products manufac
tured in Germany, intended for German
colonies and general export, were al
| lowed substantial reductions in freight
rates to enable them to face British
I competition. Further reductions OF
the same sort were made in 1897.
4 Sugar exported by way Of Basel was
4 allowed a preferential rate, graduated
according to distance, to enable it tc
compete in Switzerland with Austro
I Hungarian sugar. Other preferences
4 recorded under the same head are hare
for foreigners to interpret without some
knowledge Of local conditions, but Their
mere recital shows the delicacy of the
4 railroad-rate question. Celluloid is -
i preferred customer between Silesia ant
" to certain German harbors;, pigiro1
to Austria from upper Silesia and from
Westphalia and Nassau.
Rates Cut in Competition.
Many Of the preferential tariffs or
i the Prussian railroads are naturally ex
q planned by a desire to compete with
} foreign transport just as the interstate
commerce commission here has treater
with exceptional liberality variations
} on the part Of roads which had to com
) pete with the Canadian Pacific: Prus
i sian roads meet the competition Of
|; three countries, and also the sea. Pref
erential rates have, accordingly, beer
!. introduced for the purpose Of inducing
!, freight to pass over her railroads in
tstead of those Of the adjoining conn
a tries. Cotton has thus been attracted
on it's way to Russia to German har
bors. Trieste possesses such advantages
Il as cotton port, especially that intend
ed for Saxony, that special rates have
!, been made at German harbors to ofse1
this advantage. #
To stimulate the ship building indus
!. materials used in it, from the place .o1
Z their production to the yards. The
4 Bilesian textile industries get specia
1rates on cotton. Agriculture is alst
! assisted by a socalled 6 raw materia
{ tariff, = which applies to potatoes sane
]. beets and also to fertilizers. Closely
: akin to this are the fuel schedules. Thu
! government realized that the, cost so1
!. power vitality affected the areas avail
1 able for manufacturing, and so INLAND
q consumers of fuel have been given
J since 1897, very favorable terms.
81 Relief offered Farmers.
One of the stock incidents. Of thos,
who oppose the president s policy il
q that when jay Gould heard during /
B dying Of thirst on the western plains
he issued an order to bring them IN. !