The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1905-11-29
NOT A TIN GOD, BUT
AN OVERRATED
AUTHOR
HOW FREIGHTRATE WORKS
Fair Illustration of Fuss and
Feathers Over Reform


talking with railroad man the other
day about this freight rate question
seems TO be agitating the minds Of ev-
erybody and ne save me a pretty Good
Illustration Of how freight rates AFFECT
the selling price Of an article ucre It
is:
"a soap factory IN Cincinnati recently
shipped 10 carloads % soap to a whole
sale house in New York. One hundred
boxes OF this soap were sold TO a job
bng house in Pittsburg. The Pittsburg
house sold a portion OF It to a iobber in
Clarksburg. West Virginia. These peo-
pie, in turn, shipped some OF It back to
q retail dealer IN Wheeling. through
which town It had already pissed to
reach Pittsburg, and more Of It TO n
retail dealer in small town three
miles from railroad near Fairmount.
West Virginia And when the retailer
got Il. Ia each case he sold the soap for
FIVE GEMS cske, which is the price
at which It retails IN Cincinnati, the
point where It Is manufactured. Uiti-
mately, some of this soap Travelled 1.400
miles, and was handled in freight hous-
es and in wagons about eight times De-
fore It finally reached the consumer"
The above Is fair illustration OF all
the fuss and feathers that Is being in
dulged In here over this question, and
after all Is said and done, In what way
does It effect the consumer, the man
the politicians seem to anxious to bene-
ht?
II does them no more good than Water
on ducks back. Now. am demo-
crat and believe in the people and want
TO have things done that will be OF real
benefit to them. 1 have been writing
and working to that end for the past
twenty-five years, but 1 might as well
have been singing psalms to a dead
mule for all the good II has done. The
people go on voting the republican tick
ct and the republican party goes on
stealing from them and robbing them
with the same Ole grace and they seem
TO like It. So. what's the use7
Because tho democratic party arose
to the occasion and denounced rebates
b~ the railroads. discrimination in IA
vor OF one shipper over another. placed
plank IL its platform advocating re-
form in that regard. the republican
president goes to work and steals their
thunder and goes them one better and
demands that the railroads shall sub
nit TO the fixing of their rates
by tribunal that knows about
as about railroad rates as do
about navigating ship. He knew
fun wen that such a measure would
give the executive branch OF the gov
ernment plenary power over the rail
road situation of the country, would
compel the roads to kowtow to the ad-
ministration and would give the admin
istration the power TO compel contribu-
tions from them whenever they needed
! them, also that II would build up IN
every town and community in the
country a coterie Of Office holding voters
that could be swung their way when
ever they needed them, also. that th'
arbitrary republican controlled inter
state commerce commission could hs
things 50 that any community could b,
killed. from the shipping standpoint
when It did not vote the republican
ticket
They also propose to kill the frui
growing industry OF the country b,
placing the refrigerator car lines un.
der the jurisdiction OF the Interstate
commerce commission. which knows alb
solutely nothing about the requirement.
Of tiiv refrigerator service. so that the,
VII; egt down the charges OF refrige4u.
ton 10 the point where the car lines
cannot give the service necessary to ge
the fruit 10 market In the proper shap'
with the result that the fruit CROWNS
Industry Of the country win be ruined
All this IN tho face OF the fact tha
every man who grows fruit has com'
hero and testified that it was the ser
vice they wanted and they did not car
anything about the charges, beraus
they made money on them. AS cyl
denced By the recent suit brought b
the administration against the Pabs
Brewing company. there Is plenty OF las
om the books to compel che private ca
companies 10 stop rebates and unius
DETERMINATIONS. IL they aonly win ON
/. force g. Why don't thcy DO IL, AN
why haven they done it2 Let ther
answer that question. Nobody Is Sc
rously complaining Of the railroad rate
in this country. nor OF ihe rates of ia
refrigerator car people. 1t is tho ne
bates they complain OF and they ar
right. and they have rieht on their sid
. when they ask FOR legislation TO put
, stop thereto, unleas there already
law 10 stop II, and then they have IA
! right 10 register 4 vigorous kick unlea
that law Is enforced by The powers thu
r be- II has not been, and the same par
iy that has go. far refused TO enfore
That Law. the same party ihat repeaie
Tie imprisonment clause in the sherma
antitrust law. thereby pulling the FANS
of the Jaw. now asks for lot more la'
not 60 he enforced. hut 70 build uD
political machine Rats
When a man has lived as long as
rave right here under tho shadow Of III
i0me of She capito has seen an th
'kuHdugsely pmeticed on the dear pee
pie ana sees the veEeer and the ho
low m6okey Of q an the gets dsscom
aged and zssusted when the people pa
: sist in believing that Teddy Roosevelt
a iiltle tin deity and can. DO no wr0ui
The truth Is that he IS an overfate
E author and an uRderrated politician "a
( IS one OF tbe smoothest ana the quick
} est side-stepping politicians who evs
entered the White House, and the pee
, pie wil one day come 10 know him q
his true yai6alion ] told you an
5 THIS correspondence many times cha
Ills Panama canal project would be n