The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-05-26
Another Phase Suggested
BY the Rate Question.
BETTER THAN REBATES
Contracts Insisted On BY Southern
Railway With Greensboro Shippers
Are Barely Concealed Weapons,
Carrying a Threat. How TO
Work SidetraCks.
(stan correspondence

where in the South are there two more
inherently energetic and progressive
towns than Greensboro and High
Point. They have advanced miracu-
lously in industries and in enterprise.
There is an air Of business about them,
an atmosphere about their streets, a
nervous energy about the step of the
citizens who go along their highways
that denotes a spirit of work and an
intent to succeed.
The fact that the two towns have
gone forward as they have is the more
remarkable and furnishes the greater
evidence of the determination of their
| they are both in a business way pfac-
ticaIly dependent upon the whim and
the will of one railroad syndicate.
Never was the fact that health lies
in competition more strongly indi-
| Gated; and never was the disease re-
sulting from a monopoly more bravely
| fought than in these two live and am
| bilious Guilford towns.
That every wholesale merchant.
every manufacturer, every foundry
man. grain merchant, large dealer who
| buys supplies in bulk of any sort IS
| forced to do business with naturally
competitive points at a handicap III
| freight rates of from 90 to q per cent.
| is a fact which in a later article [ will
| illustrate from interviews with repre-
sentative men of the two towns, with
names and figures.
That they should, in spite of this
| handicap, continue to do a thriving
and increasing business is to be
charged up to the ingenuity of neces-
sity, rather than of mere pre-eminence
in an open field, with no favor. Oc-
rIT
moved to one of the favored points in
order that his profits may be the
greater This is a loss to the State,
but to the credit of the merchants VINO
have plants and clientele which will
permit of an easy change of base, such
action is the exception and not the
rule. In Greensboro and High Point
the railroad is the master, and hard
one at that. The following will serve
| to indicate one of the phases in which
that mastery is exerted and the power
| that lies in a monopoly brought into
| play. The mere law against a rebate
| is a thing at which the railroad may
we'll laugh as but the spur to the in
ventive genius of smart men.
| Hence, the side track regulations.
A side track is a simple looking
| thing. In reality it is a vital necessity
| of business. Without it any man deal
| ing in quantities of any commodity
| that he must ship from his own to
another town, is at a hopeless loss
and expense. With it, as the Southern
| Railroad sees, or processes to see the
| question at Greensboro he is estopped
| from doing, saying or in anyWise con-
! tending with the railroad in any way
on pain of losing such privilege, which
| is equivalent to losing cne opportunity
/ to do business at a profit.
The proposition of the Southern
| Railroad is this:
| "On a contract that you will furnish
us a certain amount of freight per
year, we will permit you to put in a
side track, for which you are to do
| the grading and lay the ties and we
| to furnish the iron, but you must give
us i'm fee tire title to the land occupied
by such track. In addition, the road
reserves the right to furnish or with
hold cars as ii sees fit, and the mer-
chant assumes all responsibility for
| damages for any accidents to en-
ployees which may occur on said
| track"
1nferentially, of course and infer
ence is the strong point in railroad
manipulation when a monopoly is en-
| loved, there is this further clause which
| is absent from the contract itself, but
as well understood as If it were pre-
| faced with therefore" and written
| into the clause Oh the COISIUeIdJIOl
and as an incident of the covenant:
"You must not offenc the Southern
Road"
The result may be readily imsS Sned
i Competition among the merchants
and shippers themselves is dependent
uDon the will of the road Apparently
| there is no remedy The officials are
! polite. as they can afford to be. They
are Sorry but it is Impossible" to
! furnish conveniences desired in cases
where the manufacturer or shipper
has given offense. There is the con-
! tract by which the shipper with the
side track privilege not only valves
his right to the property but to the
privilege itself 1t is a wise which is
| tantamount to threat, and it is SO
considered in Greensboro. The effect
| that these conditions have upon free
speech and, more, upon energetic ac-
ton and complaint may be appreciated
at a glance.
The reasons above given are those
which made the now famous Ice and
| Coal Company case, involving intrin-
sically only about matter of some
| hundred and fifty dollars, question
of the most vital importance to the
business interests of Greensboro. For
the reason that the company had the
temerity to contest a claim of demur-
rage for some few cars which the rail-
road had placed on their siding. the
road arbitrarily refused to place other
cars until such bill was paid The Ice
and Coal Company appealed to the