Rocky Ford enterprise., 1906-04-06


welt In his endeavor to have the Inter
state Commerce Commission given
power to specify maximum railroad
rates and to prevent discriminations:
What is the railroad rate contro-
versy abouty
The 6ght Is over the Presidents
plans for remedying certain evils In
the railroad situation.
What are these evils?
OF the several varieties Of which
shippers complain. two classes are OF
most Importance: Those involving dis
ordinations In freight rates between
individuals or places: those resulting
from excessive charges for carrying
freight. Passenger rates do not en-
ter prominently into the controversy.
What sorts Of discrimination are
made between individualsg
by law. railroads are compelled TO
charge NIL eomers alike for any given
service. When for some reason road
secretly gives some favored person or
firm u lower rate on shipments than
others get, IL Ii guilty OF discrimina'
tion. Thus, the rate on wheat from
Kansas City to Chicago is !: cents per
hundred pounds. II certain com
mission house is allowed to ship at
10 cents. II clearly will have an cnor-
nous advantage over Its competitors
in seiiing wheat In Chicago. On loO.-
900 bushels this would amount TO
about 81. zoo. In fact. u u shipper can
get sufficiently good concession from
u railroad he may make fortune
while his rivals may barely make a
living. The foundation OF the success
Of the Standard OIL Company was Its
ability to get u lower rate ON It's oil
shipments than It's competitors could
secure. Railroad discrimination has
contributed powerfully toward foster.
Ing monopolics.
Are the railroads alone TO blame for
this discrimination evil!
No; tho shippers are partly rcspon.
sIblc. The railroad grants low rate.
not because II wants TO. but usually
because !, thinks the cut necessary
to get the business for which II ID
competing with other lines.
Hut II ratc-cutiing is prohibited by
law. how do the railroad traiiic man
agcrs avoid being found out!
Various devices are used. Including
the rebate. the private switch. the
private car line. non.coilcction OF bills.
under weighing Of freight. mnnipula-
,ion OF elevator charges. and the like.
What is the rebate!
II n Kansas City shipper gets n rate
OF 10 cents n hundred ON shipment
Of l0o,0 900 pounds Of wheat to Chicago
when the regular train rate was i:
cents. the road might collect $l:0 from
him nt the l2.ccnt rate and then return
the extra $50 to him secretly. The
$50 returned would be rebate. But
rebating Is NO strictly forbidden by law
now that II is becoming obsolete.
Much safer methods Of evadinS the
statutes have been found.
What. for instance!
Last simmer n Kansas City hrm was
shipping wheat to Chicago evidently on
better terms than other concerns could
get. Il was found that the wheat was
billed TO Minneapolis via Chicago ut
the regular Minneapolis rate OF IL
cents, but that 1t was stopped at chi
cago ard sold. Presumably OF the
through rate. cents WAS charaed for
the haul from Kansas City to Chicago
and more from Chicago to Minnenp'
oils. So the Arm was probably getting
n G.cent rate to Chicago by this device.
while It's competitors who had no fav-
ors were paying IL cents. Another fav-
orite device Is to collect every month
only part of favored shippers nc
count, 30 that the books will show him
paying the regular rate. but getting
more and more heavily in debt to the
railroad, Still another device Is to per.
nit n big shipper to build switch to
the railroad line from his factory and
then to pay him an exorbitant prices
for its privileges. Still another Is to
permit the shipper to own his cars ana
then to pay him heavily for their use.
The Standard OIL Company. for In
stance, is generally understood to get
it's rebates In the shape Of heavy pay
ment by the railroads for the use oil
its tank cars.
How common are these various
forms of illegal discrimination?
Naturally no complete information Is
available. But in Wisconsin careful
investigation secured by Governor La
Toilette was able to trace more than
s6,OOO,0O0 of illegal payments to ship.
pers from 1897 to 1908. One Wisconsin
grain firm alone was found to have re-
ceived $151 900 from the railroads In
five years-enough to have given 1t a
handsome profit, even II II had merely
broken even on its grain business. 1t
is safe to assume that very large pro-
portion OF big shippers get illegal re-
auctions of freight rates.
What is meant by discrimination be-
tween localities?
The railroads give certain towns bet
ter rates than others in order to de-
velop markets or to build up their own
resources in various ways. For In
stance. a paint dealer in Spokane,
Washington, must pay s93 more freight
on a carload of supplies from Chicago
than the Seattle dealer pays. though
Spokane is $50 miles nearer Chicago.
, A rate on rope from San Francisco to
Kansas City was recently quoted at 60
cents per hundred pounds. while the
rate to Hutchinson, Kansas. 220 miles
shorter haul, was $1.O1.
How does this locality discrimina-
Manila's New Governor.