The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-03-11
Warning Was a Hint.
Hepburn Bill Only a Beginning.

10 the Eoator OF Inc journal.
Passing a railway rate measure does
not mean the final solution Of the rail-
way rate problem. It is merely a first
step which will open up the whole ques-
ton for future fundamental action.
There is grave doubt whether railway
rates as a whole will admit of any ma
terial reduction. Certain it is that some
commodities are carried now at so low a
figure that If they made up the entire
tonnage Of the railways carrying them
these railways could not maintain them
selves at such rates. Instances are Pa
cific lumber, western export grain, Cali
forn1a fruits, export flour and cotton,
cotton for New England. There is long
list. In fact under the present railway
rate arrangement the cost Of carrying has
little or nothing to do with fixing the rate
on this or that commodity. What will
it stand and still move? What rate will
! make it mover" These are the ques-
| tons asked by the railway man when
making commodity rate. The high
priced article is made to pay for the low
priced, so that maximum tonnage may
be kept moving.
| Ali this leads to d1fferentials, to dis
elimination between places and even be-
| tween shippers. It leads to Spokane pay
| ing one-third more than Seattle or Port
land on freight shipped from the east
| thru Spokane. It is responsible for MAX
ing the rate from New York to San Fran
| cisco no more than that from Minneapo-
| lis, Denver or Omaha to San Francisco.
New England thru freight differentials,
is able to compete with more favored re-
gions in the manufacture Of shoes, cot
ton and other commodities. Thru favor
able rates western grain and cattle are
able to drive New York state and Penn
sylvania largely out Of the grain and cat
tie business. In fact the railway rate
practice Of differentials and place dis
ordinations and it's doctrine Of charging
all the traffic will bear, and no more, has
most powerfully Influenced our industrial
development. It is In the warp and wool
of our material progress since railways
have become the transportation highways
of the nation.
| Yet these Determinations as to persons
and places this charging all the traffic
will bear, constitute the grievance of the
public over the ordering Of railway rates
This is the thing which has built up ter
4 minals at the expense OF intermediate
points. It is this which has congestet
| cities and driven manufactures to thu
great centers notwithstanding that, rail
way facilities aside things could be pro
duced more cheaply in smaller places ant
the producers could live under better ant
| more healthful conditions. Railway dis
examinations have induced SPECIALIZE ton
manufa ctures In New England, wheat II
= the Dakotas, cattle in the west, etc. Tn
railway rate makers have dictated hov
| the country shall develop. <...
| But the Hepburn-Dolliver bill touche
| none of these points. No bill having
shadow Of chance Of passing congress
this session deals with these vital rail
way problems. TO solve such problem
the rate making power must regulat
differentials we'll as personal and com
modify Determinations. It must questio
the cardinal railway rate doctrine 9
keeping the maximum tonnage movin
and charging all the traffic will bear.
is only by working along these lines tina
II any great if indeed, perceptible chang
can be made in the railway rate situation
Yet this must inevitably lead to ton-1nil
rates, to the REIMBURSEMENT by termins
points of their railway rate advantages,
II a consequent tendency toward dispersio
rather than congestion in city population
| to narrowing the zones of traffic IN til
more bulky commodities where the I'm
of cost of transportation would approac
the unit of price. Under such arrange
ment each locality would develop ava
from specialties. There would be a ter
dency to produce in each locality
i greater number Of things needed. In ths
> locality The west would take much
it's manufacturing from New England ar
Of it's commerce from New York. Penn
sylvania would again tend to raise mo-
? wheat and beef, and the Dakota ar
Montana markets would become 1larrowe
In fact a doing away with the presel
grounds for complaint as to railway rat
would eliminate the very principles upc
, which present railway rates are founde
0 and lead to nothing short of industri
revolution.
This does not mean, however, that tt
railway rate legislation now before col
= gress is either revolutionary or entire
innocuous. 1t is mild enough, to be sur
Yet it establishes firmly and specidcal
the principle that the government has
fright thru an administrative departing
IL ito regulate and control railway rate
This principle once established, the go