The Goldfield news. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1904-1911, 1906-05-19

Two things ave lately contributed
TO renewing the agitation for terminal
freight rates for Rene One of these
was the destruction of San Francisco;
the other the probable passage OF the
Hepburn rate bill which is intended to
do away with many of the abuses of the
railroads and lodge in the interstate
commission the rate-making
power where existing rates are unjust
Terminal rates has been the dream cf
Reno--and all of Nevada for hat mat
ter-ever since 1t was seen that the
place was to be of size and Importance.
Even before the present era of astonish-
ing growth had begun the people of this
place had fought against the arbitrary
power of the railroad which made this
place, as it makes many others, pay a
higher freight rate than 1t does cities
where the haul is hundreds of miles
longer. Men with a sound faith in Reno
and all the rest of Nevada, men who
have loved the state and have been
willing to fight for its welfare, have
seen that If equable rates were vouch-
safed this city many industries would
be possible here which are now impos-
sible because of the excessive tax
placed upon shippers by the railroad.
The Gazette feels that the time has
come for the people of Reno and the
whole state to combine In another eff
fort to obtain terminal rates. The last
FIVE years have seen the population of
the state doubled. Mines of magnificent
richness and abiding ~permanence have
been discovered in almost every county
in the state. The wealth of Nevada is
being poured out to enrich the whole
world. Through the beneficent aid of
the government agricultural develop
ment of the state has been made posi-
BILE. Water is now available for thou
sands of acres where a few years g
the widest visionist would not have
dared to say that there should some day
be blossoming fields where then were
but stretches of f~orbidding sand and
sagebrush. These two industries have
thrived because 1t has not been in the
power of an individual or corporation
to place upon them the heavy hand
which should retard their development.
But of manufactures we have prac-
tically none. Wholesale houses. sources
of commercial activity, are denied us
ltC SaA
has decreed that this place shall not
pay merely for hauling a carload of
material here. but it shall pay for haul
ing 1t to Sacrament and back again.
There is no need of arguing the ques-
ton here now. We are familiar with
the allegations of the railroad. They
will tell us that the unfair rates are the
Sacramento and San Francisco rates;
that because those places happen to be
situated upon a river or an ocean the
railroads are compelled to lose money
on everything they haul to either of
them or else lose the business because
of the availability of deep water YES
sells to carry commodities from other
places to them. That is the substance
of the railroads claim. How plausible
it is we leave to our readers.
1t is not the intention of the Gazette
to endeavor to stir up causeless agita-
tion against the railroads. Just be-
cause it is a railroad is not taken that
it is evil through and through. But we
do believe that the time has come for
Reno to renew it's efforts to obtain ter
minal rates. The present administra-
ton of the Southern Pacific is the most
benign that has been in control of that
road since it first linked east with west.
President Hartman has not adopted
9TH public be tanned" for his operat-
ing motto. He has tried to develop the
business of his road by developing the
country through which 1t runs. We be-
lieve the railroad is entitled to these
words in fairness.
But the fact remains that Reno is
NY--.-1- n.
suffering, because of freight rates
which are on their very face unjust.
The dealer in Sacramento buys a car
load of hardware in some eastern point
of manufacture. He pays for hauling
that hardware to Sacramento and no
farther. The dealer in Reno buys n
similar carload of hardware and he
pays, not only for the hauling of. that
car to Reno, but for the hauling of 1t
to Sacramento and back to Reno 1t is
cut out here. But the freight bill is the
rate charged the Sacramento man plus
the rate for hauling a car from Sacra-
mento to Reno. Railroad men will scott
and sneer as they read this, and they
will say that all this is superficial, and
that there are ten thousand things that
enter into the making of rates. Prob
ably there are. But there are railroad
men, too, who will agree that those
same ten thousand things are largely
tho o,tUrawfh IF an agreoiouS SyStem