Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1906-01-24
a total local rate Of 361k cents; the

total local rate or 36k cents. the
through rate, however, being 80 cents.
To Graceville the through rate is 81
cents. The local rate from Chicago to
St. Paul or Minneapolis is 1921 cents
for 40 miles, while the local to Grace
Wills is % cents per hundred weight
for ia miles. To Moorhead, with the
local from Chicago the same as above
for the 40 miles, the rate is q cents
per hundred weight for 232 miles,
while the through rate is AZ cents, or
1914 cents more than the combined
two local rates.
To Wadena the two local rates are
32h cents, while the through rate
from Chicago to Wadena is 80 cents,
or 6M cents more than the combined
two local rates. Fergus Falls, pay
Ing 1914 cents from Chicago to St.
Paul, pays % cents from St. Paul to
Fergus Falls. 1t pays a through rate
of 80 cents, or AZ cents more than
the total local rate between the two
cities. Appleton pays IS cents for a
through rate and, paying 1917 cents
for 40 miles, pays 20 cents for IA
miles, 21a cents more for the through
rate from Chicago to Appleton than it
would pay under the double local rate
from Chicago to St. Paul and thence
to Appleton.
Practically the same condition up.
plies to Hutchinson, Sacred Heart,
Granite Falls, Montevideo and prob
ably hundred other stations in the
state of Minnesota. How many ship
pers have paid the through rate when,
II their interests had been properly
conserved and cared for, they would
certainly not have paid more than the
total OF the two local rates. I know
personally of instances where shippers
who have paid the through rate, after
q stubborn contest with the railway
and warehouse commission, have
finally secured refund, bringing their
freight rates down to the double local
charge.
Through Rates Higher Than Combined
Local Rates.
This matter of interstate commerce
presents a peculiar condition. Why
should man at Fergus Falls pay q
cents, or nearly twice as much, to
have his wire or nails hauled 17S miles
from the Twin Cities as the Twin City
shipper paid to have it hauled 40
miles to st. Paul or Minneapolis.
We have heard much of the long and
the short haul, but under our new sys-
tenn of figures and our present un-
favorable system of transportation the
railway companies have shown us that
the science of railroading is to make a
larger charge for long haul than for
two shorter hauls of the same dis.
lance. In other words. it now costs
more in the cases stated to have Il
shipment billed directly through from
Chicago or Eastern points to Mime.
sofa destination without a stop than
1t does to have it billed to St. Paul
or Minneapolis, set out there and then
rebilled to it's destination. It seems to
me that there has been lack of ad-
ministration upon the part of some
one. I am creditably Informed that
the attention of the proper authorities
was called to this most appalling con
dition more than six months ago and
yet the published tariff schedules to.
day are no different; and there has
been absolutely, no change.
It seems to me that the shipper and
producer, and the citizen generally
have an interest in the regulation OF
railway rates and more than ever
from somewhat limited study of the
situation, am l convinced that the
only remedy to the citizens of this
great state lies in giving the railroad
and warehouse commission the I'm
questioned power to determine, estab
lish and fix the rates of transportation
and put the burden of proof to show
the unfairness of such rate upon tht
power which now controls and estab
fishes the rate. Certainly the Munic
1pal league, gathered as you are from
all portions Of the state, from Brecken
ridge and Austin, from Luverne per
haps and Fergus Falls, from GlenwooG
and from Wabasha, have an Interest
in this great, living, vital question ani
that interest combines to impose {
duty upon this Municipal league to x
exert its influence and to so direct itt
labor that there shall come. through