East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1906-12-29

llerS weekly or December ~. MIR.
Lsthrop is now private secretary for
Senator John NJ. Gearin in Washing
ton, u. C. He says:
From cities, towns and villages,
from farms, factories. ranches and
mountains, poured forth recently an
army of angry citizens to meet at
Eugene, center of the famed Willam-
cite valley, rich province in the king
dom of f. II. Hartman. There were
men Of labor's stamp, men Of miners
garh, men of well-groomed mien from
Portland, men of every shade OF politi-
c9l belief.
Hotels were filled; citizens opened
their homes. The little city on the
banks of the Willamette was for the
time the center of propaganda
which BODIES discomfort for the rail-
road usurpers of industrial power.
1--WE want cars in which to haul
our products to market" cried the
first speaker in the mass meeting.
The applause was deafening; that
was the keynote of the gathering. A
legislative program was outlined, and
all newspapers of the state printed it
with commendation. That program
is the expression of an outraged peo-
pie. II will he carried through in
January when the assembly meets at
the state capital. These are the num-
bers billed of the assembly Perform
ance:
Act one-A reciprocal demurrage
AaN A
Act Three-A railroad commission.
Railroad commissions are well
known and often tried expedients in
many states; rate bills have become
familiar in commonwealth and ma
tional legislation. But the reciprocal
demurrage law-that is what meets
the exigencies of the situation and
may end the shortage and accelerate
railroad kings.
What is reciprocal demurrage? It
is the peoples big Stick" with
which in that state the railroads will
be compelled to supply cars when
needed, or pay a given sum as a PEN
atty each day during which they delay
in doing so.
For years it has been the universal
custom for all railroads to charge de-
murrage to shippers-when a car is
asked for and switched to a certain
mill, and the shipper fails to load it
in the following "a hours there is a
charge, say, $40 for each day in which
the car stands on the sidetrack I'M
| loaded. 1t is a rule against which
shippers have not rebelled; for it is
manifestly just and protects the busy
railroad from the occasional negli-
gence of careless shippers.
TO Make the Rule Work Both Ways
| Immense sums have been thus col
| lected from the manufacturers and
grain dealers and others who ship in
car lots. 1t is proposed now in Ore
gon to make the excellent rule work
both ways. Apply it to both shipper
and transportation company. In jan
uary a law will be passed-and the
bill therefor will not rest long in the
desk of any committee chairman,
either-for reciprocal demurrage; the
car shortage will then be at an end
The request of the shipper for a car
| will be a command for car; for
every day in which the car is not sup
piled after the first "a hours the
railroad must pay the shipper $40.
On the other hand, the bringing of
a car to the siding of the factory and
the notification of the shipper that it
is ready for his use, will be the means
OF extracting from that shippers
pocket $40 for every day in which he
fails to load 1t, after the first "a
hours.
Why have not the roads supplied
cars for the goods of the factories
and The farms? The answers might
west--for Oregon is not alone in its
revolution; other reciprocal demur-
rage bills will be passed this winter
have discovered that Mr.. Hartman
has plenty OF money with which to
buy up the mileage Of the United
States, an9 has had capital sufficient
to make him the railroad emperor Of
the nation. Yet for years he has
pleaded to those westerners that he
simply could not get cars from the
shops of the east: that the orders
were larger than the shops capacities.
Some western men declare that Mr..
Hartman might build his own shops
He may do as he pleases after Janu-
ary, in one state; but he must supply
cars.
Those western business men thought
that a man who commanded the bill
lions controlled now by Mr. Hartman
certainly might secure an interest in
existing car plants somewhere, so that
he could get cars built. However that
may be, after January In Oregon he
must either have cars enough or pay
$40 a day demurrage. When 1t is
considered that Oregon alone needs
right now more than 1000 cars, which
she can not get, 1t will be seen that
that reciprocal demurrage bill means
that Mr.. Hartman might have to pay
$4,000 day penalty for failure to
meet the needs of the shippers. Po-
tentially, then, the people of Oregon
| purpose to construct a financial club
worth 100000 year with which to
batter the Wizard of Wall Street"
But, Of course, before 1907 shall have
passed, Mr.. Hartman will have found
cars somewhere; else he will have
recoupcj in part the losses suffered
by Oregon shippers through his fall
| ure to perform his duty as common
carrier.
Car Shortage Paralyzes Industry.
The movement In Oregon Is only
a H..