Los Angeles herald., 1907-06-16
BEET TRUST IS
WINNER AFTER ALL
PROFITS BY GOVERNMENT REG
ULATl0N<
s,s~ ---.
Railroad Rate Law Brings Up Endless
s--Discriminaticn
Charged in obeyins
Measure

60EClAl
WASHINGTON, June 10.-That there
should be any complaint over the an
nouncement of the beef trust that here
after cattle snould be purchased suoject
10 condemnation after Strengthening, is a
matter OF great surprise here. When the
subject of inspection was UP before con-
gress and the muck-rakers were raising
hulobaloo over conditions in the pack,
ing houses, and the public became AFRAID
TO even handle a can of potted meat 1or
fear Of Injection, then no one believed
the packers were sincere when they saiu
they were perfectly willing the pubic
should have all the inspection IT wanted
but the public would have to foot the
bill One thing the beef trust should De
given credit for and that Is somewhat
brutal frankness.
just why anyone should have imagined
the trust would bear the cost or lose Is
not clear. 1t announced 1t would not, and
1t does not 1t was relieved OF the un-
pieasantness of raising the price OF meat
TO cover the cost of inspection, although
1t frankly stated 1t would do SO II neces-
sary because the cost is borne by the
treasury an dthus falls only Indirectly on
the consumer. But the trust can see no
good reason why IT should lose on cattle
which are condemned after death and has
PASSED the loss on to the producer, FEEDER
or commission man, as the case may be.
Thus, while making the consumer pay
the cost of inspection, indirectly, the loss
by inspection falls on the producer. II
anything, the trust seems to have gained
opssa;siets s Psrhaps I Will .am1an snare
sabe?' Or may be its members will de-
vote the surplus to founding libraries or
endowing educational institutions.
The complexity of the railroad business
and accompanying questions is appalling.
Much fault is being found with railroads s.,s
rate in states where 1t has been adopted,
against all travellers, commuters as well
as others. Yet there is something to be
said on the side of the railroads, strange
as 1t may seem, and it leads to the propo-
sition which eventually this government
must settle and .whicn will cause. more
trouble than anything since the Civil war.
The great cry has been in all the anti
railroad agitation against unjust dis
elimination" Narrowed down, unjust as
applied to discrimination, means that the
discrimination Is unjust from the
standpoint of the party discriminated
until any discriminate ton whatever is re-
earded as unjust" then we may expect
perilous times, and advanced thinkers
ally the courts will be unable to sanction |
Determinations Just or unjust. The COM |
mutation problem is simple. To increase
railroad reduces the rate on both between
certain points and the population of the
suburbs increases This makes business
business. But railroads are common
carriers, and therefore, are not entitled to
discriminate between citizens OF a state
or of the United States.
What legal right. therefore, have they
TO say to. A: You travel over our line
from Baltimore to Washington every
round trip and at the same time say to
B: ''Yod go from Baltimore to Washing
ton once q week, or once a year.. SO you
Will have to pay 2 cents mile each way
A and 3 are both residents Of Baltimore
and citizens of the state of Maryland,
and and tn the rail railroad being e common carrier
another and much lower price when the
service performed is exactly the same-in
from ons efy To- aSoter thef sSt bs
argued that because A makes six trips
week he Is entitled to a lower rate than
y. who makes only, one trip week or
futed by the very foundation of rate regu-
lation, for IL A. because of the frequency
with which he offers his person to be
transported between two points is en-
titled 10 more favorable rate for such
transportation, then x who ships hun
entitled to ore avpopabe pea cay rafe snogd fbsr es
who ships hundred tons a year
From the standpoint Of the railroads as
crimination in favor Of A against B Is
good policy. So 1t is in the case of x
against Z, but discrimination in the lat
q hundred carloads of freight from Ball
tlmore to Washington he would pay the
same same rate as 3 shipping one carload.
why ne should have less rate than b
when 1t comes to the TRANSPORTATION Of
their persons is not exactly clear, when
vac proposition is viewed from the stand
point of B.
To be common carriers railroads must
be operated, and accompanying the pro
cess Of operation there is the incident
OF obtaining revenue to pay operating e
expenses. 1t costs the railroad a Ger.
tain sum to run train from Washing
Ton 70 Baltimore, merely as an Illus
tration. It has been carrying on the
average of fifty commuters at fifty cen Is
the round trip and fifty causual pas
sengers each way at three cents mile
or sl;2o each total of s2.4O for the
round trip per casual passenger. The
income from this train would then
average s25 from the commuters and
sfze from the casual passengers total
legislature puts a limit of two cents a
mile on the railroads. The rate for or
dinary tickets then becomes so cents
miles; and the income of the train
shrinks to $105, per round trip. The
rraaiiroad ran naturally seeks to make up
THIS dinerence. 1t is prevented by law
from collecting it from the casual pas
sengers and must necessarily fall back
on the commuters Thus from the
standpoint of who occasionally trav-
els. the legislature did a wise thing in
liking the limit at cents a mile, but
from the standpoint of b. the commuter,
the railroads are running him by rails
ing the rate he has been enjoying on
the other hand. If the railroad does not
raise the rate to A, then the income will
not meet expenses and the rate to B
4 becomes ineffective because its forcible
application would be confiscatory.
Therefore 1t seems that for the BIS to
profit the AIS must suffer. 1t cannot
be denied that theoretically while rail-
roads can and do discriminate, the gov
ernment cannot as between its citizens
If one man imports a hundred tons of
steel plates he. pays the same rate Of
duty as II he imported a million tons
A man who buys a postage stamp once
a year gets 1T at the same price as
though he bought thousand dollars
worth a day. So, If the government
regulates the cost of transportation for
freight or persons by rail 1t is difficult
to see how 1t can authorize the Great
ures which it is regulating to discrimi-
nate between it's citizens.
AS we are merely experimenting with
railroad legislation and must expect to
experience the losses and inconVen-
iences attending all experiments, 1t is
not well to condemn the recent national
railroad regulating statute But there
is one feature that will be soundly con-
demned by the public before long and
that is the wholly improper discrimi-
nation authorized by 1t between classes
OF citizens. For instance under this
law the wife of section hand on the
smallest railroad in Southern California
is entitled to travel anywhere up to
Maine and back without paying a cent