The semi-weekly messenger., 1907-09-03

in the other direction. can start at
Chattanooga, in Tennessee, with a car
load Of sad irons and leave 1t here for
rate OF forty cents. H. these goods
are bound for DanviIIe, I'm the ances-
trally reverred commonwealth of Vir-
ginia, / shall have a little bill Of 26
cents hundred. But right here comes
a puzzling proposition: IL that car
goes on to Lynchburg, or Richmond, it
pays only seventeen cents a hundred,
or discrimination against one Vir-
ginia city in favor of two others, and
presenting a rather queer mix-up liz
ancestral feeling on the part of the
management. 1t may be that an Rich
mond and Lynchburg are nearer to the
places where John Smith and Pocahon-
tas became historical it is incumbent
on the management to show favorit-
ism to their nearby descendants.
IF | am in want of any harness or
leather goods continued Mr.. Ireland,
"a good buying point is found at Bu-
ford, in Georgia. But | am confront
ed at once with refusal to give me
ever Nor can I ascertain the reason
car rate under any circumstances what
for this, my only possible idea being
that a merchant in the south is not
privileged in the minds of the railway
management to transact a wholesale
business, but must confine himself to
retail basis Of operation
Here is another case in point and
one which goes right home to almost
every householder. Nails are now SELL
ing at the mills on basis Of price of
81 hundred. The freight rate from
mill to Greensboro is thiry-thgree cents
If | receive an order from a customer
at Newport, N. c., for five kegs, I
must pay rate of thirty-four cents
hundred, making a total cost of
S2.67 The rate from mill to Lynch
burg is sixteen cents and that from
to Newport is twenty two
cents, Or a total cost of $238, and a
discrimination against Greensboro Of
twenty-nine cents on an article of mer-
chandise classed among the leading
staples.
"One case of discrimination, SEEM
ingly unimportant in itself and yet
strikingly illustrative of why we ack
equalization, is in the policy followed
by the roads toward the distribution Of
what are known as box nails, made by
a special process by only one concern.
These nails are introduced as a novel,
ty and were sold at first in only small
lots. Then they came in general use
and now must be carried by jobbers.
But we cannot obtain them directly
from the mills are obliged to order
them through small concern in Rich
mOnd, simply because the roads have
made a very special provision for their
favorites UP there and will not allow us
to do otherwise than pay tribute to
this Caesar who lives near the throne
Of John Smith and Pocahontas.
There is nothing in what | have
part, or that Of the business public of
Greensboro, to influence any interest
Or interests against the management
of the railways. We need the roads in
our busines and they need u.s. Neither
side can afford to antagonize the other
or to do anything that will make con-
ditions any harder than they are at
present But I believe, speaking from
a business standpoint, and as a matter
of equity and consideration for both
the company and the community, that
We have a right to ask, yes, to de-
mand, an equalization of rates and
an adjustment of the conditions under
which we are now compelled to oper-
ate e.'i-Greensboro Daily Industrial
News.