Arizona republican., 1907-01-11
< CASE IN POINT.

The Republican has shown on at iaas; two occasions that the excessive regulation of the railroads will do this territory more harm than it will do it good. We are now given an illus irati0n of the truth of The Republi- cans contention. It is not quite in poin, t,ut. it serves to illumine our re marks on this subject
 On Wednesday the santa Fe rail- road was indicted by a federal grand jury at Los Angeles on charges of discrimination in freight rates in favor Q: the Grand Canyon Lime and Ce- :nent company in cases of several shipments of lime to Los Angeles.
 1t is not charged that the road was tIafty of relating. but of granting 'concessions' to the lime and cement eoapany; that is. of granting to the company carload lot rates on ship .n.nts of less than carload lots. or, ,,3ore particularly, it is charged that 
 than twenty tons at the ton rate of s7O and that sometimes the twenty-ton ears were loaded beyond their capac- ity and the surplus. though less than a ton. was chaIged for only at ton rates. There was no relating, and morally there was no discrimination, since the lime and cement company is without a competitor in its field.
 Tn considering allegations of crime two things are to be considered-the motive and the effect of it. When railroads have engaged in discrimina- ten -they have usually not done so willingly. They would prefer to treat : all patrons alike. but fear of loss of business has impelled them to favor one shipper above another
 There could have been no such mo- tive in this case. for the defendants road was the only one by which the :in. and cement company could reach fAe Los Angeles or any other market.
 Again. railroads have violated the law ty extending friendly favors to heavy shippers. but in this case there could have been no such consideration. The lime and cement company is a com Iarativsly hew enterprise and the vol ume ef its business could not have appealed to the railroad company, which must have had no other than a friendly interest in it. a wish to see it grow. What has been mistaken by the grand jury for a crime could have been nothing more than a fostering libetslity whose bestowal did not af- feet any rival lime and cement com- pany in the same region.
 The only. rivals so affected could only have been California companies, 1 ing the advantage of competing lines and whose profits might have been reduced by the trifing concession" alleged to have been granted to the | Grand Canyon company to put it on slightly more nearly even terms and | so assist in the development of an Arizona industry. W. have not been informed as 70 the | origin of the complaint against the ! railroad and cement company but we may presume that it came from Cali 1 fcrnia companies and dealers which | book with an unfriendly eye upon every l territorial enterprise which cannot be | made serviceable to California.
 There can be no defense of discrimi- I nation by the railroads but in this | case, inc concession" if there was nne. could not have been a discrimi- | nation within the meaning of the law, | for wise laws are intended for the pro- | lection of citizens and communities l and not for the repression of the proper energies of the one or the | growth of the other