The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-11-05

snis meats - the far East IN faNcr II
New England Mills. tie Interstate
Commerce Commission gives aided
evidence OF the fact that Is decisions
are coiorc1 and Its reasoning Initiated
by the elaborate sopsi=tr!es c. the
rate fabric tha; seems - have Been
designed to prevent the trade and
competition OF the Southern manurae-
turer from attaining the commanding
position 10 which natural advantages
entitie ft.
The crux OF this whole matter Is
this.
on shipments tie the orient, via the
Contineat and the Pacific. the rates 70
all mills shipping goods from the
South are s125 per hundred.
While shipments Of tho same class
OF goods from New England Mills
are only IS ents.
Thus is imposed a tax on compe-
tition between the mills Of the South
and those OF New England in the
struggle for trade in the same great
market OF 40 cents against the south
ern Mills. that have 10 ship their pro-
bhLAS &RIIdlIN oHt 9lG1Salu fnAAf& &NN&
thar their competitors.
The discrimination. therefore. in IA
vor Of the New England Mill f. not
only 40 cents in the actual rate OF
freight paid. vi that moun plus the
freight rate entire for a distance or a
thousand miles.
When the ruling OF the Commission
was first uade public the reason upon
which 1t was based was printed with
amazing frankness as giving a prefer
entail in rates to the New England
Mills to compensate them for the fact
that they have to obtain their cotton
from the South. Under the lead OF
this paper. that principle was seen ard
condemned by the press generally as
a nonstrous one, so clearly based on
sectional bias that it was in~defensible.
Now, therefore. when Tie same advan-
tage IS giving in the 70. NAL opinion as
accrued from the informal ruling. the
reasoning is changed. We now learn
that there is no element Of a New
England preferential entering into thc
matter. but that. in view Of water
~ liz nav
made New York the blsing point on
all shipments to the Orient, via the
Western ~seaports. AS a consequence.
the effect is to crea.a an arbitrary
preferential against the South-which
happens to be farther away from New
York than thu New England Mills
with the identical discriminatory re-
suit.
1t must be remembered to fully APP
preciate this injustice that the case
brought before the Commission by the
Southern mills was founded upon low
er rates granted by the railroads to
New England Mills situated at inte-
rior points and without the advantage
of water competition. The case vas
thus clearly constituted upon the facts
of the rates themselves, which are
much larger for a shorter than q lon
ger haul to the same destination and
by the same railroads. From the Mis-
sissippi west, the conditions Of trans
portation are identical. over the same
lines and for the SAM distance. For
cotton mills situated in the South.
however, almost upon the banks Of
the Mississippi itself in man. instances
the rate is one-third greater than for
those mills situated a thousand miles
and more away from what would be
the natural "basing point" and an
artificial "haslng point is created at
New York, which is IN intermediate
DIN between the NV England Mills
and the West but one entirely ont OF
the af,1r 70 a,r -
and the West but one entirely out Of
course southern cotton goes West by
the direct routes; it must be paid for.
however. as though il were first shfpD-
ed to New York and then, loaded with
this initial freight expense, reshipped
from there on equal terms with the
New England produc.. Whatever wav
the decision is twisted or examined the
fact remains that the reason OF the
rate and the motive behind all the
argument in support or it is the de-
termination of the railroad manage
ments, controlled largely by North
ern and Eastern capital, to use the
power of the public highways to give
advantage and afford an unfair
method Of competition between the
industries Of one section n those Of.
another.
The lesson for the south that flows
from this typical 4 representative I
case is tWofold in its significance: Il I
points clearly that there i, less than (
ia the unit idea of greater
Federal control of the rate fabrics
and that justice from the ~nspor I
ton m~onopclies will be'dnaIly obtained ]
only when an aroused sentiment shall :
have made itself felt in every state :
in which they operate. and. secondly !
the greatest economic hope of the =
south lies for the present in a per
agitation for better harbors ana
deeper waterways. Under present \
the hour when the South s
must turn to the sea for the rescue 7
Of It's trade has imperatively struck.
That the South has not the harbors. O
lower rates and fne greater ad- L