The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-07-11

greater the charge, Is the rule which
Senator Long defends and votes to
maintain; and his votes on this pro
position alone, II every other act of
his official career had been satisfac-
tory to his constituents, should cause
his defeat.
The Long and Short Haul.
But it remained for the senator in
his Emporia speech to take a position
on the long and short HAUL which
demonstrates. either an astounding ig-
norance of the subject he is discuss
ing. or a reckless perversity and utter
disregard of the interests of the peo-
pie whom he was selected to serve. In
this speech, in referring to an amend
ment offered to the Hepburn bill pro-
hibiting the railroads from charging
more in the aggregate for short haul
than for a longer haul over the same
line in the same direction, the SEN
ator said:
"'This was an amendment proposed
to the Hepburn bill, prohibiting a
common carrier from charging a
greater compensation for shorter
than for a longer haul. The amend
ment was defeated by a vote of 25
yeas to 46 nays and is found on page
6,571. voted against this amend
ment and will continue to vote against
this proposition as long as 1 remain
in congress. No proposition could be
enacted into law that would deal such
death blow to the prosperity of
Kansas. Kansas is in the center of
the continent Its prosperity has
heretofore depended to a large extent
and will continue to depend in the
future upon special rates, made by
the railroads, by which lower charges
are made for longer haul than for a
short haul included within the long
haul
1.-THE senator closed by declaring
| o. irac 70 of
mile"
In referring to this Mr.. Bristow
said:
1.-The senator closes this statement
with an ingenious and deceptive effort
to make it appear that the LaFollette
amendment was a proposition to base
all rates at SO much per ton per mile.
when it was nothing of the kind. 1t is
specifically stated that the rate should
not be more in the aggregate for a
shorter than for q longer haul over
the same line in the same direction. 1
know of no one who is asking that all
rates be based upon so much per ton
per mile.
His statement that special freight
rates for the west have caused the
farms of New England to be aban-
doned is the fallacious and silly argu-
ment that is used by all railroad at
torneys and traffic managers in an
swer to complaints from western ship
pers against excessive rates and dis
ordinations. Anyone familiar with
the sterile and rocky soil of New Eng
land knows that the farms have been
abandoned there because one man in
Kansas. Missouri or Iowa can Guilt
vate five acres with more ease than he
can one in New England and produce
four times as much per acre.
ITO the Kansas shipper the first
part of his statement is full of
q { n nd I'M etc ferr arafa
fortunate that the senator. for the en-
lightenment of his constituents, has
not cited a few rates on staple Kansas
commodities and products to justify
his extraordinary assertions His
statements are almost wholly at vari-
ance with the facts.
Wheat Rates.
Take the export rates on wheat as
an illustration.
AS rule the price of wheat in
Kansas; is the price in Liverpool less
the cost of delivering the wheat to
Liverpool The cheapest route to ship
wheat TO Europe is by the. way of
| taken off of the rate between Kansas
and Galveston is added to the price of
wheat in Kansas. and every cent add
| ed to the cost of shipping wheat from
Kansas points to Galveston is taken
from the price of wheat in Kansas
There are occasional exceptions to
| this rule when we have short crop
| or when there is an unusually heavy
crop in Argentine or other wheat pro-
ducing countries. This being an ex-
port wheat country, however, the rule
generally prevails.
I'm August, 1906. L spoke at Cald-
| well. Kansas. a station on the Rock
| Island raiload some fifty miles south
west of Wichita. At that time the
rate on wheat. from Kansas City to
! Galveston, distance of 927 miles over
| the Rock Island railroad was liz
| cents per hundred. The rate from
Caldwell to Galveston. 655 miles
| south, was 20 cents. Caldwell is en-
route between Kansas City and Gal
weston on the Rock Island railroad,
| 271 miles nearer Galveston than is
| Kansas City, yet the wheat growers
| in that vicinity were charged twice
as much for exporting their grain, as
| were the wheat growers adjacent to
Kansas City, and the same was true
| of Wichita, Newton, Great Bend,
| Hutchinson, Salina, and practically
| every other shipping point in the
wheat growing belt of our state. Is
| this one of the special rates that the
| senator says Kansas profits so much
| by? On the wheat crop of 1906 this
unjust rate cost the wheat growers of
Sumner county more than 100000
| for which they did not receive a dol
lars worth of service in return. 1t
cost the wheat. growers of Sedgwick
county that year $4,000: of Stafford
county $275.000; of Reno county
| 100000 and of Barton county $780,
| 900, and all told it cost the wheat
| growers of Kansas millions This
| enormous revenue was collected for a
service that was not rendered
| yet in the face of this astounding
| showing, Senator Long justifies this
| system of rate-making and declares
that he will vote to continue 1t as long
| as Ne is in the United States senate.
| THE senator stated in a speech al
| Cberlin the other day that the Hep
burn bill had remedied the discrimi-
| nation in wheat rates. This he ought
! to know is not true.
| THE Hepburn bill helps the big