Evening journal., 1908-03-02
Railroad Shipments.

AT present there is much talk about
railroad regulation, ard other matters
pertaining to railroads.; but there IS
one phase OF the question which mas
not, at least to my knowledge, been
touched upon, and it would be a great
advantage TO our city If we could in
duce the railroads to adopt It.
We all know that a railroad is a big
help to any city and the more we have
Of them the better for the city. When
a manufacturer wants TO locate in a city
the first thing he looks for is the rail-
road service. and il there be more than
one he win want TO locate where he can
have them all. if possible, as every one
who ships on a railroad knows how
much trouble and expense it is to have
to pay shifting charges
Suppose you have a siding on the B.
and o. r.. r., ands you want to ship
a car to Philadelphia and the party
you are shipping il to has only a P.,
b. and w. siding. He may be several
miles from the b. and o., but they con.
slider this competition freight You
load on the b. and o. and ship to Phil.
adelphia. then you will have to turn
it over to the p. D. and W.. and they
win charge you more to make the shift
than they would to carry it all the
way.
Now suppose we reverse # and have
the b. and o. 90 shift it here in our
city and turn IL over TO the p, Band
w. Then the y. ana O. will charge
YOU more to make the shift than they
would to take il TO Philadelphia. Now
II makes no difference which way you
do it, you have to paw the same. be-
cause they consider It competitive bUsi-
ness. Thus you can see why business
men want all the railroads, for there
Is no way TO avoid this large freight
rate without hauling by team, which
would be very costly. Just because
the railroads are fighting about their
competitive business YOU are made to
pay the high charges. Thus you ara
at disadvantage with those who have
all the railroads on their premises, and
this makes II harl for you to compete
with them; besides every manufacturer
cannot get location where all the
roads can be had. therefore our city
is at a disadvantage for securing in
dustry.
so hard headed as to expect people to
ship by their road when they cannot
make the delivery for them without
extra charges.
II a man has the b. and o. in his
place Of business and he loads a car
which has to be delivered by the p. b.
and w. why should they not make the
shift for the regular charge of 81 per
day, the same as they would were it to
be shipped from some place where
they did not have road, for this
makes Il harder on the people where
there Is more than one railroad. than
! It would be where there is only one
for the people living where there is
only one road would get the advantage
of a 81 per car shift charge.
Let me make myself plain, for do
not wish TO be misunderstood. You
have the b. and o. in your place of
business and you load 4 car of old iron
and you wish to ship it to party in
| Philadelphia who has only the p. b.
and w. in his place OF business. You
order the B. and O. to turn it over to
the p. B. and w. ana they take it out
and turn il over. and charge you 4
cents per hundred pounds or 80 cents
per gross ton. Now the p, b. and
w. VIII take it TO Philadelphia for 60
cents per gross ton.
The B. and o. takes It about half a
mile and charges you 80 cents per gross
ton, and the p. Il. and w. takes it to
| Philadelphia for 90 cents per gross ton.
Now you reverse the shipment, and let
the b. and o. take the car to Philadel-
phia, they win charge you 65 cents per
ton or 25 cents less than they would for
making the shift of half a mile, and
! then the p. B. and W. will take it in
! Philadelphia and make the shift and
they will charge YOU 80 cents per gross
ton or 25 cents more than they would
to take il all tho way from Whining
ton. Thus you see If you had only one
road you would be better off in this
case. as your shift charges would be
80 per car in place Of 80 cents per gross
ton.
Now the railroads get privileges from
the city and State and they ought to
be made to serve the people instead of
Furnishing them. There is no reason
why each road should not be made to
accept cars of the other, and deliver
them where the other road does not
have a siding at The regular 81 per car
shift charge.
This I think would be a great benefit
10 our city, and our business men and
Board Of Trade would be accomplish
ing a great good for our city If they
could induce the railroads to adopt It,
and II not, they should all see 20 it that
our Legislature makes law to that ef-
feet and stop them from charging us
just because they wish to fight each
other about their competitive business.
What would you think of any other
business man who had an article which
he sells for a dollar but would charge
you SIS for il JUST because you wero
going TO buy something from someone
else, that he could not furnish This
is exactly what the railroads do, with
the excuse that it is competitive bvsl-
ness and they are telling us through
the papers that government ownership
OF railroads is a failure; but they never
tell us Of the mismanagement Of priv
ate ownership. Does any one imagine
that such abuses as these would exist
under government ownership.
If we do not have government owner
/ ship it will not be because the railroads
have not done enough to the people to
! force them to IT, It viii be because
| the people are asleep and have rot
recognized what they are doing.
Yours truly