The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-22

SiossiHss or tnese streams mas been lofceu through far away railroad gateways.
 No one should criticise the railroads for running their business so as 10 get all the tonnage possible and no one expects them to voluntarily build up competition, unless in building such reasonable com petition they secure compensatng advan- tages
 l believe that the railroads of this dis trict would be finally greatly benefited by encouraging the distribution from and concentration at our river crossings of heavy weighing and low revenue produc- ing tonnage and reserving their equipment and facilities for the hauling of the perish able merchandise and manufactured ar ticles which would greatly increase in volume as the section prospered and de- yeloped on account of low water and rail rates on the slow moving. raw and par tially manufactured food, iron and coal tonnage
 The experience of the past few years shows that electric surburban lines have tremendously increased the population, and while yielding cheaper service than the steam roads and making money for | themselves have not decreased, but on the contrary increased the revenues of the steam roads with which they appar- ently competed and really did successfully compete for certain business.
 The railroads of this section have in normal times more tonnage than they can move, and yet they haul vast amount of freight long distances at rates of less than mills per ton mile in order to prevent it's movement by water. When this equipment could be used to haul ton mage offering to b mills per ton mile, i does it not seem that if the railroads would in connection with the waterways distribute this tonnage short distances at reasonable rates (say of 10 mills per ton mile) that both the communities and the railroads would be profited more than by the present policy of making through rates between distant competitive gate l ways so low to be unproftable, pre- venting water movement and local dis | tributing and concentrating rates so high l as to be prohibitive of movement? Don't they thus manufacture unproitable tonnage and destroy profitable movements? Are
 
 rates that won't pay and preventing the ] development of business that will? Would it not increase business for them and for US if instead of hauling cotton ] from Memphis to the ports at less than 5 mills in order to prevent it's movement by water, and grain in the same way at 6 mills, that they use this equipment in hauling grain and grain products from Decatur and Sheffield to Alabama points at 12 to 15 mills instead of preventing this movement by making rates to Bir- mingham from these crossings of more than an average of 25 mills?
 In the past when the railroads did not have business enough to keep their plants running full there was reason possibly to take this competitive tonnage at very low l rates; but now there is business for all, why not let each perform that part of the service for which it is best suited and not drive stopper into rivers l and force business long distances over their own rails, with resulting congestion, delay and loss to themselves and the com munities which they serve.
 Now let us look at the Birmingham | nessee river
 Rail transportation developed into and i through Alabama from the north and east and the last railroad built into Bir- mingham (the Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic has come into Alabama from the Georgia coast practically along that line of overland transportation first used by white men in Alabama The English in the eighteenth century, by pack horses, came across Georgia from the Savannah river, through old Coweta to the Mus cogee Indians on Talladega creek and brought in these trains, beads, blankets and brandy which they exchanged with the Indians for skins and dried meats
 From that time trade and transporta- 1 ton developed from the importing and manufacturing eastern coast westward into Alabama.
 ] It was not until after 1880 when the development of coal and iron in this dis trict and great quantities of food products and manufactures in the west, that trade and transportation began to look from the west toward the central south. In the 1 late sos the building of the Kansas City i Memphis and Birmingham railroad, Bir- mingham to Memphis, on the Mississippi l and the Northern Alabama from Jasper l to Sheffield on the Tennessee gave to 1 this district it's first outlet through near gateways to navigable waters; and it's i first opportunity to reach the great cen tral territory except along the old pack i horse trails to the eastern coast or along 1 the Cherokee trails to Cincinnati and Louisville on the Ohio. As was shown in my article published on Tuesday, the re- l suit of these new rail routes was a re- duction in rates to Birmingham district from these crossings and a consequent 1 reduction from all other far gateways of the west
 For time there was fierce competition between the new lines and the old riers and rates from Memphis to Birming- ham were reduced at times much as 1 50 per cent; and grain came to Birming ham from Sheffield at rates as low as | 1Oc per 100 pounds 1 If the short lines from Birmingham to the Mississippi and Tennessee rivers had remained independent competition between them and the lines from Cincinnati and Louisville would have assured proper l adjustment of rates for tonnage moving via the gateways on the Tennessee with |