Arizona republican., 1909-12-19
\ CRITIC WANTED CREDIT
For Same Reductions Be fore Railway Commission Had Been Formally Ap- prised by Railroads That They Would Be Made.

The kepuDilcdn IS III TcCcipt pl q communication from the Arizona Rail- way commission, addressed to the peo- pie of Arizona. which is printed below Space is gladly given to this letter, for it is clear. careful. temperate and truthful statement of an accomplish ment of vast benefit to the people of the territory. Few railway commis- sions in any state have been able to achieve so much in years as the Ari- zona commission has accomplished in the freight reductions which were an nounced few days ago.
 As the letter points out, these re- ductions mean saving of a million and a half to Arizona shippers yearly.
 The letter was brought out, of course. by the scurrilous attacks upon the commission by an afternoon paper of PhoenS- It was not necessary. pos sibly. for the commission to answer these attacks, for it would seem that most people locally were familiar, by this time. with the reasons which prompt the paper in question. and two or three men controlled by it. to inn prove every opportunity to misrepre- sent the work of the commission, to belittle and lie about what it has done. and to try to discredit it and the terri torial administration. But whether necessary or not. the letter is a timely and valuable exposition of the latest work of the commission.
 As to the attacks of the afternoon paper. its unfairness. it's determination to misrepresent and distort the facts and its childish and ridiculous jealousy of the commission are shown up by the papers own inconsistent comments. For example. on Friday the afternoon publication attempted to ridicule the reductions announced. It was quite sure they were farce: that they would he positively harmful to Phoe- nix, and of benefit only to Fl Paso. Yesterday afternoon. after thinking of the matter a little longer. the paper concluded that the reductions were quite important after all, of real and substantial benefit to the territory. and that therefore credit for them should be claimed and absorbed by the local commercial club-meaning always by 1. president of the club. and the secre- tary of the club. who is the papers railroad editor. it seems. IL was there fore claimed yesterday afternoon that the eastern railways. in response to the requests of the club''-meaning again the president and the secretary had reduced their rates into Arizona very materially whereat Arizona would benefit in vast sums-hurrah for the manager president and the secretary editor. The article would have been complete if it had set out the obvious conclusion: Merchants. please increase your advertising space. won't you, as evidence of your grati- tude to us. the mana ger president. and the secretary -editor?'
 Now. the cold fact is that the east ern railways arc. not interested in this reduction at all and have made no re- duction. They have simply revised their tariffs, to accord with the reduc- tions accomplished by the Arizona Railway commission in amicable con ference with the Arizona roads.
 The reductions which the afternoon paper has tried so desperately to be- little-and the next day claim credit for-amount, according to the railway commission. to a million and a half dollars. yearly. In percentages they run from ; to 40 per cent It so hap pens that Phoenix is benefited less than many other points. But it should be borne in mind that the railway commission is a territorial commission. It does not exist for the sole benefit of any single point It must deal with rates for the territory as g whole. But it is doing all it can for Phoenix as benefits will show up later on. The reductions obtained only the other day for the Clifton district amounted to a benefit of s200.00O yearly to Clifton alone.
 The commissions letter follows:
 Office of the Ariz. Railway Com.
 Phoenix. Arizona. Dec. IS. 1909 To the People of Arizona:
 Under the caption of Rejoicing of the Fl Paso Shippers an evening pa per attempts in crude way to be- little the work of the Arizona Railway commission in the matter of securing reductions in class rates on the vari- ous lines of Arizona
 If the saving of from million and 8