Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-22
HOPES TO BREAK
STRANGLE HOLD
OF RAILROADS
JEFFERSON CLUB SPEAKER
PRESENTS SITUATION
JOSEPH CALL SAYS TRUST HAS
DEATH GRIP
Only Salvation for People Lies in Fol-
lowing Example of Los Angeles
and Securing Free Harbors
for All Time

Striking illustrations of the strangl
hold which the railroads have game
upon the shippers in every field of II
dustry and Of the manner in Whic
laws have been made to increase tn
imperial power of the giant trust wer
given yesterday in an address by Jc
seph II. Call at the regular week.
luncheon of the jefferson club. Th
greatest hope of breaking this deadl
grip, the speaker maintained, Is pre-
sented in the example set by Los Al
geles city in the establishment Of
free harbor with docks and wharve
under municipal control.
l. b. Dockweiler. chairman, ar
nounced that there will be no luncheo
of the club next Saturday, as all men
bers of the club and all Democrats
the city as well, are invited to atten
the picnic to be given on that day b
the Hickory club of Garvanza in Syce
more grove. Refreshments will t
provided by the club for all guests.
Mr.. Call spoke as follows:
The honor has been extended to
me of speaking to you upon the
subject of "The Relation of Rail-
way Freight Rates to the Tariff"
This subject is not new to me.
have considered the fact that the
tariff act operates as a railroad
regulator, as one of the most i'm
portant questions before the coun-
try. A paper which 1 prepared upon
this subject was published in the
Los Angeles Herald of July 80,
1908.
1t may have been q cause of
wonder to some of you, as 1t for
merly was to me, why the railroad
freight rates upon different COM
modities were so greatly different
for the same haul and even over
the same road.
1t would not occur to an ordinary
man why the basis or terminal
rates from Chicago. Missouri river
and common points to Los Angeles
and Pacific coast points are upon
Portland cement 81 ton, upon pig
iron $40 a ton, upon structural
steel SIG ton, upon oranges $50
a ton, upon cotton goods $40 ton,
upon dry goods $50 ton and upon
automobiles $120 a ton.
Competition Is That of Commoditlt
These different classes of freight
are hauled the same distance over
the same routes, frequently In the
same train and by the same engine,
and the risk of transportation (as-
sumed by the shipper) is practically
the same in each case, and yet the
rates range from 81 to $120 ton.
To understand the causes for this
condition one must take into con-
sideration certain controlling fac
tors.
In the first place. all railway
rates are fixed by competition,
which originally and during the
days when railways were regulat-
ed by law was mainly the competi-
ton of carriers, but now under the
interstate commerce acts of con-
gress, as construed by the supreme
court, all of the naturally compett-
tive railroads may and they have
combined together, fixing and
maintaining a joint tariff upon all
transcontinental and terminal busi-
ness, by which competition has
been wholly suppressed as between
themselves, and by which common
rates are maintained to the great
advantage Of the railroad COM
panies.
The competition which now con-
trolls rates is not the competition
of carriers but the competition of
commodities.
The railroad companies always
charge all they can get, which is
sometimes expressed by saying that
they charge "all the traffic will
bear" 1t is to be remembered that
their charges are not regulated by
law, but the commerce acts provide
that the railways shall fix the tar
iff Of rates, which shall be filed
with the commission, and which
thereupon become the legal rate.
This rate is subject to a contest
upon complaint of carriers as to
any particular rate, to be heard by
the commerce commission, and
which is then subject to contest in
the courts with the neVer-ending
delays before both the commission
and the courts, but under which
system nothing is accomplished
except to permit the roads to COM
bine and fix rates and to deceive
the public in the belief that there
is some legal regulation of rates.
Tariff Protects Railroads
AS a matter of common knowl-
edge the railroads fix and maintain
the rates to suit themselves, and
as they from time to time suppress
water competition they promptly
advance the rates.
With this power to make and ad-
vance rates, why is it that the rail-
road terminal rate on pig iron is
$40 a ton instead of $50 a ton, the
same as dry goods, and why are
cotton goods $40 a ton instead of
$120 a ton?
To answer that question it will
be necessary to examine two other
acts of congress, both of which
have been passed and are main
tanned in the interests of the rail-
way trust.
The first is the "coastwise trade
act" by which law all foreign ships
are prohibited under heavy penal
ty from carrying freight from one
American port to another American
port, and the other is the present
tariff" or customs, act, which
fixes duties to be paid on the i'm
portation into the United States of
foreign goods.
The official joint tariff of the
transcontinental railroads COM
prising practically all of the rail-
ways in the country, as filed with
the interstate commerce commits
sion. shows not only that all of the
railroads are in a combine to fix
and maintain rates, but that there
is also combined with them the
coastwise ship lines. BY coastwise
ft,oa 7 ,aFa,. oR oa,rron fn fhnca VOC.