The Ordway new era., 1909-12-31


IA Il. Mr.. ]. 5. Tustin, Freight
c,,lm Agent Of the Missouri Pacific
,I,on Mountain, delivered an ad-
,,... m "Roads and Railroads." and
aid 10 part:
.p.ople usually think OF the opera
,,o, n, American railroads In terms
o,hnllons Of tons and millions OF dol
,,,, figures uf such startling magni-
,u,e that the average individual sell
aom connects himself in his daily
,houpht and living with the factor OF
,,mmerce that nnd, expression In our
transportation agencies. The state
rpnt that carriers administer largely
N the necessities, comforts and luxur.
l..d life reaches the human mind
xthmauy other economic propositions
vlthout making due impression OF the
extent TO which this is true, and to
the further extent that things that
we're formerly luXurIcs are now in
dilly use In modest homes.
TO Illustrate this proposition !
Invite you % a review OF the common
Place subject Of my breakfast in Kan
as City this morning, consisting of
half u Florida grape fruit, In the
ceDter Of which was a cherry from
Oregon. colprcd red by cnchineal from
Mexico. White tiSh which few days
leiOre had been swimming In Lake
Superior appeared on the breakfast
table garnshed with IA lemon from
California. Coffee was from Brazil
aud the sugar may have come from
far away Hawaii.
"Arriying In Topeka bought for
ten cents three times rs many dates
asa hungry man would care to eat.
These dates were grown in Arabia.
carried on camel back to the Persian
Gulf, then by sea, canal, ocean and
rail To the Kansas capital. The farm.
er to whom fishing has grown to be an
art. may take In quest OF his sport "a
japanese pole, an Irish linen or ORR
entail silk line and Il supply OF English
hooks, carrying as a product OF Amer
lea can Of worms, with some doubt
on the ancestry OF the can. 1t would
De interesting to figure on the freight
cost OF this fishing outfit but the
amount would be 50 iniinltesimal that
we must take our bearings on some.
thing OF greater bulk"
Mr.. Tustin then gave an inventory
OIL the clothes that he wore TO the COT
'ention, including each article from
shoes to Overcoat with their cost value
and said that IL these garments had
oeen purchased in Topeka from stock
ooughtln New York the fieight charge
would be less than one-half OF one DER
cent of the amount.
AS a contrast with other inland
transportation he said that in copuec.
'lon win neighbor lie bought Car
o' Arkansas coal for domestic Use
paying Tor the rail haul OF apprpXi-
mately i've hundred miles, less than
TWO dollars and fifty cents per ton;
ior the wagon haul of a mile and a
"a'' from the switch track to his
nome seventy-ave ceats per ton, and
70 The wheel-barrow man from the
gutter to his cellar window, a distance
W Sixty feet, twenty-five cents per
V"' adding facetiously that IL the en-
s'ne mad earned as much as the wheel.
narrow In proportion to distance, the
I''lroad tariff would have exceeded
. ."o hundred thousand dollars. and II
we ~heelbarrow had been paid on the
."e'he basis the cost OF carriage for
sne carload of twenty tons from the
su'tef TO the cellar would have been
'o'uo one-ninth Of cent.
now much work would a farmer
pe',orn Tor cent? How far would
, L., haul a ton of freight. or do any
.aoor connected with it, for that
price A child buys penny stick of
Saaay S IN moment of passing fancy,
,s ,e0 'lie American railways receive for
,ue carriage of the average ton OF
me'snt =, per mile, about three.quarters
osa 0ue retall price OF the child's pur-
snaSe' a cent with substantial seq
an, "' removed, yet laws are passed
s"u s agitation encouraged to make the
moyed m,.' segment larger and the
smaller.
II the Missouri Pacific had aver.
- oseu Tue retail price OF a penny stick
,,.,y oahdy for hauling each ton Of
,aa snl one mile during the past fiscal
sear' millions OF dollars would have
%a baen added otis treasury, labor would
.as ase continued, without interruption
snu s the public business would have
.s, .s,s inc impetus both from the pur.
suaSe OF supplies and FINN = rr,orn