Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1910-07-14
A PRODUCERS VIEWS
ON PUBLIC UTILITIES

4 riously affect that same public.
z In the literature sent out from tn
\ western country by real estate me
4 it appears that there are no serioJ
4 drawbacks to be encountered b
4 those who are homeseeking. Pc
haps there is method in these omii
sions for no one ever heard a fis
q merchant cry Sinking fish" Tn
Z stories about the produetiveness G
the country and in the main, abOu
! the climate / can heartily subscrib
to. but in the matter Of disposing o
the most Of our products there is
vast discrepancy between the storie
told and the facts. This is not be
cause there is not a market some
where for what We produce but be
cause we are practically shut out o
those markets because the American
people are chumps enough to le
private corporations own the public
utilities. In other words the rail
roads and express companies simply
take from US practically all we pro
duce but a bare existence. and in
some cases our produce must rot
because we can not pay the freight
to a market where the people would
be glad 10 pay a good price for it.
The express company has just Civ
en- us an exhibition of high handed
outrage in raising its rates to al
most double what they were, pre-
sumably for the purpose of making
4 pretense of a magnanimous re-
duction in rates when the people ap-
pealed TO the interstate commerce
commission for relief, thus saving
their old rates which are simply high
way robbery. Think of s2.s5 on
crate of cantaloupes TO Seattle. Man
ayers of railroads and express com
panies haven't the sense that God
gave geese or they would see that
a prohibitive rate anywhere results
in loss to them as well as to the
producer and that is what most OF
their rates are.
What are we going 10 do about
it? Cod only knows and he won't
tell. For nearly 20 years he have
an interstate commerce commission
wrestling with the problems and in
nearly every report they have made
in that time they confess their ut
ter inability to correct most of the
evils of freight discrimination. AS
far back as 1900 one of the commits /
sioners stated that it cost a shipper
$4,000 to ship 1900 tons of freight
from Chicago to New York and yet 1
he said that the actual expense to
haul that freight was only $500. In (
spite of this enormous profit he said
that some of the railroads were in
the hands of receivers. some were
just playing even. while few were
paying dividends. He admitted that
he was unable to reconcile these con-
nicting conditions. 1
The railroads claim that in theiro
banner year. which l think was justly
before the panic of 1907, they hauled
in round numbers one billion. six
hundred million tons of freight for
which they received one billion, eight
hundred million dollars. This made /
IN average of Sl.O6 per ten.
If any one says anything about I
excessive freight rates in this coun-
ry they point triumphantly to this
average, which is about the lowest
If any country in the world, and
5eem to think they have effectually
rushed the kicker" but this fools
10 one with any sense. The rail-
Dads are great on averages, but
hey say nothing about who makes &
he averages. If the average per 6
on was only s1.O6 it is evident TO {
he ordinary shipper that somebody
5 stealing their freight; in other
Tords some shippers. and mostly {
he big ones, are getting their freight
or nothing or almost nothing, while
he multitude of small shippers are
aging nearer Sl.O6 per hundred thsR c
hat amount per ton.
Now Congress has just enacted a
ew railroad bill. and I make the pre- t
lotion right now that the only ones /
n all this broad land who will reap 5
ny benefit from it will be the $10.- a
5000 a year judges of the court of P
ommerce which, with the interstate {
ommerce commission. is a sort of e
heel within a wheel to further mys- !
fly the poor devils who are trying to
ct relief from legalized robbery z
Whoever has read Dickens BLEAK
Iorse" can get an idea of our real
by studying 'Jamdyce and v
amdyee." Litigants seeking relief 1
'Om unjust discrimination will have r
TO transmit TO their child +