The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-12-05
Calls Attention to the Galveston
Rates.
HURTS THE FARMERS.
lanes Are Cheap and Hauled
Down Grade.
Asserts That Roads Profit by
Rate Making System.

MY Dear Mr.. Ripley:-Your valued
aSUr OF october %. referring to your
methoo or determining freight rates,
pnyslcaI valuation of railroads and the
relation Of railroads to the public in
general, was duly received. 1 hope you
mut pardon the delay in answering your
.etter: AS you perhaps know, was
very busy during the last days Of the
campaign, and have attended the
Iransmississippi congress in San An
tonic since the election.
I am, however. more than ever in
terested IN the subject matter Of your
Aetter. ! am very much pleased to get
your point of view on the matters re-
1erred to, and wish to congratulate you
ana the Santa Fe railroad for throwing
away your gum shoes and fighting op-
enly Tor your policies in the newspa-
pers and at the polls.
Cites Rates to Gulf.
You say in your letter that the
Santa F'e has been the chief factor in
making Kansas what it is today If
this is true, Mr.. Ripley, how do you
explain the fact that you charge Kan
sas farmers 25 cents per 100 pounds for
hauling their grain from Wichita to
Galveston, practically all the distance
being downgrade, while the railroads
operating between Kansas City and
the Atlantic seaboard haul grain nearly
double the distance and across noun
tain ranges for the same price? Do
you not know that the cost of con-
Struction and maintenance of railroads
between Kansas City and the Atlantic
seaboard is very much in excess of the
cost of railroads in the territory be-
tween Kansas City and the gulf? Will
you not admit that the cost per ton
mile Of hauling grain over mountain
ranges between Kansas City and the
Atlantic seaboard is very much in ex-
cess of the cost of transporting grain
downgrade between Wichita and Gal
weston?
I'm the face of these facts, how Mr..
Rin1axr 90 oic~11t fac
approximately 100 per cent higher per
ton mile for grain and grain products
between Kansas and the Gulf than are
the rates on these products between
Kansas City and the Atlantic seaboard
"WiH you kindly explain on what
theory of justice the Santa Fe hauls
carloads of grain from Kansas City
through Wichita to Galveston for 1917
cents per 100 pounds. while it charges rs
cents per 100 pounds. or more than 20
cents higher rate per ton mile for
hauling grain from Wichita to Gal
weston. a----s-a--
Alleges Discrimination.
1.-THE interstate commerce reports
show that railroads operating south of
Fort Worth, Dallas and Denison, Tex,
have been hauling grain from these
points which are about one-half the
distance from Wichita to the Gulf, and
receive only 5.5S cents per 100 pounds
out of a total through charge of 20
cents per 100 pounds from Wichita to
the Gulf. If these railroads operating
south of Denison,' Fort Worth and Dali
las can haul grain at a profit approx
mately half the distance from Wichita
to the Gulf for less than cents per
100 pounds, how can you, Mr.. Ripley,
in any possible way defend charge OF
is or 10 cents per 100 pounds, or 300 per
cent more per ton mile, for the other
half of this haul?
1.-The above instances Of gross dis
elimination by railroads against Kan
sas are fair examples of the Injustice
which this state has suffered at the
hands of transportation companies for
many years. and your statement that
the Santa Fe has made Kansas what
it is today sounds like joke in the
face of these startling facts.
1--WE suffer perhaps more from extor-
tfonate and discriminating freight rates
on farm implements, groceries, dry
goods and merchandise that are ship
ped into the state than from
on grain and other products which are
produced in the state and shipped TO
market.
Santa Fe and other Kansas railroads
to enter into any agreement with east
ern lines no matter whether your I'M
derstanding be written or implied, that
forces Kansas to pay tribute to sys-
tenn of railroad rates based on hauling
products by rail to the Atlantic sea-
board. We have an indisputable right
to the natural advantage of water
TRANSPORTATION between the Atlantic
seaboard and the Gulf ports, and we
have a right in equity and in law to
demand OF you that rates from Kansas
points to the Gulf ports be based on
reasonable charge for transportation of
products to and from those ports, re-
gardless of any relation which your
road NAV bear to eastern connections
Makes New Arguments.
s'In your letter of October % you
say;
In my 30 years experience in the
consideration of railroad rates 1 have
not known of case in which the physi-
cal value of the railroad property or
its capitalization was given any con-
sideration. The needs of the commun-
tty, the value of the property to be
transported, the price at the originating
point and at destination, the shippers
view Of what he can afford to pay, the
rates prevailing in adjacent territory
whether by rail or water-and, in gen
eral the value of the service. are the
factors which determine the rates.
when not interfered with by the vari-
Gus regulating bodies which occa-
sional1y cast stones into the meshes
OF the machinery"
"Referring to the basis of freight
rates in another portion of your letter,
You say:
legislation and national laws, mostly
unintelligent and passed in time or
popular hysteria
Your statement in regard to the
proper basis of freight rates as quoted
above seems to be Numerically oppo-
site to the opinion rendered by the SUI
preme court of the United States, where
the court saws:
4FVVIhat the company is entitled to ask
is a fair return upon the value of that
which it employs for the public con-
Ventence.
your letter indicates that when the
supreme court of the United States
and the presidents of the big railroad
systems disagree, the railroads follow
the Judgment Of the officers of the COM