Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1910-01-20
WHO r. REsPONsIBIII1?


Kansan this sensible letter which IS
worth reading:
In the last issue Of your paper !
find this paragraph:
"supt. ]. e. Frazer is enthusiastic
over kis recent trip to Omaha to at
tend the meeting Of the Missouri Riy-
er Navigation convention. Freight
rates were thoroughly discussed and
1Mr Frazer thinks there will be ac-
ton taken in the near future which
will be Of great benefit to Kansas peo-
pie"
Is II not about time for the unerno-
tional citizen to conclude that among
the people who pay the bills the
freight rate will no longer serve the
office holder or the office hunter as a
thing to conjure with?
| Ii Is now considerably over three
years since the Hepburn law, giving
to the Interstate Commerce Com
mission the authority to fix rates,
along with other extraordinary pow
ersr went into operation, and since
that time the Interstate Commission
has been very busy slashing rates and
nil the emulous State Commissions
have been buster still slashing rates
(which rates were the lowest In the
world in the first place.; and here
after all these extremely busy years
OF reductions and regulations, the
people who pay the bills find them
selves in the midst Of the most ex-
tortionate prices for the necesessar-
les of life that have ever prevailed In
the United States.
Why should anybody longer believe
that the freight rates Of this country
are anything more than a negligible
factor in what the people who really
bear the burden have to pay?
Recently a friend told me that q
relative Of his in Brown county, Kan
sas, had given the heavy crop OF a
fine large apple orchard to his hogs
because he could get no price for the
fruit. Here in Chicago have been
paying SO a bushel for apples for my
table. BY the carload, as apples come
to this great city, they can be brought
from Newton for 15c bushel. 1t is
therefore clear that as between the
farmer who cannot find buyer, and
me, who has to pay SO a bushel, the
15c transportation charge has abso-
lutely nothing to do with the case.
Wipe 1t away altogether, and neither
of us get any measurable relief.
It costs 13c a bushel to bring po-
tatoes from Newton to Chicago, less
than you would pay a drayman to
haul the bushel one mile, and yet
have all along been paying $1.4O a
bushel for potatoes. Recently the
Chicago Tribune related that three
carloads Of choice potatoes had been
taken out and dumped In the sand
hills of Indiana, SO as to keep down
the stock and keep up the prices.
And yet no legislator, office holder
or other friend of the people has
opened his head about that sin--they
are all too busy with railroad ques-
lions. The extortioners who are OPP
Grating with impunity, without legis-
lation or regulation, would doubtless
explain that the high price Of pota-
toes is due to excessive freight rates
1t costs so heavily to get them in
here, you know.
A few weeks ago the price Of milk
in this town was without cause raised
from 7c to Sc and the dairymen made
considerable commptlon because
they did not get any part OF the
$14.25 per cent increase.
The secretary Of the interior inves-
tigated the prices Of food stuffs In
various cities In the country and
Just lately reported that in Chicago
the local dealer adds ~ per cent to
the price OF meat. Thus the packing
house will send It's delivery wagon
with 81 worth of meat to the local
shop and the shop-keeper blandly
hands It over to me for s1.47.
A suit OF winter clothes made in
Chicago and worth $40 or SIS can be
shipped to Newton for lie. It costs
1Sc to get an overcoat Of about the
same value from here to Newton.
Does the freight rate have anything
to do with the price that the farmer,
lahorer or other buyer pays!
Does II not argue that the school
house is for nothing and that our
whole costly educational system Is
failure when, in the face Of facts as
plain as the sun at MONDAY to those
who will look for them. the public in
sIst upon believing that freight rates
are the prime evil Of the time and
about the heaviest expenses they have
to meet In lifei
Ash have shown In the very Import