The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-08-13
A LA VANDERBILT.
Railroad Editor Tells of Rate
Discussion.
Shows Sandy" Run on the Pub
lie Unsuspectingly.
SCENE A DRUG STORE.
Seventy-Eight Cents Freight on
Grape Juice.
This and Original Cost Leaves
Profit OF $37.
SCENE A DRUG STORE.

"A popular sandy sometimes
thoughtless1y run on the unsuspecting
public, in explanation of high prices, is
railroad freight % said Fred Vande-
grift, editor of the Santa Fe Railway
magazine, the Earth, this morning.
An amusing incident in point hap
pened at Canadian, Tex, a short time
ago. Three men, well known in To-
peka, were there for the night, and in
the early evening they visited a drug
store, calling for grape-juice.
THE druggist had some, and pro-
ceeded to make a mixture of one part
grape-juice and two parts fizz-water
for which he charged ten cents per
glass.
"'Why!' exclaimed one of the men,
we can buy a whole glassful Of grape
juice in Kansas City or Chicago for
ten cents.'
"'Ohi but the freight said the drug
gist. The freight on that goods out
here is just awful! But we'll soon
have a north and south road through
here, and then we'll get even with the
Santa Fee
"They happened to be railroad men
and when they arrived in Topeka they
looked up the rate on grape-juice
his juice at Wichita, and that he paid
Is cents freight on a case of twelve
bottles to Canadian. They figured
some more, and found that in the
twelve bottles there were 432 drinks of
the quantity the druggist gave them.
These drinks he sold for $500, or
something like $37 more than he paid
for the twelve bottles!
Gives an ,ssObject Lesson
This is something that ought to
cause railroad 'baiters' to lean on their
clubs and reflect. To some. perhaps,
grape-juice may be a 'mocker,' or rag
ing and they would be shocked at
commodities in the freight tariffs OF
which object lessons might be made.
and fair minded men, at least, should
not be above taking notice. For in
this broad country of ours, there are
in round numbers, a million ana q
half of men whose living comes out OF
freight rates, and they are entitled to
consideration. They are entitled to
better pay, no less than men employed
in the other great industries OF the
country, regardless of all this trou-
bling about physical valuation, long
Perhaps, there's something in the
claims Of the railroad employees after
all
asThe newspapers, for instance. have
raised their advertising rates to NEE
the increased cost of the living of thell
WHY rot, especially since the advancf
of Is per cent asked for would be SC
INSIGNIFICANT as not to be factor II
fixing retail prices? ---' not mucn OF
a railroad man, but can multiply anc
divide and an analysis Of any railroad
rate is something OF a revelallon 70
layrnan- Even Senator Br1stow nign'
f.rofft by 1t; even laugh at the druggist
exclairring, oh, but the freight!
Freight Rates Not High.
1.-THE fact is. the freight rate on q
commodity is no bigger than gnat
heel, and, rarely, is it any factor, what
ever, in fixing the retail price NO less
an authority than Prof. Mcpherson OF
Johns Hopkins ur iversity says this
and SO it is safe to set it down here
IA widely advertised shoe made in
the east. and sold in the west for 50 anc
So so per pair, is sold to the trade BY
the manufacturer for $1.8S. f. o. b. The
freight on this pair Of shoes. delivered
in Kansas, is less than one and hall
cents!
THE material which enters into &
pair Of shoes. made in st. Louis, bears
a freight charge of less than one ane
one-fourth cents. To ship this pair O
United States, the freight charge il
less than three cents maximum, ant
the minimum is below two cents.
1.-THE freight on a Pittsburg ak sol'
in Kansas City is four cents: on s
c.nt paddock a shade arove a half cent
on an Is gallon galvanized tub two all,
three-tenths cents; on q 200-pound stoy
a cents: on a so cent washboard 4
one -hundredths of a cent: on a dozel
| clothespins five ten-thousandths of
cent.
Taking our every day wearing ap
parel our clothes cost Us from So t
| $50 more for suit now than Is year
ago oh, but the freight Yes, tn
| freight! The freight on a suit of men
clothes delivered on the Mississippi
river is from two cents to eight cents
| Possibly, the top figure might be te
cents in Kansas. Think of ten cent
| in the price Of a suit of clothes!
Amount On Apparel Cited.
sThe freight charge on the entir
apparel Everything from the skin out
| including the hat and shoes) of a full,