Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1911-02-24


Line and the Union Pacific 81 80 per cwt for haul
about 1900 miles The roads east of Omaho satisfied will
80 cents per cwt for haul Of 1900 miles II the wool
loaded at Portland, the O. r. NJ the O. S. H. and u p. ge
only 81 cents for haul of 1900 miles If there be
water competition the roads east of Omaha never heard abou
it, for they get the whether the starts from Namp
Portland 1t merely application of the rule to charge
"What The Traffic VIII Bear, which All that the
traffic will BEAR At non-compeng points 1T means All thai
the public will bear These phrases have become so obnox
ous to the public that hear this rue Rates should
be based upon the of the servce Though the word
ing of the formula has changed the prescription has
been altered The word vaue" ordinarily suggests the
price at which commodity sells freely in the open market
under fair competition Transportation is not sold that way
Either way the rule expressed it that the producer
shall be allowed to live and be allowed just enough profit to
keep him producing and shipping and all OF the remainder OF
the profit to be absorbed by the carrier The theory abb
solutey indefensible.
ocean competition elsewhere discussed but wool il
usraes the absurdy Of the explanation The rate wool
to Boston from Spencer in Fremont county, Idaho 1918
But the O. L. makes rate from Butte Montana, hauling
the wool down through Spencer to Boston for $85 Butte
is not situated the Pacific but has other railways
Idaho's wool product in 1910 18980OOO pounds If
Idaho had been given rates the Portland it would
have saved her wool growers this single item
III single year.
On the other hand wool carried profit from Port
land to New York at $0 per hundred the rate of 08 from
Shoshone certainly exorban When consider the keen
rivalry between the various roads for the Portland wool bust
convinced that there must be handsome profit in
the $1.00 rate
that many wise who have taken the
trouble to read thus far have ready to all this
parson between Idaho points and Portland The
contained in two rds-wo mighty words with which the
railroads have often enced the camor of interior points for
lower rates ocean Competon There has long been mag
ic in these two words They have been recognized by
courts and for time imposed upon the Interstate Com
merce Commission We told that the rate from
New York to Portland low that the rail rate high
than is most of the freight would go by water There
fore low rate made to cities the Whether the
freight is carried at profit or at loss not told If
wool from Portland to New York is carried at loss the rail
roads, would it not be we'll to let by water rather than
charge the Idaho wool excessive rate make the
Ocean competition is Pigment of the imagination
There is only live water competitor for the Pacific
Coast trade oday-The American Hawaiian Steamship Com
pany To get the business from New York
and absorbs 20 cent rail rate then ships by Coatzo
,oacos Merico across Mexico by the Tehuantepec Rail
road Sana Cruz thence by Portland then by rail
interior point This route involves landings of
freight between four and five hundred miles of haul by rail
three different railroads. and total carriage of 5000
niles Ii this be done at profit for less than the
mental rates. certainly the ara transcontnental
handling of freight and only terminal charges must be
profitable And the Portland rates to and from
1toy profitable the rates would be profitable
pped to Idaho points with 500 to $50 miles shorter
1t was moreover, concusively shown the Nevada rate
that the Tehuantepec Route controlled by the
mental railroads and the rates based upon
and both water lines change their rates sim
ltaneousy. The ocean route is not real competitor
has been found that railroads carry across the
nent three million tons of freight annually and all of
combined from the Atlantic the Pacific not to ex
eed 3ooooO TONS less than 10 centno sufficient
rol railway rates.
The ocean competition explanation falls to pieces when
examine the rates detail We have noticed that the
from Chicago nails and from Nebraska on sugar are
uch less to Portland than to Idaho points MANY other us
atlons might be given The writer lived many years in
ebraska From personal experience YOU gen.
reader that you may climb the highest hill in Nebraska
and on your ptoes the horizon with searching eve and
will not in direction the rolling waves of the Allan
There water line from Chicago except over the Mia
ara Falls or through to the Mississippi and the Gulf
But the most conclusive evidence that ocean competi
does not account for the difference terminal points
Id interior points developed in the Reno case The
tie upon car load OF first class freight containing 10000
funds from New York Reno $685. the same car was
FRIED the mountains to Sacramento the rate from New
ork $6OOOO The public had been by the Southern
cc that the rate to Sacramento made very low on m
unit of competition and that the to Reno was inst
ID reasonable rate for the services rendered If this expana
true then naturally all would in the benefits Of
high rate to Reno a