Arizona republican., 1911-09-29
Editor of a Farm Journal in Iowa Intelligently Dis cusses Relations Between E CTS and Rail roads.

who really built the railroads and
 were then neatly beaten out of their | interests"
 | Mir. Quick placed emphasis upon | freight rates as an index not only to | the farmers profit but to the general
 cost of living. He charged that rail- ways in fixing rates often cOnnived with great population centers to the | detriment of smaller cities and the
 country in general.
 | MT. Quick enumerated several in-
 stances of cooperation between 1 farmer and railway, of the introduc- ] tion of improved breeds of live stock
 along the lines of his system by
 President Hill of the Great Northern
 of the maintaining of demonstration 1 farms on Long Island by the Penn | sylvania. and of the running of cdu-
 Cational trains for the purpose of | bringing agricultural science into | touch with the farmers. Railway aid
 to agriculture, he said, has grown to ! be a fashion.
 But all these fine things" he con | tinued, have been done and are still ! being done with an eye single to ton | mage. We may trust the enlightened | selfishness of good business to push
 this sort of activity to the limit of
 it's profit. But in the great task of conservation do the railways owe any
 duty to the farms beyond what they are now performing? This place has yet to be worked out.
 "The greatest transportation fact faced by the American people is the problem of developing remote parts of the country. If the building of ma tional system of waterways be re- sorted to, the aid of the railways must still be demanded if success is to be obtained.
 The railways of the United States have enormously retarded agricultural developments and added to the ex- pcnse of living. by permitting the Judgment in our transportation sys- tenn of that industrial parasite. the express company. The express com panics perform practically no func- tions which do not belong to the rail- ways. Every dollar of the huge pro fits which the express companies make is a burden upon industry un- necessary and unjust
 The farmer must be placed in such condition that he can work up trade in the city and ship in small packages to the consumer at just rates"
 Mir Quick then took up the matter of rate making in the interests of ma tional development As regards na- tiOnal questions. he said, the railways must be enlisted in such policies as may be dictated by patriotism.
 The whole structure of rates" he declared, "as they now exist is de- vised to favor the long haul to and from market, and made up with re- ference to the demand of certain trade centers. and certain powerful financial interests. some of which are closely allied to ownership of the railway" He referred to the history of rates on the border line between the Gulf Trade Basin and the terri tory of the railways running to Chi cagO and the Atlantic ports. The farmers of Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebras- ka, Colorado. and much other terri tory, he said. are entitled to the near outlet by way of the Gulf The battle he declared. was fought out not along lines best for the nation but with sole reference to the interests of railways
 'The building of the Gulf Line was robbed of its benefits to the farmer Rates were so adjusted, and still are. as to make the gulf lines as fad for the farmer as the Atlantic lines, in stead of making the old lines as good as the new should be. The present railway situation is full of such ano- malies"
 ''One can scarcely conceive" MT Quick said. "of such complete deve- lopment in Iowa, Nebraska. the Dato- tas or Oklahoma, as has been at and yet it is merely question of transportation. If it can not be accom- plished by land carriage, he declared the nation will have to have re- course to waterways. The desired end. he said. might be attained through the use of "tapering rates"- that is, by rates which increase not with the distance, but on some basin which gives the remote points a less tariff than the nearby points. As an instance of the benefit of tapering rates he referred to the rates on citrus fruits from Pacific coast points east. The rate on oranges and lemons to all points east of Denver or from Cheyenne. Wyoming, to East port. Maine, is the same.
 "'The State of Iowa is Chicago's back field. and Iowa's population is shrinking This fact alone is enough to condemn the rate system which permits it. The Texas system is based on the theory that many med- um sized towns and cities are to be preferred for the agricultural welfare of the state to one or two overgrown municipalities with rates made to stimulate their growths at the eX- pense of the rest. This has been ac- complished by the establishment of a maximum freight charge. Thus, while such places as Galveston, Houston, Dallas. Ft. Worth and Waco are