The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-04-05
forts of the progressive republicans,

en- up, winch provided that the rail-
roads cannot charge more fof h
short haul than a long one. d the
short being within the long one. but
theer was hole in the amendment.
If this law had been passed, every
railroad would ask relief from this
amendment. s
"The first protest made in this
country against those was made at
Redwing five years ago, which re-
quested the same rates as those CIV
en- st. Paul and Minneapolis on sea-
board and eastern shipments. The
rate commission decided that Red
wing was entitled to the Mime
apolis rate and later Winona got a
similar rate. =.
"Owatonna is to institute a case
for relief and has invited other
Southern Minnesota cities to take
part, such as Mankato, Faribault,
etc. Duluth instituted three cases
and two of them have been heard.
If Rates Were Equal.
eff freight rates were equal with
in the state, manufacturing indus
tries would not seek the large CEN
tiers, but would locate where their
factory property could be secured
the cheapest and where labor could
be secured at a reasonable price,
and that is where foodstuffs can be
obtained directly from the farm, and
where the majority of the employees
are property owners, and raise at
least a portion of their food prod
ucts. The laboring men can never
hope to be a property owner in the
large centers. You will all agree
with me that it is not a good
thing to longest population in large
cities. It is a bad thing for every
one except the owners of a site in
the city. 1t is good thing for
land SPECTATORS, few jobbers and
railways, but a mighty poor thing
for those who must live upon their
labor in those lcongested population
centers, for it is a we'll established
fact that human beings will not
flourish and develop without free
dom. Man in order to- be healthy
must have pure air, sunshine and
access to old Mother Earth. Con-
gestion of population means physi-
cal decay and death. 1t is in the
congested cities that the white
plague reaps its awful harvest of
death. It is there that the i'm
morality finds it's victims. Where
wealth accumulates, there men de-
cay, and if our purpose in life is
to develop a noble and happy civili-
cation, we should do our part to-
wards bringing about better state
of affairs, and to my mind the most
practical remedy would be the en-
actment and enforcement of an
equal freight rate law within the
state similar to the law which has
been on the statute books of Iowa
for the past twenty-five years. In
Iowa you can transport your per-
son or your property throughout its
borders without discrimination for
or aaginst you. The manufacturer in
the small towns in Iowa has equal
rights with the manufacturer in the
large town. This has natural
tendency to diffuse population to
all parts of the state and to adj
just it's business to natural condi-
tons, thereby inducing more eco
nomic development of the country.
Load Falls on Producer.
1.-THE laboring men are not the
only ones who suffer from this I'M
economic condition, although their
burden is a heavy one, but the
heaviest load falls upon the real
producers of the state who are the
farmers. They are compelled under
the present state of affairs to ship
their products long distances to mar
ket instead of having an opportunity
to market them and have large
per cent of their produce consumed
in the nearby towns, thereby saw
ing excessive freight rates and
large middle mems profits, which
will give both producer and consum-
er an opportunity to save.
at is generally understood that
the farmers of our state are pros
porous. That is true, in a measure,
but they have earned their prosper
ity and farm, but more than that
they have not been permitted to en-
joy and cannot enjoy in this state
as long as discrimination between
people and localities exist.
Rates Are Complex.
"The rates are also very complex
in this state, so complicated in fact
that even the railroad agents them
selves do not understand the rates
unless they have had several years
experience, and in: case. they are not
certain about a rate, they generally
make practice not to leavy too lit
tie. OF course the large compa-
MES have their traffic managers who
understand the rates thoroughly, but
the small shipper SUFFERS
The Distance Tariff.
Senator eastman then took up
the subject of distance tariff. THE
law concerning the distance tariff
has been on the statute books OF
Iowa for ftwenty-three years, which
has made Iowa one of the great
est agricultural and manufacturing