The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-06-17
1t Cannot Compete With Other
Places in Shipments
Messrs, Daniels and SwindelI
Ask for Better Rates-Re-
cent Case Taken Before
Commission.

The application of the Cape Fear
6raVel Company TO the Corporation
Commission for rates on clay gravel.
was the most important matter
brought before the commission during
the past week.
The complaint OF the
drawn by Messrs. Daniels and Swim
dell. of Wilson, sets out an interesting
state of facts. 1t says the company
has made a large investment in ma
chinery, that it has a great natural
deposit to develop and that If just and
equitable rates can be obtained the
cause Of good roads will be greatly
enhanced by the shipments from
these deposits.
The complaint has some length, but
1t develops SO many of the mysterious
and tortuous operations of this freight
rate business. that it is a distinctly
new story. The following is the text
Of the complaint:
That it owns large deposits Of clay
gravel at Ellington, North Carolina,
and has provided expensive machin-
cry n equipment with which to de-
velop and dispose Of same, and is
preparing to largely increase its
equipment and greatly increase its
output it can secure just and
equitable freight rates on its product.
The freight rate on clay gravel
from Ellington has not, it is inform
ed, been fXed by the Corporation
Commission, but the rate charged by
the railroads for transporting clay
gravel are neither just, equitable or
consistent with the freight rates eS-
tablIShed for other products or with
interstate rates charged on similar
and competing road-building ma
~terialt.
Clay-gravel is a natural material of
high efficiency for road building pur-
poses and is shoveled out Of the earth
directly into cars in its natural state
without being washed screened or
otherwise treated or manufactured.
1t is the cheapest and least valuable
freight transported by common car
riers. 1t can be used only for road
building, n the more reasonable the
rate of freight charged the more
miles Of oad can be constructed with
the same amount Of money. The risk
assumed by the carrier hauling clay
gravel is reduced to the minimum, for
there is practically no danger of be-
ing required to pay damages for loss
or injury TO same. 1t car be hauled
in any kind Of gondola equipment.
There is the smallest possible chance
Of injurying or damaging the equip
men or causing wreck. 1t is odor-
less: requires no are in handling
and, viewed from any phase of the
transportation problem, is the cheap
est and most economical material a
carrier can transport. 1t is entitled to
? because OF its character as a commO-
dity. The fact that the use to which
clay-gravel is put brings back to the
: railroads indirect returns that cannot
be estimated, by developing the coun-
i. try through which the railroads ope-
rate, justifes the fixing of a lower
rate h might be justified on anoth-
4 er commodity. Its use in building
l good roads is more beneficial to the
I railroads than other development Of
the oun because the construction
A Of good public roads makes feeders
: for the railroads.
Means Paralysis.
!, The prevailing high rates on clay
{ gravel and gravel for road making
charged from Ellington. not only par
a}ysze the clay-gravel and gravel in
dustries at that point but retards the
development of the State by depr1ving
communities which desire to improve
their roads Of the opportunity to Sc
7 cure this natural road building ma
: terial at prices within the reach CT
their financial condition, and within
= the limits of cost for a really good
! road. The position Of the railroads
: in refusing to make Just and equitable
= rates on ctay-gravel IS one preventing
: the upbuilding and growth of the
State. and injuring not only the State
u themselves.
]. The freight rate on crushed stone
;. a much higher grade of commodity
is lower than the rates charged or
clay-graveI.
The rate on crashed stone from
Rocky Mount to Wilmington "a dis
: lance Of about me hundred ano
! twenty-five miles, is eighty-one cent:
per ton, while the rate on c~lay-grave
= from Ellington to Wilmington Ia dis
=. @4H l-.1 - --1-
miles, is ninety cents per ton.
r The freight rate on gravel from
Steel Creek, Georgia, to Wilmington
"a distance Of about three hundret
d miles, is seventy-nine cents per ton %
one dollar and twenty-five cents pc,
Is cubic yard.
The freight rate frem Grant,