The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1913-11-12

the owners.
Second considerable part of the
/ increase in revenue should be contrib
uted by the traffic transported under
the local class rates.
Holding it then to be established
that some plan of revision that will
bring increased revenue ought to be
adopted at once, we submit that the
only point to be considered is this: Is
the basis upon, which the Boston &
Maine proposes to revise its local class
rates inequitable or likely to be in
furious to any public interests?
t'The principal difficulty with this
proposition of the Boston & Maine that
the rate on any given class Of freight
for any given distance shall be the
same on any part of the system lies in
its novelty and simplicity. Freight
J rates have been involved for so long
a time in mystery and obscurity that
this straightforward proposition Of the
Boston & Maine has some such effect
on the mind as a burst of sunshine I
t would have on eyes grown wonted to
! 'Cimmerian darkness. 1t hardly seems F
possible that rate making can be done I
by any method within the comprehen- I
sion of the average intelligence.
Neither rhyme nor reason having
Z been apparent in rate schedules, it fol +
n lowed naturally that men should as
n cribe the inequalities and incongruities
that pervade classifcations and tariffs
, to some mysterious necessity. Our ears
I have been confused with babble
i about volume of traffic density of traf
II ic, grades, degrees of curvature etc
g .. As a matter of fact these things
g have almost nothing to TO with the
T. making of rates. They have been
things to talk about when some glaring
r anomaly has been pointed out in rates
ct already made.
1T Crates have been in reality fixed by
8 real or fancied necessities of competi-
r. tion or by political pull or financial
r. pressure, by the caprices of traffic Off
er cials and by change
As the railroad systems have eX-
on panied, the anomalous and homogeneous
e rates of all the components Of each sys-
M tenn have been rolled up into huge
=, mass Rates made up in this way with
NJ no READ basis either in fact or logic
ne cannot be adequately revised by amy
re method which would preserve all the
ar absurdties in force at present. \ new
Up structure should be raised on new
Is foundation. This is just what the Bos
nc ton e Maine proposes to DO.
ice is the foundation adequate for the
we structure to be raised upon it? For ;
ne territory like New England where the
ore population is homogeneous and inter
OF ests are in the main identical wher'
y factories, farms and quarries are inter
us mingled, where junction points am
local centcrs of distribution abound, j
es is extremely doubtful if plan coul,
at be devised better adapted to the need
ION of the situation than that proposed b.
tes. the Boston & Maine.
ust eff New England had natural Ger
'ihe ter of distribution, the zone plan woul
- perhaps be preferable, but New Ems
~ land has no such center. The inequa
IL tiles of the present rates are due III
III considerable measure to the mistake
m notion OF the last generation that BO
Nj ton was such q center.
wi "'The most important feature of Ne
England commercial history during IL
u last two decades has been the develO
ment of the wholesale business at Toe
ccntcrs in the northern section. At ;
SC Johnsbury, VT, White River Junctio
nell H.. houses have grown up which do
large volume of business in the grocer
, q confectionery and footwear lines.
1.-The growth of these enterprises h
new betn hdInpeItAl ny the IdtJ tHti lllt
: so rates were much higher than those
that their Boston competitors. For lnstan
it. the rates from White River Junctic
Vt, to Concord, n. H., 20 miles, a
own p cents first class, and 20 cents thi
com class, while the rates for the sal
classes from Boston to Concord,
does miles. are Is cents and Is cents
t or 1.-THE volume of business CARR
OIL from point like Boston and the me
certain and uniform service result
uoes from the greater volume, give Bost
on n- shippers a natural advantage VIII
g.. should not be enhanced by discrimil
the tory rates.
- For certain lines of business, b
worry ton and New York are and will c
-rade tinue to be the distributing points
New England but for other lines il
20 & mately connected with the daily ne
rs of Of the people in the way of food
clothing, the interest of New Engl;
and its railroads requires that the
Nelopment of local centers of distri
NH tion should be stimulated. How
a - this desirable result be attained m
certainly than by the class rates I
posed by the Boston & Maine, VIII
oos s sg'g P ssat IN eq p9as'" WITH Hf"
point so far as class rates are conct
re ed? Under such a system the fit
would have chance to survive.
into b, IF the revision proposed appears
Il pub, bear hard upon Boston this is due
Gull. the fact that in the past Boston
been granted rates as much too
IN as rates in other sections have b
IL too high.
cit is evident to any one at all
miliar with freight handling costs
-. and the traffic from Boston to points W
). and in radius of 80 miles is now car
build at ittle profit and in many cases al
u6ms actual loss. The remedy for sue