Arizona republican., 1918-02-01
The Inter. Mountain Country Freed

The merchants of Phoenix as well as those or all other mountain towns are now, or will be after 15, freed from the restricting grip of the back haul which from the earliest times has made the mountain region the hnterland of Pacific coast points, There was never an for the back haul which formerly consisted of the local rate from the coast At one time we believe, goods shipped from eastern points to Phoenix physically sent to the coast and then back to Phoenix. But about twenty years ago it became permissible to bring shipments to Phoenix without transporting them to the coast and back but the local rate applied Only time was saved and that was regarded greatsconcession, a mark of the generosity of the roads for which we were thankful.
 In those days the merchants of the interior were at the mercy of the coast towns. The merchants of the latter could compete with them at home,' and as to the outside wholesale trade, Phoenix merchants found an impassable barrier built around the town beyond which they could not pass. Los Angeles jobber had the advantage of them at Tempe or Glendale.
 The back haul modified from time to time, the local rate giving place a o-called obbers rate first put in for the benefit of Tucson That was later extended to the important towns and other concessions were made only reducing but never re- moving the advantage of the coast the interior merchants.
 This unjust discrimination had real basis of reason water competition. It had its origin in unsuccessful experiment by merchants of San Francisco many years to free themselves from the graspng tyranny of the transcontnental lines. They put on a line of steamers to compete with the roads. The experiment was failure so far it toward relieving the situation it designed to meet and the men engaged in it became bankrupt But it estab- Iished the fiction of water competition which had only the flimsiest existence in fact Later the only hat bv the roads which acquired steamer service to compete with itself Though there many kinds of goods that
 were never shipped by water the terminal rates were applied to them.
 The war, however laid the fiction bare. The shortage of transportation made it impossible for even the most brazen of the coast chambers of com rnerce to claim that there any longer any com petition.
 Though the order abolishing the back haul pro- vdes that the order shall be effective during the or until water competition may be re-cstablshed it may be regarded certain that there will never again be a repetition of that indefensibe discrimna ton.
 The discrimination will be removed by increas- ing the terminal rate to the mountain rate We would have preferred a reduction of the inter- -moun- tain rate to the terminal as Commissioner Ait chison suggested But after all that does not make @ great deal Of difference. The main thing to get rid of the discrimination and to place whole salers retailers and consumers precisely the same level with the same classes at coast points.
 No longer can a Phoenix merchant lay the higher prices of commodities here than charged for sim lar articles on the coast to higher freight rate the rate will be the all goods shipped from eastern points whence nearly all goods Coast merchants would have for raising their prices very little, account of the rate, but it is not at all likely they will d6