The copper era and Morenci leader., 1920-04-30
FREIGHT LEAST
 H. C. L. EXPENSE
Director General Hines Says Rail- road Transportation Costs
 Are Lowest in History.
NOT CAUSE OF HIGH PRICES.
Freight Advances Compared With Rise h Value of Goods-Transportation Cheapest Thing Public Buya
 Charges on Some Articles,


 Data compiled from authoritative sources shows that railroad freight rates are the least factor in the cost of living. Although t1e proportion of the total cost of goods that can be chargedsto transportation is not known with statistical accuracy, 1t is estimat- ed that the average transportation cost of things produced in this country is a very small percentage of their total cost to the consumer.
 Freight Cost "A Per Cent of Total.
 In a letter to Representative John J. Esch, chairman of the House Commit tee on Interstate and Foreign Com merce, Julius Kruttschnitt, chairman of the Southern Pacific Company, points out that in the last five years the value of goods increased on an av. craze of $63 a ton, wl.ile freight charges advanced only 60 cents a ton.
 In five years, he explains, the aver age value of freight carried by the railroads increased from $56 to $119 a ton. The cost of carrying this increas- ed from $2 to $2.s0, paid to the rail- rolds. In 1914, he adds, 3.6 per cent of the total cost of the goods was spent for transportation. In 1919 only 2.4 per cent was spent.
 "In other words" MT. Kruttschnitt writes, "only 30 cents out of $63, or Ia cents out of every dollar of increase in value of commodities in 1919 was caus- Id by increased freight charges The responsibility for the remaining $62.2O, or 9S7 cents out of every dollar, must be sought elsewhere. It was not caus. ed by freight rates"
 Rates Lowest In History. Comparison with transportation charges in other countries shows that in no other country of the world ie transportation furnished at so low a cost as in the United States Compar. ed, too, with the cost of other goods and services today. railroad transporta. tion is the cheapest thing the public buys It is sold for less than the cost of production, considering all the ele. ments of cost.
 In a statement on this subject to ths New England Bankers Association Walker D. Hines, Director General O Railroads, said:
 'I think 1t is a fair statement that at the present time, despite the increases which have taken place in freight rates, ton of steel or ton of coal, bushel of wheat or the unit of any other commodity has to pay for trans portation a less percentage of the l price of that commodity than ever before in the history of the coun-
 try"
 | Charges on Some Articles. Before the war suit of clothing from one of the Chicago factories, sell ing for $50 in a retail shop. was car ried from. Chicago to Los Angeles fol ] 161k cents. The suit of clothes now retails at $50 or s6o, but the freigh rate on that 2,265 mile haul has in creased only 5k cents, while the price 1 of the goods has gone up S20 or $50. l The 22 cents does not cover all tn, transportation cost in a suit of clothes the transportation charge fer carryini the wool from the ranges and tn, cloth to the clothing manufacturer an, other minor carrying costs enter int the consideration, but the final trans portation charge Is the principal one and the other charges add only q fes cents more.
 New England shoes are shippe, from Boston to Florida at a cost of les than 5 2-3 cents pair. This is an in crease of only one cent over the pre- war rate. The railroads also carr beef from Chicago to New York for charge of about two-thirds of a cen pound. Typewriters are carried iron New York to St. Louis for 66 cents. $50 photograph is carried by frefgh from New York to Atlanta for $2.8s A grand piano is carried clear acros the continent for $39 and in carloa, lots for $28.
 These are typical freight rates, an they make 1t plain that American rail roads give the lowest cost service f the world.
 Even with a very considerable ir crease in rates to make the roads sell supporting, transportation will still b the cheapest thing the public buys.