The Washington herald., 1920-09-24
HIGHCOSTSDUE
TORETAILERS
So Declare Railway Execu-
tives in Protecting
Freight Rates.
INCREASE NOT FACTOR
Figures Compiled by Eco
nomic Board Represent
transportation Costs.
INCREASE NOT FACTOR
CBy Universal ServiceD

(By Universal Service.)
II the recently increased freight
rates have materially hoisted the
prices of clothes, shoes, meat, fruit
and other edibles, to say nothing
of pianos and autos, the retailers,
and not the railways, are to be
blamed, according to a statement
issued by the Association of Rail-
way Executives yesterday. 1t cited
figures just compiled by the Bureau
of Railway Economics.
The statement points out that
rate increases become OF little in
portance to the consumer when dl-
vided among wholesale shipments.
Some of the characteristic hgures
follow:
Clothing-The freight rate on
suits of mems clothing (Which, with
its share of packing, weighs -four
pounds) from New York to Btr-
mingham, Ala, $50 miles, has been
increased 2.1S cents. From Chicago
TO Cleveland. 339 miles, the In
crease 10 los cents. From Chicago
to New Orleans, 9l2 miles, the in
crease is 1.S4 cents.
Shoes-On a pair OF shoes (shlp-
ping weight 3.75 ponds) from Bos-
ton to Baltimore, 4l3 miles, the rate
has been increased 9j cent. From
St. Louis to Cleveland, 537 miles
the increase is LA cents.
One-Tenth on n Found.
Beef-On a pound Of beef from
Baltimore to Norfolk, Va. 253 miles,
the increase is L cent. From Chi
cago to Washington, SSS miles, 1t
is .27 cent
Flour-On a ten-pound sack Of
-four from Minneapolis to Boston,
SOC miles. the increase is IL cents.
Sugar-On a pound OF sugar from
New York to Norfolk, Va, 344 miles,
the increase-is 6-1OO Of one cent.
Potatoes-On a peck of potatoes.
shipping weight 10 pounds. from
Stevens Point, Wis. to- New Orleans,
1,16l miles, the increase is 2A cents
Tea-On a pound of tea from San
Francisco to Birmingham, Ala. 2.52O
miles. the increase is One-half of
one cent. FSOm New York to Bal
timore, 209 miles, it is 17-l0O of
cent.
Oranges-On a dozen oranges.
shipping weight six pounds, from
San Francisco to Boston. 1854
miles, the increase is . SS-100 cents.
TOUl Lid htldllu. + Id. " lo1lNliiOiN'
544 miles, it is one and one-half
cents.
Pianos-On a piano. which with
it's packing would weigh S25 pounds,
shipped from Chicago to Birming-
ham, Ala, 652 miles, the increase
is s4.33. From Cincinnati the in
crease is s276.
Tires-The increase on automo-
1 bile tires from Akron. o. to New
Orleans, 1857 miles, is 10 67-1O0
cents.
Typewriters-On a typewriter ship
ped from Hartford. Conn. to Phila-
delphia, 219 miles, weighing with
its packing As pounds, the increase
| is s 1-1O cents.
s6.OS On Ford Car.
Ford Carson a Ford car. ship
ping weight 1850 pounds. the in
crease from Detroit to Washington,
| 7OS miles, is s6.OS. From Detroit to
Norfolk. Va. 945 miles, it is s5.92
and to Birmingham, Ala. s9.72.
PlOws-On a plow. weighing with
its packing, So pounds. the increase
from Syracuse, y. q. to Cleveland,
331 miles. is S6-1OO cents
News print-The increase on a
pound of news print paper from Bel
lows Falls, VT. to birmingham, Ala,
! POS miles. is 17-1OO of a cent.
Furniture-On a chair. weighing,
with packing. fifty pounds. the in
crease from High Point, y. c., to
Birmingham, Ala, 512 miles, is 10
cents.
The above figures do not repre-
sent all the transportation costs -
! says the statement. "In shoes, for
example, thsre is the cost of carry
ing the hide from the slaughter
house to the tannery. from the tan
merry to the shoe factory, from the
factory to the shoe store. as we'll as
! the freight on Innings, thread, etc.
but all these charges are in small
fractions of a cent, and the sum of
all of them is very small in proper
tion to the final value of the fin
ished product. The increased freight
rate on a trainload of wool. for ex-
ample, becomes very trifling when
divided among thousands of suits of
clothes. In the case of heavy COM
modities, such as coal and steel.
where labor and transportation are
the most important items in the cost
of production, the increase would
naturally be larger"