Evening capital news., 1920-01-13
The LONG AND SHORT HAUL

y
congressman from the first Idaho con-
gressional district. placed some perth
nent facts before that body with ref
srence to the long and short haul and
the manner in which that policy, as
adopted by the railroads. discriminates
against Idaho and the shippers of this
state.
Congressman French made 1T very
clear that he was for the Sims amend
raent, providing the Hayden amend
ment, or the Poindexter bill, was not
adopted. This measure seeks to pre-
vent the common carriers from charg-
ing greater freight rate for shorter
haul than It charges for longer haul
Because Of water competition coast
points are favored in freight rates as
AGAINST interior points, hence the vital
necessity of eliminating this discrim-
ination against Boise and every other
city and town in Idaho. o. for that
matter, the entire intermountain conn-
try.
The congressman from the First
Idaho district is supporting worthy
cause when he uses his ability to pre-
vent this policy from being followed
in the future. If the Poindexter bill
Is passed and becomes law it will
rave to Idaho shippers millions in dol
lars now paid out on higher freight
rates.
No better illustrations can be given
of the gross discrimination than those
presented to the house of representa-
tjves by Mr.. French when he said
'.In 1917 steel bridge was built
at Priest River, in northern Idaho,
that required in its construction
s51h tons of steel. This steel was
shipped from Jacksonville, ILL.,,
and the freight charges amounted
to s154T.4l.
Now IL instead of building the
DrlQKe at ITlcSt INiNcfs A0ahVt ~
had been built across some river
in western Washington, the steel
being purchased at the same place,
being shipped over the same line
thet 1t was shipped over to Priest
River on west distance of 400
miles, the county in western Wash
ington building the bridge would
have been asked to pay, not
s1547.41 but ss6s.3S. In other words
the freight charges would have
been 5000 less than they were to
tn. Idaho people. although the dis
tance carried was some 400 miles
further.
"A few years ago there was COM
pleted in Idaho by the government
for the settlers under the Boise
Payette irrigation project, and for
which they will have to pay, what
is known as the Arrowrock dam.
There was used in the construc-
tion of that dam 10000 tons Of ce-
AhCnt. hto CSiilShL was ShiPPSN
from Kansas City. at 55 cents per
hundred. Now the rate from Kan
sas City to the Pacific coast points
was 40 cents per hundred, or in
other words, is cents per hundred
less than to Boise, the point from
which the cement was hauled to
Arrowrock. At Is cents per hun
dred. which represented merely the
difference between the price that
was charged to our people over
what would have been charged to
the people of the coast, the set
tiers of the Boise -Payette project
were asked to pay $4s.0o0 more
had the returns been equal to the
rate charged to the Pacific coast"
And Representative French very
aptly stated the issue involved in this
controversy when he said:
but 1t is urged that this dis
criminatory system is right because
Of water competition. Gentlemen.
a great deal may be conceded to
those who urge that the Pacific
coast shall receive advantages by
reason Of water competition that
will fall short Of con -ding that
the unreasonable discriminatory
rates that have existed shall con-
tinue to exist. Surely It is con-
cession when we say that goods
may be shipped to Portland. to
Seattle. at rate no greater than
that which II charged for shipping
the goods to Salt Lake or Boise.
or Spokane. We are not asking ev-
en- that which It would seem We
have the right to ask-that the
rates to this intermountain country
shall be less than to coast points;
a.