Evening star., 1921-05-08
HIGH FREIGHT RATE
GREATLY DEPLORED
Senator Capper BIames
Business Depression on
Transportation Costs.

The high cost of transportation
constitutes the most pressing queS-
ton in the United States at this mo-
ment and the greatest obstacle in
the way of return to normal con-
ditions, and the restoration of busi-
ness" Senator Capper. republican,
Kansas, declared yesterday in the
Senate.
The Interstate Commerce Com
mission" he said. 'is buried under
the petitions for lower freight rates
from hig business concerns hut the
man who is hit harder than anybody
both ways"
The Kansas senator read The Sen
ate instance after instance where the
farmer was forced to pay more freight
on his products than he received for
them at the point of sale.
While Italy sells her lemon crop
mere, our lemons rot because they DO
not bring enough to pay freight
rates." he continued. We are getting
wheat from Canada and Argentina,
butter from Denmark, eggs and poul-
try from starving China, potatoes
from Norway, mutton from New Zea-
land. corn and beef from South Ameri-
ca and wool from everywhere.
Foreign Goods Creep In.
The seml-mystery of the recent ar
rival at our seaports of shiploads of
foreign products, products of which
this country has an exportable surplus
OF its own, becomes clearer when We
learn that bushel of grain can be
shipped to New York from South
America for II cents, but that it costs
3S cents to ship a buShel of wheat to
that city from Minneapolis by rail.
When cottonseed cake. useu III iced
ing cattle, can be shipped cheaper from
Texas to Holland than from Texas to
c hn
transportation charges
farmer in one of the great hay
producing regions of Kansas writes
me:
We have hundreds and hundreds
of tons of hay here ready to ship, but
because of the low price and high
freight rates we cannot get expenses
out of 1T and are compelled to let it
rot on the ground
"A car of grain shipped from Texas
Panhandle to market at an eXjense of
s525 brought the producer $475. Out
OF that he had to pay more than 500
for thrashing the grain and, of course,
sold his produce at loss.
when the present rail rates were
adopted our farmers were receiving 81
bush>i or better for wheat and $3.50
a bushel for corn. With corn now SELL
ing at country shipping stations al 80
cents. the 25-cent shipping rate to the
of the corn crops beloW-cost value.
1T costs more to ship fruit from the
Pacific coast to the middle west, or
produce from the middle west to the
east, than it does to bring these prod
ucts here from foreign countries and
the high value Of the American dollar
and the excessive exchange rate do
the rest.
Il have introduced a bill calling for
the repeal Of the section Of the trans
porta'inn act directing the Interstate
Comr 'ce Commission to make rates
whic. ill assure return of 6 per
cent to the carriers. 1 have also in
cluded in this bill a provision setting
aside the authority of the commission
to regulate intrastate rates. l am
undertaking to repeal the guarantee
clause because the commission bases
its claim of power to increase state
rates largely upon the command which
is contained in this section that it SC
adjust rates as to yield the percentage
specified, and it is upon this section
that the decision of the lower federal
courts sustaining the orders of the
commission appear to be principally
based. This bill has the hearty sup
port Of the state railway commission
Of every state, and twelve legisla-
lures have appealed to Congress for
this legislation"