The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1921-08-31
FACTS BROUGHT HOME.

were asking commercial bodies tt
endorse request of theirs made tt
the state railroad commission thai
the rates for freight on hauls of fifty
miles and less be reduced and that
the rates be increased on longer hauls
in order to make up for the losses in.
CURED on the shorter hauls. There
was method in the madness Of the
railroads. They did not desire to as.
sist the freight payers but to assist
themselves. The truth is that hauling
by railroads on short hauls is so un-
satisfactory and SO expensive that a
great many shippers are carrying
their, own goods by trucks. AS the
roads improve more and more will do
this. When the time comes, as it
will, when we have hard surfaced
roads still more people will handle
freight in this way. The railroads
know this, and this is the reason they
are willing to offer low freight rates
On short hauls (the hauls in which
the trucks are their competitors.) On
the longer hauls where there is no
competition they would continue to
take the old rates and a little more.
In this connection the following
article from the New York Herald
of Tuesday will prove interesting. It
says: ...'
MANY railroad men complain that
motor trucks have taken much desir-
able freight from steam transporta-
ton lines. Some of these railroad
men want to have the State and
Federal governments tax freight haul
ing motor trucks in amounts that will
make it improbable for shippers to
use them. In much the same way
railroad men of a former generation
sought to have interurban trolley
roads taxed out of competition.
TN New England the Boston and
Maine has been hard hit by freight
truckers, and it has started out to
meet their competition by reducing
freight rates on all it's branches for
distances up to fifty miles from
Boston. The managers of the rail-
road believe lower rates will keep
the freight business it now has and
win back some it has lost.
"This is more sensible way for a
railroad to meet competition than is
the course advocated by those who
want the State and Federal govern
ments to tax motor trucks out of the
freight hauling business. 1t is, in
deed, the only sensible way to meet
that competition. Motor trucks
should bear their fair share of
the cost of the roads they run on,
the police who protect them and the
advantages they share with other
vehicles in the territory through
which they run. Soon the great
motor truck companies which have
been created all over the country,
operating regular service over regu-
lar routes, will be compelled to oper-
ate under franchises. This is as it
should be, but regulation and fran
chises will be based on public policy,
not on the demand of railroad men
who do not want to cut sky high
freight rates even after other sky
high charges have been cut.
"By following the example of the
Boston and Maine the railroads will
go far toward solving the: problem
brought to them by the moto,
truck"
It is manifest we think that the
railroads must improve their methods
of doing business. They must operats
their trains at less expense, either
on the Ford plan or some other plan
they must be given the opportunity
to do their work with as few men a:
possible, and with wages commensu
rate with the wages paid for Other
like work, or the railroads will fine
other carriers of freight handling the
business and their lines in the hands
of receivers. Of course on long haul'
of freight the railroads must be look