The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1922-04-18

take in writing into the transporta-
tion act of 1920 without first con-
sulting YOU the principle that is the
very bedrock of our constitution it.
self, i. e., justice and equality to all
in the pursuit of legitimate CONNER
cial endeavor. l find that for which
have been searching for 10 these
many months-the Cause for the un-
rest, business depression, and all the
ills that our commercial life is heir
to-our failure to have such men as
yourself at the head of our great
government. Because had you been
there such errors would never have
occurred. And while it may have been
long time coming, you may be sure
that at last you have been discovered
and that from now and henceforth, at
least in one instance, can we say that
there is nothing to the theory that
full many flower is made to blush
unseen and to waste its fragrance
on the desert air. Not only has
our congress, made up, in your opin-
ion, of dubs' and boneheads, made an
error and not only are they wholly
wrong in their principle and theory,
but great many of the able men,
in fact L assume the majority of able
men who make up the personnel of
the Southern Traffic League, are
likewise without judgment and abil-
ity in the matter of principles of rate
making. But in their lack of judg-
ment, Mr.. Hoskins, the congress OF
the United States did write into the
transportation of passengers, or of
section which reads: THAT it shall
De unlawful for any common carrier
SUBJECT to the provisions of this act
to charge or receive any greater
compensation in the aggregate for the
transportation OF passengers. or of
like kind of property, for a shorter
imam for longer distance over the
same line or route in the same direc-
ton, the Shorter being included with
III the longer distance, or to charge
any greater compensation as a
through rate than the aggregate of
the intermediate rates subject TO the
provisions of this act" Evidently this
body Of men believed that it was I'm.
Just and that it was eminently un.
falr' for the people of Lakeland. for
example, to pay more for the trans
porting OF commodity from its
point or origin to Lakeland, than the
people OF Tampa are paying on a
commodity from the same point of
origin, many times this point of
origin being inland where water rates
would not offer competition, thereby
preventing Lakeland from enioving
an equal opportunity with your citv
IN developing itself in a wholesale
ana industrial way. They believed
evidently (and | think, Mr.. Hoskins
you Will ind this belief very prev.
alent all through the interior of
Florida) that the people of Lakeland
ana other interior points should not
be made to pay the penalty in the
dlherentials in the rates that now
exist.
Inc most inconsistent thing about
you, and there are many inconsistent
things, is how little value, when it
comes to a pinch, you place in your
port. We have always been led to be-
lieve that with your deep water
nearest port to the Panama canal
that you should worry about rail
rates, and for the life of me | can.
not understand why you are so alarm.
ed over the probability OF the fourth
section becoming operative. The truth
OF the matter is, Mr. Ho3kins, tina:
you have been using your port as a