Evening star., 1923-08-12
Freight Rates.

SeHdlOT Sdppei, CIldlTI man Oh tne
Senate farm bloc, is quoted as saying
that Farm organizations throughout
the country are confident that the
new administration will do all possible
to reduce freight rates and thus ma
terially lessen the burdens of the
farmers" He hopes that the Inter
state Commerce Commission will re
duce freight rates before Congress
guarantee clause of the Esch-Cum-
mings law should be stricken out.
The accusation current among west
ern farmers that railroad freight rates
are responsible for their unhappiness
is an old one and comes TO the front
with much insistence in time Of farm
ing depression. If freight rates are
so high as to give undue advantage
TO railroads and oppress farmers they
should be reduced. but the facts
should be found by competent and
unprecedented authority, and political
pressure should not be eXerted to in
fluence that authority
II seems to fair minded men that
railroad statisticians have made out a
pretty good case that freight charges
on produce from farm station to the
market city terminal are d very small
part of the cost of that produce to
normal market value of the produce
at the shipping point.
Certain things which most men be-
lieve to be facts should be kept in
mind. These are that railroad freight
charges should be sufficient to pay
operating cost. to pay interest and
dividends on outstanding obligations,
provide for replacement of rundown
equipment and trackage and for gen
eral "betterments' and provide for a
surplus for periods of lean traffic
There is loud talk of "watered stock"
or "Overca pitalization." II has been
proved that the we'll managed Amer.
lean railroads are not overcapitalized.
Years ago many of them were. but
they have grown up to and exceeded
that capitalization Some roads have
been 50 undercapitalized that the In
terstate Commerce Commission au-
and other stock dividend issues are
pending or conjectured.
Many railroads have been several
times rebuilt, the better to serve their
territory. They have built tunnels.
"cut-offs," tubes and bridges They
have expended hundreds of millions
in realignment of rights of way and
in double and quadruple tracking.
They have spent hundreds of millions
in enlarging freight terminal facilities
and. in obedience to public demand,
they have spent vast sums in improv-
ing passenger terminal and station
facilities. The book value" of the
standard railroads generally far ex-
ceeds the par or market value of out
standing bonds and stocks.
The farms of the west were created
by railroads and without railroads
millions of acres of western farm land
The roads, especially the "grangers,
are directly dependent on the farms
for traffic. There is mutual interest
between the railroad and the farm,
and it is believed that the present
economic disturbance lies farther back
than freight rates.
Senator Capper also is quoted as
saying, There is no denying there is
too wide a spread between producer
and consumer and that the middleman
is the real obstacle If the farmer
or anybody else has a practical and
workable plan for bringing the pro-
ducer and consumer nearer together
and raising prices to growers and low
ering them to consumers such plan
would be accepted with gratitude by
SO per cent of the people.