Year: 1875




Christmas being observed close holiday through
Rut Chrisendom to-day furnishes reports of either
breign domestic markets for comment; therefore
we may be permitted FOR moment to consider sub
ect OF vital Importance to the commercial interest Of
gew York city and State For more than year our
merchants have been more less agitated upon the
question OF cheap and equal rates for the transportation
4 freight to and from the scaboard cities The imme
late Of the outburst OF indignation was an
alleged inequality in the from Boston ana New
York to the West railroads being charged with
discriminating against the trade city The HERALD
has already shown that at this particular tme this
alleged discrimination was more imaginary than real
Because the great Of tho business from New York
was still being done under contracts made last
mer at lower rates than those complained OF from Bos
Eon Upon this point Mr.. William H. Vanderbilt, at
the recent conference with committee of merchants,
expressed himself follows During the summer
the freight rates ruinousy low and in September
She New York roads advanced them 10 lfty cents on
arst class. Most OF the business had since been done
at special rates. however and it supposed that the
anxiety Of tho merchants the subject was due to
tho fact that their contracts about expiring.
When the rates raised it not intended to in
ure Now York merchants but TO get paying prices for
small floating business. In November all the trunk
tines proposed increase OF rates to seventy-6ve





protected under their contracts


Hero is confession that seems furnish the New
england and Canada railroads a sufficient why
they could not adopt the New York schedule estab-
tshed in November Mr. Vanderbilt says expressly,
to get paying prices for the small floating business
Had they done SO IL would have resulted in Boston
paying sevcntynve eighty cents for what New York
was paying only thirty cents the bulk of its busi
result which the average Boston merchant
would have waxed exceedingly wrathful and made the
locality Of the Hub particularly hot for its railroad
officials


However the agitation OF the subject has resulted in
equalizng the as between the large and small
shippers from New York. that occasional shipper
OF one packages may ship upon equal terms
with his opulent neighbor instead of of 100
per cent greater, was the case week ago. Yet
the great question OF the future remains unsolved


No who has given to the subject ofraroad trans
portaton the most casual attention will contend that
sherates fixed by the November schedule "a basis of
Bcventyhve cents for FIRST class for about 600 mles
are exorbant, while many who have studied the ques
kon will doubt If those rates would return even legal
interest upon the actual mot watered of roads
st must bo remembered that the proposed rate of
Seventyfve is only about half of any winter
rate before that and therefore that the present
rate orthirty cents is only onefh OF the panic





the present system of warfare has already occasoned
he roads engaged and also shows the mpossibity Of
ouch condition much longer existing 1t therefore
sehooves the mercantile mind to first discover the
sauses that have produced and will continue to intro
tuce this disturbing feature of uncertainty into all
their business calculations, and having discovered
hcm TO manfuy apply tho remedies.


At another time the HERALD may make further sug.
gesons calculated TO aid the merchants in arriving at
ne truth The Chicago Tribune, after quoting from
remarks of last Monday upon this subject comments
IS follows 1.-THE trouble is that the New York
@hants too conservative and consequently slow
Any less selfsustained community would have been
stirred into white heat by the determinations of the
runk lines in favor Of Boston, Philadelphia and Balt-
nora In within knowledge, buyers that rst
vent to New York have finally bought from Of these
eival points at higher prices The difference more
than made good to them by the difference in rates.
Wealthy New York Is Is has not the capital to
pete with the capital Of the railroads. but has power
enough in It's influence and make the rail-
roads treat Il more fairly. The great instrument for
the reform OF railroad management, according to
Charles Francis Adams, Jr., is the concentration of
public attention upon abuses. !"