"U
The Commoner.
11
JANUARY 20, 1905
I Instances of Losses From $
Freight Iate Discriminations
The New York World recently asked ( Samuel T. Kerr, head of tho enterprise,
its correspondents in many of tho that the Atlantic Flour Mills company
large cities to collect facts showing
specific instances wherein freight-rate
discrimination has resulted in serious
pecuniary loss.
Extracts from these reports follow:
Pannaylvanla Rend Kills Thrae Firm
Philadelphia, Pa., Jan. 7. Three spe
cific cases in which railroad discrimi
nation has caused business firms to
could not have the milling-in-transit
privilege which other Philadelphia
milling concerns enjoyed. Tinder sucn
conditions the company could not run
at a profit, and it never began operations.
Score of Bi Firm Rained la Atlaata
Atlanta, Ga., Jan. 7. Discrimination
in freicht rates, which until recently
go out of operation have been brought t jg been more pronounced in Atlanta
out recently in court. Suit against the i than in any other city of the south-
Pennsylvania railroad, claiming $22,898
damages for alleged freight rate dis
crimination between April 1, 1898, and
June 30, 1900, was brought last October
by the International Coal Mining com
pany, which had been driven out of
business. Testimony developed the
fact that the Berwind White Coal Min
ing company, the Morrisdale Coal com
pany and David W. Williams & Co.,
had been given rebates on coal of 20
cents per ton, between April 1, 1898,
and April 1, 1899, and 10 cents during
the remainder of the period.
Again, on October 31 last, testimony
was given before, tho interstate com
merce commission, by W. J. Koch &
Co. of Philadelphia, who charge that
refusal by the Pennsylvania railroad to
allow the milling-in-transit privilege
at a new $15,000 flour mill, built at
Harrisburg, had forced its abandon
ment. Instead of the switching charge
of 11V6 cents per 100 pounds the action
of the railroad meant that the milling
company would have to pay 7 cents
per 100 pounds more to Philadelphia
than mills located west of Pittsburg.
Almost identical was the case of the
Atlantic Flour Mills company of Phila
delphia. This concern, with a capital
of $1,500,000, had built a very large
modern mill on the Delaware river. On
June 4, 1900, just as the plant was
ready to begin operations, the Penn
sylvania railroad, in a letter, informed
MIGHT HAVE SAVED IT
A Lot of Trouble from Too Much
Starchy Food
A little boy of- eight years whose
K parents did not feed him on the right
kind of food, was always nervous and
I suffered from a weak condition of the
tstomach and bowels. Finally he was
ftaken down with appendicitis and aft
er the operation the doctor, knowing
I' that his intestinal digestion was very
I weak, put him on Grape-Nuts twice a
day.
He rapidly recovered and about two
months thereafter, his father states,
I "He has grown to be strong, muscular,
and sleeps 3oUndly, weighs G2 pounds,
I und his whole system is in fine condi
tion or neaitn." JName given oy ros-
tum vo., Battle Creek, Mich.
It is plain that if he -'had been put
east, has caused the suspension of fully
a score of leading firms engaged in
wholesale trades. The most notable
example of the rapacity of tho railroads
is furnished in the case of .Jnman,
Smith & Co., manufacturers of shoes.
Thi3 firm recently suspended, princi
pally for tho reason that the excessive
and discriminating rates imposed by
the railroads prevented a reasonable
profit on the product of the factory.
Fifteen years ago there were between
twenty-five and thirty wholesale gro
ceries in Atlanta. Today, although tne
city has grown in population and in
wealth, there are only thirteen whole
sale grocery firms in the city. Their
suspension has been due in nearly ev
ery instance to discriminating freight
rates. The firm of G. T. Dodd & Son,
wholesale grocers, was the best known
of the businesses that suspended on
account of rates. Two yeara ago the
railroads passed a prohibitive tax on
every bale of cotton brought into and
carried out of Atlanta. As a result,
freight agents of the leading roads en
tering the city were indicted by the
federal grand jury, but before the mat
ter came to trial the tax was with
drawn and has never since been sug
gested by "the railroads, indicating that
the tax was intended simply to bleed
the cotton warehouse men.
Atlanta has recently fought a fight
for fair freight rates and has won a
partial "victory.
tho grain rates were advanced 1 to
V& cents on export grain and 3 cents
for domestic delivery, business in this
city has almost come to a standstill."
said ho. "Tho gulf ports aro getting
it all, and where millions of bushels
of corn were accustomed to arrive
hero, after the December marketing
from tho southwest, not one has been
received since tho first of tho year. Tho
December business was kept afloat by
reason of tho splondid crop produced
by the homo states of Maryland, Vir
ginia and Pennsylvania. Now tho out
look for cargoes from tho southwest
are discouraging in tho extreme. These
go direct to tho gulf points for export
because of the cheapness of transporta
tion in comparison with the rates im
posed by the Central Traffic associa
tion." To show how business in Baltimore
has fallen off it only need be mentioned
that the following firms formerly en
gaged in tho exporting business in this
city havo pulled up stakes and have
gone to New York in search of better
railroad opportunities:
David Dows & Co., Milmine, Badman
& Co., Fuld, Lindley & Co. and I. &
C. Moore & Co.
The Chamber of Commerce hero is
meeting daily to devise a means of sur
mounting the danger which now
threatens tho export business of Bal
timore, and it is proposed that tho in
terstate commerce commission be ap
pealed to to take some action by which
the railroads bo compelled to place all
freight rates upon an equitable basis.
THE VALUE OP CHARCOAL
In
Train of Ruin In th City of Emporia, Km
Emporia, Kas., Jan. 7. The Emporia
Canning factory was established in
1884, and having the advantage of nat
ural position built up a good trade in
Texas and the Indian territory and
Colorado. The freight rate was changed
in 1891, and canned goods "from New
York were shipped into this territory
on the ba3is of the water rate from
New York to Galveston plus the haul
from Galveston to the territory men
tioned, which was reduced so that the
Emporia canning factory closed in
1891 at a loss of more than $50,000,
bringing about the ruin of J. A. Moore,
who, when he went into the enterprise,
was the heaviest taxpayer in the coun
ty. The Emporia furniture factory closed
on Grape-Nuts at an earlier period in j in 1881, and it was alleged by the pro
his life, and kept from the use of foods prietors that freight discriminations
that he couiu not digest, ne never
would have had appendicitis. That
disease . is caused by undigested food
P decaying in .the stomach and bowels,
causing irritation and niaking for the
I? giuwiu jl uii iliuus ui. uiiuuuca, auiuug
If, iin a Hcnnonl nnnHfJnn rVi?nli ta Vir
Lt active cause of appendicitis, and this
bis more marked with people who do
not properly digest white bread.
Grape-Nuts is made of the selected
Kparts of wheat and barley and by the
Epeculiar processes of the cooking at
'the factory, all of the starch is turned
tfnto sugar ready for immediate diges
tion and the more perfect nourishment
?of all parts of the. body, particularly
the brain" and nerve centres
Read tho little- book, "'The Road to
Wellville," found in each pkg.
forced them into failure.
Tho Emporia stock yards, which for
many years was a clearing house for
central Kansas cattle, is being torn
down, and its operators say that
freight discrimination has made it im
possible to operate the yards profitably.
Baltimore's Export Trade Shriveling
Baltimore, Md., Jan. 7. "While none
of us has as yet gone bankrupt be
cause of the discrimination in freight
rates, yet we are gradually shriveling
up because of the conditions as they
exist," is the way Louis Miller, chair
man of the commission on foreign
trade for tc chamber of commerce of
Baltimore, puts it. -
"Ever "since December 5 last, when
Lincoln Industries Slowly Strangled
Lincoln, Neb., Jan. 7. The most
notable instance in Lincoln whereby
discrimination by the railroads in
freight rates caused the collapse of a
promising industry, i3 that of the Lin
coln PaCidng company, which started
with bright prospects and flourished
for a time, but was forced to the wall
just at a time when people looked to
it for advancement.
The company was formed in 1892
with a capital stock of $347,000. Its
president was I. M. Raymond, member
of a wholesale grocery house, which
still exists; and active in tho affairs of
the corporation were S'. L. Geisthardt
and tho Messrs. Barstow and Gardner.
Discussing the failure of the company
today, Mr. Geisthardt said ho was sat
isfied that freight discrimination and
the rebate system were the cause of
its undoing.
"Older and stronger companies, fa
vorites of tho railroads, caught us
going and coming," said Mr. Geist
hardt. "The private car system was
one of the potent methods of this dis
crimination. We had no private care
and were helpless. After doing a los
ing business for about five orsix years,
with extinction in prospect, the stock
holders accepted a loss of 75 per cent
of their investment and auit.
"Two or three attempts to revive the
company always met with the same re
sult. The railroads were unfriendly, or
by previous agreements favored the
older competing companies, and the
plant closed down for good."
Fw !opltt Knw How Uieful it 1
Prsiarvlng Health aad Uaauty
Nearly overyuody knows that char
coal is tho safest and most cfllcient
disinfectant and purifier in nature, but
few realizo its valuo when taken into
tho human system for tho same clean"
aing purpose.
Charcoal is a romedy that tho moro
you tako of it the bettor; it is not a
drug at all, but simply absorbs tho
gases and impurities always present
in tho stomach and intestines and car
ries them out of the system.
Charcoal sweetens tho breath after
smoking, drinking, or after eating
onions and other odorous vegetables.
Charcoal effectually clears and im
proves tho complexion, it whitens tho
teeth and further acts as a natural and
eminently safo cathartic.
It absorbs tho injurious gases which
collect in tho stomach and bowels; it
disinfects the mouth and throat from
the poison of catarrh.
All druggists sell charcoal In ono
form or another, but probably tho best
charcoal anC the most for tho money Is
in Stuart's Charcoal Lozenges; they
aro composed of tho finest powdered
Willow charcoal, and othor harmless
antiseptics In tablet form or rather In
the form of largo, pleasant tasting loz
enges, the charcoal being mixed with
honey.
Tho daily use of these lozenges will
soon tell in a much Improved condi
tion of the general health, better com
plexion, sweeter breath, and purer
blood, and the beauty of It is, that ro
poiTible harm can result from their
continued use. but on the contrary,
great benefit.
A Buffalo physician in speaking of
tho benefits of charcoal, says: "I ad
vise Stuart's Charcoal Lozenges to all
patients suffering from gas in stom
ach and bowels, and to clear the com
plexion and purify the breath, mouth
and throat; I also believe tho liver
is greatly benefited by the daily use
of them; they cost but twenty-flvo
cents a box at drug stores and al
though in some sense a patent prepara
tion, yet I bollovo I get more and
better charcoal in Stuart's Charcoal
Lozenges than in any of tho ordinary
charcoal tablets."
Firm Lo5s $50,000 to $75,000 a Year
Buffalo, N. Y Jan. 7. Pending in
the appellate division of the supreme
court, on an appeal by the defense
from a judgment of $5,600 in favor of
Spencer Kellogg and Spencer Kellogg,
jr., against the Western Elevating as
sociation and the four trunk lines
the Erie, the New York Central, tho
Lackawanna and tho Lehigh railroads
i3 an action in which the Kelloggs
cliarge that the Elevating association
and the railroads conspired to ruin
the business of the Kellogg grain ele
vator in Buffalo by a discrimination in
freight rates against the Kellogg ele
vator and -in favor of the elevators in
the trust, comprising Buffalo elevators,
and known astho Western Elevating
association.
The Kelloggs charged that tho rail
roads contracted to pay tho Elevator
trust i cent per bushel for all grain
shipped on their rails from Buffalo,
whether it was elevated from lako ves
sels by tne Elevator trust -or not. So,
in effect, the Elevator trust was given
a rate of y2 cent per bushel cheaper
than the Kelloggs could get, and also
that premium on the Kellogg's busi
ness. The action was first tried before
Judge Lambert. Ho non-suited the Kel
loggs, who, on appeal, obtained from
tho appellate division a decision that
the bargain between the trust and tho
trunk Hne3 was a conspiracy, and that
the Kelloggs were entitled to recover
damages. The second trial brought tho
Kelloggs a verdict of $5,600 for dam
ages for" three weeks' operation of tho
alleged conspiracy, and it is the appeal
from that judgment which is pending.
George L. Lewis, counsel for the Kel
loggs, said today that the discrimina
tion against the KelIogg3 In grain rates
damaged them from $50,000 to $75,000
a year.
Ruin of Southera Stenmslilp Company
New Orleans, La., Jan. 7. A. F.
Plaza, manager of the defunct Southern
Steamship company of Mobile, who
filed suit against the United Fruit
AN OLD AND WELL TRIED REMEDY.
Una. WiNffLow'fl t00TiuNO Sibup for clilldrea
teoctilnsr sliotrid always bo vsed for children whlla
ter4!ilnsr. H lolUmi tba jniraa,. allays all pain, cure
wind cnollc and Is tne but remedy fordUrrhora.
Twentj-fivo cents a bottlo.
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