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Vol. XVI.
LINCOLN, NEB., JANUARY 36, 1905.
No. 36
i
Reasonable Railroad Rates
A Scientific Study
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. The people of Nebraska are well ac
. quainted with the long . and patient
tudy that MfV J. Gustin has given
rates. lie has devoted some years to
it and has fought out man y cases be
fore the courts and the interstate com
iclcc commission. During these years
he has acquired information that will
toe of mucin value to the people of the
United States. .Ir, Gr-stin begins - a
series ot articles in this issue of Th3
Independen that will have great in-1
fluenCe upon thfc settlement o the ques
tion of ctVtionate rates, rebates
and, discHSiiiations. That question at
present sc . ms to be the "paramount is
sue' a question tha,t, concerns
evexyeitizen. , Mr. .Gustin saysr;
( :f&litor Independent : I have ; been
requested wtte an article, or a ser
ies of articles on Gover Rental Owner
ship, for The Independent. I know it
vis a part of the political faith of the
people's party that the government
should own and operate the railways.
In common with thenv I : in the ab
stract, believe In that theory,? but I
- think it would be advisable for us to
do something towards solving the rail
road question in a concrete way, and
at - once, rather than delaying action
until such time as the people can own
and operate the railroads. My articles
will therefore be more in the nature of
suggestion as to practical means of
operation of the roads and govern
mental control, rather, than as to their
ownership. The writer has had more
than ordinary experience in study of
.djnary individual, because of i,being
interested .in suits before the inter
state comme'rcecommissioh since 1S89.
The writer was deeply impressed by
a remarK maC s bjr Judge,, Kelly, coun
sel for the Union Pacific railway. In
a K hearing before th e com mision, i n
, whi&i Vs he said , substantially ;f or the
sake of argument, we will .concede the
rate should "be lowered on sugar, as
Gustin suggests, but we have a deci
sion from the federal courts allowing
njrirriijuinjtJmwni''1i'rrif iirrrrniTTjtifiiTniinirriirriiii'iTiinri'n nunnrrri irfnirrrTnTT-1 i
us to make such rates a3 will enable, a freight stamp been purchased and .hauled any one year is per se an ex
us to get all the revenue we now re- cancelled for eaca 100 pounds of freight
ceive; because ' it has never exceeded shipped.'a dq stamp, with- the saving
wuuw m e iiirub iirr uid
im Tatt? uii 'sugar wu kiiuiud. navu tu
raise it on some other commodity
which would make it as burdensome
for that commodity as Gustin claims
the rates now are on sugar. Prior to
that time i had been contending for a
certain specific rate, accepting the in
dividualized . idea of rate making, as
the railroad men had always construed
them, rather than fig ring from the
basis of what was absolutely right to
all parties at Interest in rate making.
A further study of the reports of the
roads as made to the inter-state com
merce commission In the tables com
piled by the statistician of that body
led me to conceive the idea that th
average rate must of necessity be a just
one. To a business man it looked rea
sonable hat no one knew better than
a railroad man what rate he was en
titled to, the same as any business
man or mechanic knows better what
to charge in his line than some one
who is not experienced. Conceding
that the g.oss rates should be as the
railroad man claimed and taking -their
statement for the number of tons they
had hauled, and the gross revenue they
had received for that tonhage, I was
surprised at the low- rate of freight
the average rate-was shown to be. If
I had had no information on J.he sub
ject and su me one in an off-hand
manner had asked me to guess what
the average rate of freight was, with
distances and classification eliminated
tortionate rate and an unjust' one to
the consumer. On the other Hhand, any
s . tf ir-J&sg h p nx-thn .r r" i rata
taken by HscI V lizl
roads, we would have been able to have
sent all "the .tonnage that was carried,
given the roads all, the revenues tney
got, and the consumer would have paid
but 5c a hundred. ,
This is no wild dream, it is a siny.
pie mathematical fact Which is proven
by the statistical report compiledr f rom
ithe railroad's sworn reports .t4j"the in
terstate commerce commissicn. From 1 human atom In our republic is I
the first year to the present, and the I mental in granting these rights s
average for all tha
standing the re
rates, does not exceed
hundred pounds during the seventeen
years' report. Tables are given here
with showing the ten groupings in
which the statistician has divided the
United States. His idea being to com
pile the statistics in each locality fof
dise brings' I would not-have-gues3ed
under 30c or 40c per 100 pounds. But
if any one will take the trouble to
study the -inter-state commerce sta
tistical reports they will find that in
1902, 1,200,315,787 tons of freight were
reported carried by all the roads of
the Uhited tS'ates. ; The gross revenue
from that'tonnage was $1,207,228,845.
(See page 76 of 1002 report.) In other
words, a slight revenue over $1.00 per
ton was received. In other words, had
Per se. means taken by
one would a3 well think of coir )lir-
a dron of his blood by itself in, f.at.
ing value fit his circulation as tc 'iak"
a ghfpment by itself and make i( izl
alone to estimate value of tran rlH
tion. No railroad can be built v ' jut
exercising what are called therir c!
eminent-domain and every lndij -il
ia ; f'.rjjTnotwith-ino one Individual, no one ccmml
t """ ..J nloirfntr tilAii.'i.t.r i .
but i X 1 muje wmw.'acea l:
universaaYS chanuch as the pc
stamp for alHto be treated alike
without discrimination. J
I notice that Mr. Bacon, a gentle
the Unit fed States with a view to ac
commodating the railroad men in their
ideas that" one locality was a much
more expensive one than another in
which to concuct railroading. ;
The readers pf The" Independent are
mostly located In group 7 as by con
sulting the mayyou will see what ter
ritory each group comprises, and by
consulting-4he tables compiled under
neath the marryou get an idea of what
the rates are in your group, compared
with those in the other groups, as well
as the tonnage that is carried.
The distinguished judge.who recently
decided the sug:r case in federal court
js reported to Jiave sald that no proof
complained -of-was-ln itself an unjust
one. The distlnguishel judge is not to
be condemned for thinking that any
rate could be " charged" as standing
alone, and be a ji:st rate, for I do not
suppose one man in a thousand would
figur- any different in o lr present uni
formed state of mind on that question,
. My study leads me to take the posi
tion .that any freight rate that is
greater than the gross rate received for
the. average 100 ' pounds of freight
w
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who is representing some business , :-
ganizations before the interstate cc r
mittee in congress, at this tlmf up
there are seven business formsoy tt
crimination which he enurfleri doubt
rebate discriminations between sr A
commodities ; as to distances and be-
tween qiu titie3 and that there are dis
criminate is between domestic and ex
port trar ' ,t He - is undoubtedly right -in
all his claims and yet no proposition
of rate making other than a postal
rate will give the roads all the revenuo
they now get and at the same time do
away with all the discriminations , he
enumerates. Before these articles are ,
J finished suggestions will be made as t- '
ifiowvtne coaraiesion r?'.'"i rA '
pose'(l"ahd how'the" government" should
Bell freieht stamps, receive all the
-money for frcit t traffic and through
actuaries appointed in each of the ten
groupings of the United States appor
tion the gross -revenues, among the
road3 as their records show their aver-'
age rates entkie them; and in that way
g. e each individual road that which
it has earned and at the same time
enable the public to have a 5 cent per
hundred rate.
New York's Suffering, Starving Poor
SaLndwichcs Distributed at MldnigKlr---;-,
New York, Jan. 22, 1905.-J-( Editorial
Correspondence.) I saw a sight last
night and again tonight which caused
me to study a good deal. William
Randolph Hearst is doing a work here
which, I suppose, would receive cen
sure from the Charity Organization so
ciety of Lincoln and possibly the one
here. He has a big van on the square
north 01 Twenty-third street (Madison
Square, isn't it?) and two men-handing
out free sandwiches and coffee, to all
who get in line and reach the wagon.
I watched that line with interest both
nights and studied the men. Thejd
were better dressed as a rule than
farmers generally go about their work
at home. Somo of them were rather
hard-visaged, but generally they were
r, t a bad-looking lot. Of course, they
looked hungry their standing in line
so long was evidence of that, although
their , patience surprised - me, because
a hungry man Is usually, anything but
patient.
I estimated that about a thousand
men were in the line when I saw it.
I saw no women or children and that
made me wonder, how the wives and
little "ones of these men were faring.
If the husband and father could stand
in-line for an hour, or two to get a
sandwich ano a cup of coffee, what
must be the condition of the larder
at home if home he has?
A long, silent line, that. No disturb-
, ance, no disorder. .Scarcely any in line
spoke , a word. Some stamped- their
feet a little to keep warm, and kept
-edging' up as the line progressed. But
the silence was almost oppressive. One
couldn't help wishing that the , line
would cheer a uit for Hearst and the
American or growl a little anything,
in fact, that would maV-e it seem nat
ural. Thd police, I suppose, see to it
that the mighty ones who-live upon
Fifth avenue above shall not be dis
tubed by anything so unseemly as a
hungry pauper using his voice.'
i longed for the gift of clairvoyance
so that I might read the thoughts of
.-at line.' I wanted to know what the
men were', thinking about whether
their tacughts were as quiet and sub
missive as their actions. I wondered
if any of them still believe in the ne
cessity for mo- ?y "good in the markets
of the world." I wondered if any of
them sun believe in "standing pat" for
"protection to American labor." I
wondered if any of them still Relieve in
private ownership of railroads and tel
egraphs, and telephones, and street
railways. " ..
Sucn men are a fertile field for the
demagogue to plant with the seeds of
destructive anarchy not the Ideal sort
of "voluntarianism" which our friend
Wibel of California teaches, but the
kind that kills and burns and dyna
mites. I can't believe that a hungry
man's thoughts are quiet a3 that line
was. . Possibly Mr. Hearst's charity en
feebles their manhood, judt as Chancel
lor Andrews caid such indiscriminate
giving will do (in his recent lecture
at St. Paul's) and possibly Mr. Hearst
ought to have each case investigated
by an expert sociologist before hand
ing out the coffee and sandwiches 1
don't pretend u know, not being a
sociologist myself. But I do know that
such a line doesn't speak well for
civilization. It shows something wrong
with our distribution of wealth
Tom Lawson, in Everybody's Maga
zine, isj showing where some of our
faulty distribution of wealth comes in.
He writes from the stock exchange
point of view, and very entertainingly,
too; but his cure is to be' effected
without any change in the existing
laws which means a continuance of
private ownership of . transportation,
communication, and the issue of
money and, well, if it works, we'll all
be surprised but happy nevertheless.
Ainslee'3 is picking up now with a
story, "The Deluge," by David Graham
Phillips, which we are assured will tell
us how to do the trick Lawson hints at
but hasn't yet told. The story is well
written and its hero is made as nearly
like Tom Lawson as our copyright
laws will allow without a suit in
equity. Mr. Phillips has just started
in, but he's somewhat Lawsonesque
himself, telling plenty of evil3, but giv
ing no remedy.
With so many magazines stirring
the troubled waters, it looks as though
there would be some surprising things
happen when they begin to settle and
clarify. It's not difficult' to be an icon
oclast and smash thing, especially
when there's so many that ought to
be smashed, but it will require .some
pop doctrine to teach a few truths
about constructive ' measures. Tom
Watson's Magazine will endeavor to
do its share ol such teaching. Watch
for the first number out February 25.
. CHARLES Q. DE FRANCE.
President Elliot on Labor
Cincinnati, O., Jan. 22. 1905 This
was the subject of some comment by
Herbert S. Bigelow, in his point at
the Vine Street Congregational church,
Sunday night. President Elliott was
quoted as saying:
"I have lately had occasion to think
a good deal about tue conditions of
labor in our American society, and the
saddest thing that I have learned Is
the lack of the happy spirit of labor
in American industries. That is a most
pathetic and lamentable thing. What
is the cure for this prodigious .evil?
It is the bringing into American indus
tries of the method rtid spirit of the
artist. The artist rejoice3 in his work;
it is Ue chief satisfaction and happi
ness of his life." '
"Not a prodigious remedy," said
Mr. Bigelow, "for so prodigious an
evil there i3 a lack of happiness in the
work of the American people. This is
a nrodierious evil. The cure for It fs
to introduce happiness into the work
of the American people. A truly re
markable suggestion.
..With this kind of reasoning, what
problem need stump us? Poverty is a
prodigious evil. The cure for it is
riches. Intemperance is a prodigious
evil. The cure- for it is temperance,
Sickness is a prodigious evil. The cure
for It is health
If the American workman is ' not
happy, why not? The last bulletin of
the Labor Bureau furnishes some offi
cial statistics which have a bearing
on the subject. "
In Indiana the wage3 of 48,225 em
ployes were Investigated, and the average-was
found to be $8.77 a week.
8,434 carriage workers were found to
receive an average of $C98 a week.
The average for nearly 2,000 paper mill
hands was found to be $6.57 a .week.
Conditions were better in Illinois. The
average weekly wage of 80,881 employes
in this state wrs found to be $9.70.
In Missouri the' average for over 10,000
investigated drops to $8.70 aweck. la
this state there were three free em
ployment bureaus that received over
fifteen thousand applications for posi
tions. They were compelled to send
five thousand of these applications
away into enforced Idleness.
In this same report, the labor com
missioner -informs us that the em
ployees of : the woolen mills of New
Jersey get $6.43 a week. The factory
hands in Pennsylvania were found to
get $9.28 a' week. The Anthracite coal
miners made $9.53 a week. ...And the
men who have not the privilege of min
ing coal but who are able to get jobs
as helpers merelv, made an average
weeWy wane ; of $5.89.
Now, suppose wa take one of these
$5.89 a week men. Call up a picture.
A miner's hovel. Six small children. .
Why ' not? Ftelit mouths to feed.
Flour, shoes, clothes, school books to
buy. Rent to pav. $5.89 a week. Just
slip into his boots. How would you
live to put votir hand on that man's
shoulder and say; - ' '
"Mv man. 1 perceive that you do not
go about vour work happily. This la
r prodigious evil. .Now the cure for
this is sim me. You should become a
kind of artist. You should have no
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