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Vol. XVI.
LINCOLN, NEB., MARCH 2, 1905.
No. 41
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T
HOSE REASONABLE RATES
They Have no Relation Whatever to
Cost of Carriage or the Distance
Freight is Hauled.
TAKE ALL THE TRAFFIC WILL BEAR
That is the Only Principle Recog
nized By Any of the Freight
Making Experts.
In our last article we shipped a car
of stoves from Chicago, 111., west to
the coast and intermediate points
through the Omaha "gate way." We
will now ship it from Chicago north
west and west through the St. Paul
"gate way." As in the former article,
we - will name the freight on a 24,000
pound carload of stoves, which takes
the fifth class rate and in some cases
we will name the rate on one stove,
or less than carload, which takes third
class rate, which stove we will suppose
to weigh five hundred pounds.
-.The' car to Janesville, Wis., 100
miles from Chicago, will be $31.20 and
the one stove will be $1.20. If it origi
nates in common point territory east
- of Chicago, the rate will be the same
to Janesville" as though sent on west
to Winona, Minn., or to St, Paul. If
.from' Milwaukee to Janesville, 71 miles,
the rate is $24 and the rate on the one
stove will be $1. Milwaukee, on short
haul, ' where nearer than Chicago
claims its right under the ton per mile
rule to a lower rate than from Chi
cagowhile for long hauls, the two
cities are placed on a parity.
Another thing is noticeable. At
times we hear much of water rates
being cheaper than all rail, but it is
evident that conditions west of Lake
-'Michigan and south of Lake Superior
are tied up in such a manner as to
eliminate the influence of water com
petition; We find that an interior point,
like Channing, Mich. (Northern Penin
sula) takes a rate on thi3 car of stoves
of $42 and a 500 pound stove takes a
2 rate. The same car will take a
i;M2 rate from Chicago, all rail to Du-
lith, Minn., at the head of navigation
on Lake Superior, and the one stove
will take a $2.20 rate,
in-other words, if there is any truth
in' the theory that water transporta
tion is cheaper than all rail, those con
ditions have been wiped out by combi
nation and agreement between lake
and rail transit agencies,
Madsion, Wis., is 82 miles from Mil
waukee and. .40 miles from Chicago.
The car rate from either city to Madi
son is $33.60 but the one stove' (500
pounds) will be $1.20 from Milwaukee
and $1.28 from Chicago. At Portage,
'.Vis., 178 miles from Chicago, the car is
.'36, while from Milwaukee it is $33.G0.
To LaCrosse, 283 miles from Chicago,
:;.he car is $43.20 and the stove is $1.65.
'..he rate is same to Merrill, Wis., 335
wA'.es from Chicago. Up in the north
central part of Wisconsin to Chippewa
: 'alls, 400"miles from Chicago, the car
' is !36 and the stove is $2." . To St. Paul
i. -d Minneapolis, Minn., 420 miles from
Chicago, "the fifth class rate would
i..ake the rate on the car $48, but a spe
cial rate makes te freight $36. If
10 Winona, Minn., 308 miles from Chi
cago, the car is $43.20 because class
rates govern, and the one stove is
SS1.C5.
if we ship from Chicago to Duluth,
all rail 570 miles, the car rate is $42
and the stove rate is $2.20. '
When we get to St. Paul and Min
neapolis and go northwest, the roads
make through rates to points west,
from the S't. Paul "gate way" on a
combination of the through rate to St.
Paul and local, rate west, but they use
the class rate and not the special rate.
This is done to favor the "gate way"
point in its wholesale business at the
expense of the consumer in towns west.
For instance, the car of stoves take3
fifth class rate where a special rate
does not make it lower. - The special
on stoves from Chicago to St. Paul
is 15 cents per hundred pounds, while
the class rate is 33 1-3 per cent high
er, or 20 cents per hundred pound3.
A car of stoves going from Chicago to
Brainerd, Minn., 138 miles northwest
of St. Paul, the rate is the sum of $48,
class rate to St. Paul from Chicago and
$43.20 St. Paul to Brainerd, or a total
of $91.20. The shipper that is on to his
job can save $12 on the car by billing
to St. Paul and re-billing to Brainerd
on the local rate if he is not "non
grata" 'with the railroad. Where it is
desired to construe the tariff strictly,
the shipper is up against the sum of
the two local rates. Another thing, the
rate to Brainerd, 138 miles of a haul
from St. Paul on a level prairie is
$43.20, while the same goods are hauled
from Chicago to St. Paul on a special
rate, 410 miles, for $36. Eastern peo
ple wonder why western people, many
of whom used to be moss-back repub
licans, have become 4 populists. The
railway man tells us the true princi
ple of rate making should be based on
the ton per mile theory. This is a
sample of conditions west of the Mis
sissippi "gate ways" and we could cite
every town on all the western lines to
show the application of this" principle
did space permit.
To Moorehead, Minn., from Chicago,
the car rate is $100.80, a haul of 250
miles from St. Paul. This means a
charge of $64.80 on the west oT S't. Paul
haul as against a charge of $36 that
is made locally for 410 mile haul from
Chicago to St. Paul. This proves that
rates are based on the theory of all the
traffic will bear, and on the principle
of "let him get who may and keep
who can." To Fargo, N. D., the rate
is the same as to Moorehead. To
Jamestown, N. D., 343 miles from St.
Paul, the car rate from Chicago is
REPUBLICAN EDITORS
They all Turn Populist and Denounce
the Nebraska Political Pass
System.
DOBBINS SCORES THE PERJURERS.
To
St,
8129.60 and the stove rate $4.85.
Riomnrrir N D.. 445 miles from
Paul, the car rate from Chicago is
$146.40 and the stove rate $5.35. To
Miles City, Mont., 745 miles from S't.
Paul, the car rate is $223.60 and on
the stove, $6.25. To Billings, Mont.,
892 miles west of St, Paul, the car rate
is $324 from Chicago and on. the one
stove, $9.90, Billings is the competitive
(?) point on the Northern Pacific where
the C , B. & Q. makes junction- for
western-point business. By a peculiar
coincidence the rates . are exactly the
3ame if freight goes via the Omaha
"gate way" or via the St. Paul "gate
way." Billings is 1,300 miles from Chi
cago via the St. Paul "gate way" and
1,390 miles via the Omaha "gate way.'.
If we take the car to Livingston,
Mont, the rate is $336, the haul, being
1.C07 miles from St. Paul. The dis
tance from St. Paul being 2 1-2 times
the distance from Chicago to S't. Paul
and the rate being over 9 times the
Chicago to St. Paul rate. And -they
tell us rates are reasonable. To Mis
soula. Mont., 1,255 miles west of St.
Paul, the freight on our car will be
$360 from Chicago and on the stove
$11.25. To Spokane, Wash., 1,512 miles
from St. Paul, the car is $408 because
of a. commodity rate which happens to
fall exactly on the class rate to that
point. ' If figured on the special and
local back principle, which governs too
many inter-point rates, it is $444.
The car rate to Portland, Ore., and
other coast common points, 2,462 miles
from Chicago, hauled through Spokane,
is . $300, which haul is 540 miles fur
ther than to Spokane where the spe
cial rate in $407. And they tell us
rates are reasonable. In a later letter
we will maite tnis smpmem via me
Kansas City, Mo., "gate way" and the
southern route over the Santa Fe. We
will then take other articles illustrat
ing, the several class rates from first
class to "D" class to show the rela
tions or rather the want of relations,
between commodities. One who can
catalogue and label present rates and
make them appear reasonable can show
anarchy in all its disorder and make
it look beautiful and make a chart
for freedom in autocratic Russia.
A. J. GUSTIN. Kearney, Neb.
Every Office Holder Takes an Oath
Not to Accept Any Valuable
Thing From Corporations.
A Retvl Ballot
' A real ballot is what the people
should unite in demanding. The kin
dergarten, picture book, crazy quilt,
political and typographical monstros
ities which are now thrust upon a fool
people in most of the states no more
resemble the genuine Australian ballot
than a Chinese paper joss resembles a
Japanese man-of-war. After we get a
fraud-proof ballot we want an effective
ballot with the bulwarks of support be
ing direct legislation and proportion
al representation. Pittsburg JCansan.
The Nebraska Editorial association,
composed very largely of republican
editors, met at Kearney last week and
passed the following resolution:
"Resolved, That the Nebraska State
Press association in convention as
sembled at Kearney declares it3 inter
est in and support of the question
before the legislature for a direct pri
mary law, and such legislation as shall
speedily destroy the political pass sys
tem that exists in this state." ,'
In advocacy of the abolishment of
the pas3 system, many strong populist
speeches were made by these republi
can editors They could be duplicated
almost word tor word from populist
speeches made ten yeasr ago by the
men who organized the populist party
in this state. Perhaps the strongest
speech of the occasion was made by
Mr. Dobbins, editor of the Lincoln
Evening News, a republican daily, of
long standing. Among other - things
Mr. Dobbins said was the following:
"Have you ever stopped to consider
why it is that in a state so purely ag
ricultural as is Nebraska, a state where
the prosperity of each of us is de
pendent entirely upon the prosperity of
the farmer, that six lawyers and two
bankers represent us in congress, and
not a single farmer? What influence
i3 it that brings about this condition?
It can all be traced back to the use of
the free pass and railroad favor, which
makes fish of.one man's ambitions and
fowl of another's." Why is it that in
the legislature now sitting at Lincoln
it is impossible, notwithstanding the
fact that more than a majority of the
members are farmers, to secure the
passage of bills compelling railroad
companies to furnish the same facil
ities to farmers' elevator companies
that they do to old line owners? Why
is it that earnest, honest men in the
legislature have struggled for years to
secure a reduction in freight rates
and been unsuccessful? In 1902 the
Nebraska farmer received four, cents
less per bushel for his corn, six cents
less for his wheat, five cents less , for
his oats and nine cents less for his rye
than did the farmers of Kansas. These
figures are from the government re
port and the explanation lies in the
fact that there is just that difference
in the railroad tariffs of the two states.
"Why is it that you and every other
individual taxpayer in this state must
list with his local assessor at its full
cash value every dollar of property you
own while the railway property in the
entire state is valued by a board of
Kstate officers who owe their nomination
almost as a rule to the favor of state
conventions controlled by railroad pol
iticians holding and distributing rail
road free passes? What was it, do you
think, that only last Friday, impelled
the lower house of the state legislature
to vote down overwhelmingly a propo
sition that it be made mandatory for
this state board to value railroad prop
erty at the market value of its stocks
and bonds, a method pronounced by
the supreme court as just and fair on
the theory that a property is worth for
purposes of taxation whatever it is
worth as a means of producing in
come? '
"What dry rot has seized upon the
morals of our executive and judicial of
ficers, of our legislators, that permits
them complacently to violate the con
stitution and decency by accepting free
passes from the railroads? Section 16
of the state constitution requires and
every executive and judicial officer and
every member of the legislature dora
take this oath: "I have not accepted
nor will I accept or receive, directly
or indirectly, any money or other val
uable thing from any corporation, com
pany or person," etc., the latter cover
ing his official acts. They evade the
effect of this by insisting that the tak
ing of a valuable thing in the shape of
a pass from a railroad company does
not influence them, but I feel sure that
if you had a case in court against a
railroad company you would be very
much disinclined to submit it to a
jury, every member of which had a
pass worth several hundred" dollars a
year to him. There is a very promi
nent gentleman down at Lincoln who
has been frequently heard to say that
the fact that a member of a jury which,
tried his damage suit against a rail
road had a round trip ticket to Wash-,
ington which cost him, the plaintiff
in the case, tea thousand dollars. He
found out about the ticket after the
case was tried.
"As a result of the use of the free
pas3 in the creation of an overlord
ship, we have this condition of affairs:
No man can be nominated and elected
to any high office in this state over the
active opposition of the railroads; we
can not get through the legislature of
the state measures that provide for a
square deal; we are impotent to com
pel the railroads to serve the public
so as to promote Industry by insuring
to all shippers equality of Bervlee and
like rates, to grant all cities the same
facilities that they do to one, to treat
Nebraska farmers as well as they do
Iowa and Kansas farmers; they die-,
tate what taxes they shall pay and
what rates shippers shall pay; they
permit political manipulators to ride
free and charge the business man and
the farmer, without whose patronage
they could not exist, a rate high enough,
to cover the cost of transporting all
three.
And what are we going to do about
it? How long are we going to permit
an irresponsible boss In an Omaha rail
road office to force men, in whose
breasts ambition stirs, to come and
see him , first before announcing their
candidacy for office? . How long ara
we going to sit supinely by and Be
our legislatures tied hand and foot by
a clique of manipulators that has ita
center in the person of a railroad lob
byist? How long are we to allow tha
railroad companies to sit in judgment
upon who shall conduct our public af
fairs to act a3 toll collectors on our
highways, to "shirk their just share of
taxation in short to say how fast shall
be our pursuit of life, liberty and hap
piness? We, as editors, ought
to use every means at our command to
assist in the restoration of the control
of the state government to, the hands
of the people, and the first great step
in this work is the abolition of the
free pass. We should help wrest from
the hands of the railroad its most pow
erful weapon, and we can accomplish
this only by presenting the facta to
the people and to keep agitating, agi
tating."
The readers of this paper will re
member that the editor has frequently
said during the last three or four years
that it was impossible for the govern
ment to endure and things go on in
the same manner as they had for the
last ten or twelve years, that there
was certain to be a revolt again3t the
tyranny of corporations and trusts,
and now from almost. every state there
comes evidences of such a revolt, and
it comes from republican legislatures,
republican editors and the rank and
file of the republican party. All these.
men are saying exactly what-populists
were saying ten and twelve years ago.
Populism is sweeping onward with the
irresistible force of a tidal wave. .
The men who run the republican
nartv have retired from office, whetner
it was that of United States senator
or road supervisor, every man wno naa
shown the least indication of disloy
alty to the interet3 of the great trusts
and corporations, at the first oppor
tunity. Such men never served but
one term, while the men who have
stood by those interests, like Allison,
have life situations and inside infor
mation when to buy and sell stocks.
The question remains whether theso
republican editors who so gallantly as
saulted the pass system will, after the
next republican convention, which will
be called, togethej: by the railroads in
the same manner that all the republi
can conventions have been called dur
ing the last twenty-five years in Ne-
