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Vol. XVI.
LINCOLN, NEB., APRIL 6, 1905.
No. 4G
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RAILROAD COMPETITION
The Thing Is Impossible and There Is
No Pretense That There Is
Among Railroad Men
FREIGHT ASSOCIATIONS RULE
A High Rate and Made Equal to All Is
Better Than Constantly Changing
Lower Rates With Rebates
On interstate business, or rather, on
' business going over two or more rail
way lines, which business we might
properly term "inter-line" business,
there is an agreement between such
- lines for division of revenue. These
. agreements are published, but not as
tariffs are, for general distribution,
and are known as joint percentage
divisions. .
Suppose a ton of freight originates
at Canton, Ohio, destined for Fergus
Falls, Minn. It can start over the
Cleveland Terminal & Valley railway,
or over the Pennsylvania company, or
over the Wheeling & Lake Erie rail
road. Those lines being the separate
roads at Canton, and all in an agree
ment with Identical rates to common
territory. If the freight is first class,
the rate will be ; 91 cents per 100
pounds plus the local' rate, 56 cents,
west from St. Paul. The expense bill
or freight will be $18.20 plus' $11.20, or
$29.40 for the through haul. The
initial road at Canton will get 43 per
cent of $18.20,; as its ; portion for de
' livery at Chicago to ajiy of the rdads
leading to St. Paul and such receiving
road will get 57 per cent of the $18.20
and the Great Northern road at St.
Paul will get its local : rate of . $11.20
for carrying to destination;: Fergus
:Falls. -! '".' 1
In other words, the haul, Canton to
Chicago, will be $7.83, which ! is 43
per cent of the through haul on the
defined territory : under agreement.
The road northwest from Chicago, will
get $10.37, which is the remaining
53 per cent of the $18.20, and the Great
Northern road will collect the total bill
of $29.40 on the ton of first class
freight and retain the local rate,
$11.20, as its portion, paying in its
. adjustment of; accounts , through the
railway clearing house, with the other
roads, their respective portion. : There
are railway associations that have
jurisdiction j under traffic agreements
with every ' portion of the United
States. The two associations , which
govern the business above quoted, are
known as the Western Trunk Line
committee, the chairman of which is
Mr. James V. Mahoney, and the other,
the Central Freght; association, whose
chairman is Mr. J. F. Tucker. There is
nothing on the tariff sheets to indicate
where the office of such committee is
located, and like ; Topsey in Uncle
Tom's Cabin, they "just growed."
This is no doubt a weak effort on
their part " to lose identification, be
cause of our foolish laws which are
dead letter against railway pooling.
We have laws against public brawls
and street fights, and then again we
make laws,' the purport pf which is to
cause natural i monopolies; as are rail
ways, to become competitors and fight.
We just as well enact a law that two
cats if tied by the tail and strung over
a line shall not fight, as to enact a
law that two roads shall 1 not pool
when we undertake to regulate their
rates, and they know we must ship
i over one or the other, or let our
freight rot. Every portion of the
United States is governed as to traffic
to and from any point! oh all commod
ities by one form or another of rate
making associations, for division and
maintaining of revenue.' There is ab
solutely no competition among rail
ways in the United States other than
a "hot air" struggle among freight so
licitors who make an effort at certain
points to keep up their percentage of
tonnage so that the percentage divi
sions may remain as agreed upon in
renewal of . agreements. The ; rule of
the ; czar 1 isi not more i absolute over
Russia, than is the rul$ of the freight
- -association over the iresDective terri
tories they ; have apportioned among
themselves , in the 1 . united . i States.
, Wherever there is' an exception to
this, there is a momentary fight which
is, among railways, as defined by Gen
eral Sherman among nations, in its
.-effect on the railway. The writer does
not complain of i rate committees, be
cause in choosing between monarchy
..with stable rates and anarchy "with
fluctuating rates, he would promptly
choose the monarchy. But we, the peo
ple, should demand the average rate
shown to have been earned on each
and every line of railway be put into
effect, that all may be treated, alike,
and we- be given the benefit of the
average or postal rate, which for the
nation will not exceed 5 cents per
hundred pounds. If we permit the
class rates which are always discrimi
nating, to remain in force, and the
ton per mile system to rule, which is
always burdensome, it will mean that
the high rates that govern on but a
fraction of the total tonnage, may be
cut and rebates be secretly made
When the fool-killer happens along
building up trade ana manuracturing-jthat maftsria"me ls Dennis--trusts
as now doneIf, h&wever, we ponHst9 mav dnv a,i,T defW
insist upon an average or postal rate
being made, no road can make rebates
without cutting its lowest as well as
its highest rate which are embraced
in that average and that will tend to
do away with rebates. Should the
average rate of any western railway,
where rates are uniformly too high, be
found to be so high that there is a
temptation to make rebates and if it
be caught doing so, the penalty should
be an immediate dropping of its rate to
the cut rate. The traffic department
of any road would sit upland notice
things with such a law in effect. If
freight originates at Fort Wayne, Ind.,
or in a certain prescribed surrounding
territory, known in the division sheet
as Group 7; the east of the Chicago
roads get 26 per cent of the through
rate to St. Paul and common point ter
ritory, and the lines northwest of Chi
cago, get the remaining 74 per cent.
If from Detroit, Mich., or Group 8, the
east gets 39 per cent and west 67 per
cent
Did space permit, we could give the-
divlsions and rates obtaining to every
hamlet, village and city in the empire
of rate-making, but we quote enough to
give the reader an idea of principles
of rate divisions now made by the
roads to which we wish to again refer
when we get further along in our rate
making story and when we undertake
to explain our postal rate theory.
A. J. GUSTIN.
Kearney, Neb. - '
and referendum there would have been
no further use for the populist party.
Bryan's platform in 1908 will have
railroad ownership by the government,
municipal ownership of public utilities
and other populistic vagaries. Now do
you suppose for a holy minute that
any old populist who shouted for Bry
an in 1896 and 1900, would turn him
down in 1908 if his platform is practi
cally populism? A few would, yes.
A few like that mullet head who wrote
The Independent lately thaW he trav
eled all over the United States advis
ing populists ; to - vote for Roosevelt.
Knows What He Wants ;
Editor 'Independent: Some ;time
since I received a circular letter from
you in which you state you would be
pleased to hear from me as to local
conditions ; and suggestions of party
policy. Blame yourself therefore if
I bore yqu. . -
Locally we are "down and out." But
ler county was one of the banner coun
ties for the Farmers' Alliance ticket
in 1S90. Some townships were' prac
tically, unanimous; for the 7 alliance
ticket. ' Since that time it has been
like a game of battledore and shut
tlecock. We gave Bryan about five
hundred in 1896. McKinley; carried it
by about as many in 1900, while in
1904 Roosevelt carried the county by
about seventeen hundred. Debs got
about two hundred; and fifty ; votes
while Watson and Tibbies only got
about a . half hundred, one of which
was the vote of your humble servant, j
By: close fusion and personal hust-'
ling we have managed to keep a foot
hold in the court house.5 , We now have
only the sheriff. Local fight in the
republican ranks gave us the state
senator and one representative.
, As to party policy nationally I know
what I want, but the best way to get;
it , is another question. I want to see
the principles of the populist platform
of 1892 and 1904 enacted intd state
law and I do not care whether it comes
about through ; Roosevelt republican
ism, Bryan democracy.or 'Watson popu
lism. My opinion is that it will have
to come through a union of all three
call ; it co-operation, fusion or what
ever you please. I do not believe in
partisanship. .. .
, For populists to deny Bryan, or hoist
the name of Watson or any1 one else
for 1908 seems to me the most short
sighted folly any one could be guilty
of. Watson may be the most unlikely
man in 1908 that we could dream of.
In order to get reform principles en
acted into law we. will have to have
the co-operation of Bryan democrats
(which includes Folk and Douglas),
Roosevelt republicans ( which includes
LaFollette),. Debs' socialists and the
few calamity howlers that supported
Watson. .
, It does not take a man of much po
litical discernment to foresee the nom
ination of Bryan in 1908 as the stand
ard bearer of democracy. If Bryan's
platform in 1896 had Had the initiative
Populists may deny ana defame Bry
an as much as they please, but the
American people, without regard to
party, recognize him as the .ablest
man in public life today and the major
ity of them believe him sincere. He
showed : his long-head by maintaining
his regularity, knowing full well, as
we all did, that Parker would be over
whelmingly beaten.
I am not ahero worshiper. My es
timate of Bryan is made not so much
from reading! his Commoner or lis
tening to his speeches, but from hav
ing watched his career for the last
twelve years and more from republi
can editorials and the editorials of
independent journalists and magazine
writers.;
The question, it seems to me, for
populists i in 1908 will be this : Will
we support Mr. Bryan on a platform
which contains nearly all that we have
contended f or for the past thirteen
years or shall we flock by ourselves
and a little handful of us -vote for
Watson, or some - other one of the
Old Guard and thereby make easier
and surer the election of some such
trusted friend of the money power as
"Fairbanks, Foraker; et al. For myself
I shall choose ' Bryan.
. It was the sage remark of Mr. Jeffer
son that we have and can have but
two, parties the aristocratic (the
money power) and ; the democratic.
What folly for the democratic party
thus to be divided? (I am speaking of
democratic in the broad' sense meant
by Mi. Jefferson )' Mr. Lincoln, too,
spoke of fooling all the people, part of
the time, part of the people all of the
time, but declared it to be impossible
to fool all the people all the time.
The money power has found it to be
unnecessary to' fool them all the time.
It is only necessary to fool enough of
them to keep them divided.
' Mr. Bryan declared in a speech at
Wichita,; Kan. in 1897, thai 'It is use
less to wage war on the trusts and let
the. greatest of all trusts, the money
trust, go unscatched. Mr. Bryan has
since j learned that the railroads own
the banks and therefore are part of
the money trust, hence he has come to
advocate government ownership of the
great trunk lines and state ownership
of the short roads that "do not cross
the state lines. Mr. Bryan is . learn
ing. It takes a smart man to learn.
Some men assume that they already
have all , wisdom.
You will say that I am not a popu
list.; Call me; whatever you please. T
was reared to believe that all politi
cal wisdom, all political morality, and
all wise statesmanship originated in
the republican party and there abode
permanently. My first presidential
vote was tor James G. Blaine.
In the days of, Grover the Fat, I got
a little political. wisdom into my cra
nium and when I failed to discern the
difference between G. Cleveland de
mocracy and Tom Reed-John Sherman
republicanism, I decided that was the
place to get off.
I voted for Bryan and Watson in
1896, Bryan and Stevenson in 1900 and
Watson and Tibles in 1904. I hope to
vote for Bryan and Douglas In 1908.
A populist can NOT be elected in 1908.
A democrat of the Bryan, Folk, Doug
las class CAN be elected. The plat
form will be of Mr Bryan's dictation
and it will be essentially populistic,
I shall consider it my duty to support
it I am responsible for no one but
myself. I shall vote for Jeffersonian
democracy as I see it. . - -
W. O, BENNETT, M. D.
; El Dorado, Kan.
Frank D. Comerford, who was ex
pelled from the Illinois legislature be
cause he charged the members with
boodling, was triumphantly re-elected
last Tuesday from his district in Chi
cago. He said he was going straight
back to the legislature to renew his
fight on the grafters. ,
ASTOUNDING EXTRAVAGANCE
Roosevelt's Administration so far Has
Cost the Country More Than
Three Billion Dollars
ENORMOUS DEFICIENCY IN SIGHT
More Bond Issues, Endless Chains and
Things of That Sort Within the
Next Four Years Certain
The following table shows the ' in
crease in the cost of government from .
the time of Grant and the enormous
jump that it has made under Roose-
Grant, 1869-1873 ....... ,$ 656,645,825
Grant, 1873-1877 . . . 674,716,557 ,
Hayes, 1877-1881 547,226,224 ,
Garfield-Arthur, 1881-1885 790,931,820
Cleveland, 1885-1889 ....' 868,037,675
Harrison, 1889-1893 ..... 1,217,331,537
Cleveland, 1893-1897 .... 1,309,478,606
McKinley, 1897-1901 (war
with Spain) 1,906,136,611
Roosevelt, 1961 to July
1.U906 ............... 3,117,617,137 ,
The appropriations of the govern
ment during President Roosevelt's ad
ministration aggregate $3,117,617,137,
which is $940,100,856 more than was
appropriated during the eight years of
President Cleveland, and $1,211,480,526
more than the four years of President
McKinley, during which time the Span
ish war was fought and won.
The appropriations for the army and
navy during President Roosevelt's ad
ministration aggregate almost $1,000,
000,000, which is more than was ex
pended during the Spanish war by
President McKinley. ,
.With a deficiency of at least $780,
000,000 almost a certainty during the ,
next .fiscal year, President Roosevelt
and the republican congress . went I
ahead making lavish appropriations
for the army and-navy while paring
down those for rivers and harbor im
provements and public buildings. Be- '
cause of the enormous appropriations
made during the last two the secretary
of the treasury repeatedly warned
congress that a deficit would certainly v
occur , if more, economical appropria
tions were not made. Extravagance of
all description ruled the Fifty-eighth
congress, except in the last short ses- '
sion, when a mighty .effort was made
to cut down the appropriations.
The president and congress differed
as to how the appropriations were to
be reduced. He demanded that no ap
propriation for the army and navy
should be decreased, and insisted that
everything else, including rivers and
harbor improvements, in which mem
bers are vitally interested, should be
cut. Instead of the great naval pro
gram which he had arranged, Congress
gave him but two battleships, making
a reduction in this one appropriation
bill of about $20,000,000.
During the four years of President
Cleveland's first administration from
1885 to 1889, the expenses of the gov
ernment were but $868,037,675, or $2,
249,579,462 less than during President
Roosevelt's administration. The ex
penditures were greater during the
second Cleveland administration, from
1893 to 1897, because of the natural '
growth of population and in material
greatness, requiring more money to
carry on the government. During this
four years the expenditures amounted
to $1,309,487,606, or $1,808,138,531 less
than in President Roosevelt s time.
From the time of Grant to that of
Roosevelt the expenditures have
shown p. gradual increase, but the in-
crease during the latter's administra
tion has been most sudden. President
McKinley disbursed $1,906,136,614, but
the expenses of the Spanish war were
borne by his administration. No war
expenditures can be charged to Presi-.
dent Roosevelt s administration, yet
the appropriations exceed those of
President McKinley by $1,211,480,526.
President Grant disbursed under the
head of "miscellaneous," $248,032,245,
which was .about the average until
President Cleveland's first term, when
this item rose to $313,048,080, but this
was Increased slightly during the war
with Spain, when President ffcKin
ley's; administration spent $453,766,954.
President Roosevelt's administration
under the head of "miscellaneous" has ,
brought the sum up to the startling ag
gregate of $1,505,850,419. Under the
heading of "miscellaneous" is placed.
the opstoffice, , deficiency and other
bills of the government not specially
enumerated.
The appropriations for the navy inv
t
k
s