Conservative.
upon the taxpayers of this country.
Others have computed the loss of rev
enue on sugar , tobacco , rice , fruits , and
other products of the Philippine and
West India islands , when brought under
the revenue acts of ( lie United States
and Hawaii , at ? 100,000,000 , or over
$1.25 per head. See Mr.Robert Myrick's
address to the National Grange Confer
ence , in Concord , N. H.
Under these conditions the public
will wait with some impatience for the
development of the proposed policy of
the secretary of the treasury in meeting
the danger of n continuous deficit and
with great anxiety for the message of
the president on the existing conditions
of passive war.
Congress may then be called upon to
decide whether or not this condition of
passive war in the holding of tropical
islands by armed forces is to cease at an
early day or is to be continued under
the necessity of adding by direct tax
ation a large sum to our present burden ,
coupled with a heavy increase in the
future burden , in order to provide an
nually for a very large portion of each
year's enlisted men who will be an
nually disabled by fever , malaria and
venereal disease.
The figures used in this analysis for
the last fiscal year are from official data ,
subject to very slight changes in the
ensuing report of the secretary of the
treasury.
I have endeavored to present the exact
data on which every person can compute
the probable cost of the imperial or ex
pansion policy as it is now called.
I will append one question to each
reader.
How much increase of taxation are
you willing to bear , and how many of
your neighbor's sons are you ready to
sacrifice by fever , malaria , and venereal
disease in order to extend the sovereignty
of the United States over the West
Indies and the Philippine islands ? By
such policy we throw away our previous
exemption from militarism which con
stitutes one of our chief advantages in es
tablishing low cost of production coupled
with high rates of wages or earnings
computed by myself at six per cent per
annum on our total annual product by
which advantage wo were attaining a
paramount control of trade on the ex
port of our goods to every port of the
world of commerce.
EDWARD ATKINSON.
Boston , Nov. 21 , 1898.
The Inter-State
SOMK PLAIN
Commerce c o m -
FACTS.
mission was estab
lished under a law entitled , "An Act to
Regulate Commerce Approved Feb. 4 ,
1887. " According to the report of the
commission itself , this body has cost the
people of the United States in eleven
years $1,992,591.03. After an existence
of nearly a dozen years , and the expend
iture of nearly two millions of money
.
* -
this body of governmental supervisors ,
created simply and solely for the pur
pose of preventing unjust discrimination
iu favor of individuals , places or com
modities , has accomplished practically
nothing.
Members of the commission have
themselves gained some insight into the
vast , infinitely intricate American rail
way problem , but of what use has their
knowledge thus far been to the nation ?
Has this grunt expense been of any real
value in protecting the small shipper
against his more powerful neighbor in
the same line of business ? Are all ship-
pore treated alike by the freight depart
ment of our great transportation system ?
Does the custom house rule of uniform
charges pre\ nil ? Here is a great public
industry , maintained by private capital
and directed by private talent , but os
tensibly supervised by the strong arm of
the general government iu the interest
of fair play to the common carriers and
the shippers alike. To what extent does
very citizen and every shipper get fair
play for which nil are paying ?
Last May , Mr. M. E. Ingalls , president
of the C. , C. , C. & St. L. and of the C.
& O. railways , delivered an address nt
the tenth annual meeting of the railway
commissioners , in Washington. Among
other things 1 e said :
"We should look the situation fairly
in the face. While I do not care to be
an alarmist , I feel bound to describe
bluntly the freight condition to yon
today , so that you may understand the
necessity for action. Never in the his
tory of railways have tariffs been so lit
tle respected as today. Private arrange
ments and understandings are more
plentiful than regular rates. The large
shippers the responsible shippers are
obtaining advantages which sooner or
later will prove the ruin of the smaller
and more conservative traders , and in
the end will break up many of the com
mercial houses in this country and ruin
the railways. A madness seems to have
seized upon some railway managers , and
a large proportion of the freight of the
country is being carried at prices below
cost. "
Surely this expert this man of suffici
ent ability to stand at the head of a great
railway system must thoroughly un
derstand what ho is talking about. But
if this almost universal discrimination is
the actual fact , who is securing the
secret cut rates ? Is it the small mer
chant , the small town , or the small man
ufacturer ? No ; it is the big aggrega
tions of capital in every case. In other
words , the Inter-State commerce law
has turned out to be a clover device behind -
hind which the powerful shippers can
dodge , dictating their own terms to the
railways , while the small shippers are
compelled to pay the public rate. In the
hands of the railways the law is a club
to make the small shippers pay the pub
lic tariff , while in the hands of the largo
shippers the same law is a club to force
the railways to give them whatever they
want.
These are the plain facts. The chances
: ire more than even that the net reve
nues of all the American railways for
1897 would have been increased between
twenty-five and fifty millions if the big
favored shippers had been placed on an
even keel with the small shippers. The
conclusion is inevitable that the Inter
state law as it now stands is a failure ,
benefiting the large shipper at the ex
pense of the small.
Secret freight rebates are holding back
the growth of small dealers , small man
ufacturers and small shipping centers
everywhere. Nor do the large cities
escape the injury. Wholesale diy goods
dealers , wherever located , are profoundly
interested iu the prosperity of medium
and small merchants , and in the growth
of the moderate-sized towns. Their best
and safest trade is always drawn from
such places. Any change in present
freight conditions that would benefit
such towns and merchants would also be
a decided advantage to all wholesale
dealers.
There are many importing houses in
this country that annually import thous
ands of cases of foreign merchandise ,
but they pay exactly the same duty as
does the man who imports only one case.
There are great houses that buy a mil
lion postage stamps at one time , but
they pay the same price as fhe hod car
rier who writes only one letter a year.
There are many great banks that issue
more checks in a day than most men do
in a year , but they pay the same inter
nal revenue rate as the man who issues
one check a month. The railroad prob
lem will never be settled until the large
and the small shipper are accorded the
same even-handed treatment at the
hands of the common earner system of
the nation.
The government has essayed to set up
a fair and just supervision of the rail
ways of the country. That supervision ,
nfter a dozen yenrs of trial , has proved
to be a costly and scandalous failure.
It is worse than no supervision , because
it serves unscrupulous men and com
panies as a cloak for ruinous discrimina
tions. The time has come for the gov
ernment to do one of two things either
to abolish this travesty of supervision or
to supervise and regulate in earnest , in
a way that will put freight rates on the
same even-handed basis as the custom
house or mail service. A right settle
ment of this question would be of infin
ite advantage to the railroad wage
workers , the railway share holders , and
the public at large.
By an oversight the article last week
on the early governors of Nebraska was
not credited , as it should have been , to
that excellent weekly , THE CONSERVA
TIVE. Fairbury Gazette.
