Excerpt from Railroad Rates, and Transportation Overland: In a Letter to a Member of Congress

The railroad agent, if driven to the wall, will, if he be a frank man, probably admit that the rule adopted in fix1ng freights is to charge all that the commodity in question can bear, and on this simple rule all their tables are constructed. The rule, however, is a false one, and leads to endless injustice. It proceeds on the theory that the railroads are purely private property, for the use of which or for passage over which they may properly and lawfully charge each man all they can get out of him. This theory itself is false. Railroads are public highways just as much as turnpihe roads are, and the whole public are entitled to transit over them on equaland im partial terms. In approaching the subject of railroad freights, therefore, the first thing necessary is to discard this false theory. The benefit to the shipper or the amount he can afford to pay has properly nothing to do with the rate of freight to be charged the true basis of the calculation is the necessary cost of the service. As this is a turning point in the controversy, I may be pardoned for dwelling on it a mo ment in the way of illustration. If it be true that the benefit to the shipper should be taken as the basis of the charge for carrying freight, it must be equally true with respect to the carriage of passengers, and must be equally applicable to all other carriers as to railroad companies.

Let us see how that would work. The drayman who takes the goods to the railroad depot should adjust his charges on the same basis as the railroad company. Instead of a uniform rate per load, or per ton, or per day, he should inquire into the profit to be made on the venture he hauls. The tele graph operator who transmits a message (foi telegraph com panies are carriers too), instead of counting the words should inquire into the value of the message to the sender or re ceiver. An instruction to buy or sell a thousandgshares of stock or tons of wheat should pay ten times as much as a like direction for a' hundred, and the state of the market and the likelihood of a profit in the transaction should enhance the charge accordingly. So on railroad trains a man of wealth should pay more for his ticket than one in moderate circum stances, and the nature of the errand should be taken into account. If he anticipates a pecuniary advantage from the journey he should pay more if he travels for mere pleasure, less. If for health, perhaps, the nature and extent of his mal ady, the likelihood of a cure, and the insured value of his life might justly cut a figure in determining his fare. He should, at least, carry at all times a certified copy of his stand ing on the last assessment roll and present an affidavit of his losses and gains since it was made.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.