The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, August 10, 1916, Page 5

How the Railro sate to Prosperity ads Are '-Holding_ Back North Dakota Shown In Figures Gathered by Fargo Manufacturers rORTH Dakota has been living |in the dark ages so far as freight rates are concerned. This state has stood still to be plucked by the railroads for 30 years. The plucking has been profitable—for * the railroads—and it has been accom- plished without much squawking. Only now the voice of the goose is being heard.’ : Laboring to develop manufacturing and jobbing centers under high :freight rates that were fixed when the railroads. first entered the state, North Dakota at last is waking up. The result is a suit " commission. It is one of the most im- . portant moves ever started in the state. It-promises to . take from the shoulders ' of the people of North Dakota one of the chief burdens that has prevented the state’s development. ¥ :North Dakota™ is' about to have aired one of “the. biggest railroad gouges on record. And it is going to attempt to get from the railroads the same treat- ment. that sister states enjoy, or is it going to know the reason why. MOVE STARTED IN FARGO NOW TAKES IN ENTIRE STATE _A manufacturers’ committee of Fargo ‘has taken the action that promises to get the state justice from the railroads. This committee, representing. firms that have seen their progress and the devel- opment of the whole state retarded by transportation ‘discrimination, decided to kick. But when these manufacturers looked into figures they found it was a " proposition. bigger than Fargo, bigger than any one town. They found that what Fargo was suffering from affected the entire state, and they decided to make it a state-wide move for justice from the carriers.” S So what started as a move to get more favorable rates for Fargo has be- come a fight for the whole state. The Fargo manufacturers decided to ask no new rates affecting Fargo alone; they have filed a complaint-attacking the en- tire distance freight rate schedule used by all the railroads of the state between all points in the state. They have asked reductions that will benefit every manu- facturer, producer, jobber and consumer in ‘North ‘Dakota. ‘A number of cities -have already joined Fargo in the suit and- it is expected that most every city of any size in the state will get back of the move. 5 § The Fargo manufacturers met unfore- geen ‘obstacles in-initiating this ‘' most important rate-case. as joint complainants. *= What the manu- facturers-are asking will of course indi- rectly benefit the jobbers also, but the “jobbers decided to lay off, to be neutral, - It'is said-they are not opposing the move for justice from the railroads for the peo- ple and industries-of the state, but they are not lending their aid. Some of the Inthe first. place- the jobbers of-Fargo:refused to come in, jobbers of Grand Forks decided to ob- serve a similar neutrality. ‘' WHY DO WHOLESALERS % NEGLECT THEIR CITY’S INTEREST? This was umlccountabie at first. Why should such big wholesale houses as Park, Grant & Morris of Fargo and the - Fargo Mercantile company refuse to join in a suit that means so much for _ the development of the state? The rea- son was. found, and incidentally the rea- son why the monstrous injustice the state is laboring under was not sooner . brought .to a head. just ‘initiated before the state railroad . Jobbers have ‘refused to cooperate with the manufacturers in this suit because the railroads have given them special favors. “The railroads have made them special commodity rates on some of the important kinds of goods they ship in to resell to merchants of the state. 3 With these concessions they get some of the principal lines of goods they handle - shipped to them from points of origin outside the state at freight rates that will enable them to compete with the wholesale houses of the Twin Cities and - other points, and they don’t care what the retail merchants and consumers around the state have to pay in freight, so long as the freight from Fargo and - Grand Forks is a little less than the freight from Minneapolis and St. Paul. In other words the jobbers are not *interested in the statewide proposition - to get ‘a fair deal.from the railroads for the consumers of the state because the railroads have procured their silence by concessions. There is no secret about this. It is “good business.” MANUFAETURERS HAVE BUILT CASE- AGAINST ROADS -+ -~ Despite the refusal of the wholesale houses to join in the move against the railroads, the Fargo manufacturers have developed a case that has every chance of success. PIe The consumers in the cities and in the country, of course, eventually pay the freight on everything they buy—the manufacturers and merchants figure in the freight in the price they charge. 'So this is a consumers’ fight as well, but it will benefit the jobbers and manufactu- rers by giving them more of an' even chance for the state’s business with the manufacturers outside the state and thus help to build up- the ‘state’s indus- tries.: . = . Freight between points in North Da- kota is moved today under a general distance rate "schedule that has been effective ‘with few exceptions sincé the railroads entered the state. a given distance between any two points the shipper must pay the same on any railroad. . There _are no - “distributing” rates in North Dakota. A distributing To move a . given kind of freight in North Dakota Factory of the Chaney-Everhart Candy company in Fargo. This is one of the firms joining in the action to seek to compel the railroads to grant distance tariffs in North Dakota which will enable home industries to be built up qnd will stop the extortionate toll of freight rates to and from the Minnesota cities, classification. eastern Mox;t}ang. the union not thus favored. rate is‘a special rate, lower than the gen- eral rate, granted to certain cities favor- ably situated for a jobbing trade,- which enables such a city to build up its manufactories and jobbing business. Probably no other state in the union is without at least one city having such rates. No city in North® Dakéta has ° such rates. GENERAL DISTANCE TARIFF ATTACKED BY SHIPPERS Tt is the general - distance’ charge,” : effective between any two points in the state, that is attacked in the present suit. Rates “on a few commodities are not: affected, 'the ‘railroads having al-~ ready granted -lower rates on' these, effective. for some years. But on the great bulk of freight the general dis- tance charge in’ North Dakota is from 50 to 76 per cent "higher than similar schedules in sister states of the north- . west. It is in some instances almost 100 per cent higher than the distribu- . ting rates many of the cities of Minne- . - sota, South Dgkota and adjoining states enjoy, - The ‘ Fargo manufacturérs’ ‘are ' only- making a modest request for reduction ot this time. Facts Aboai North Dakota Freight Rates It costs $32 to ship a car load of hoés 100 miles in North Dakota. It costs only $24 to do it in South Dakota, only $16.50 to do it in Iowa, only $28.90 to do it in' Nebraska and only $20:48 to do it in Minnesota. It costs 43 cents per 100 pounds to ship drygoods 100 miles in North Dakota. ' In Iowa the same kind of goods can be shipped the same distance for 24 cents, nearly half the North Dakota rate. In South Dakota the railroads perform the same service for 37 cents, in Minnesota for 32 cents. ; If a North Dakota farmer buys a farm truck in North Dakota he has to pay freight on it under the first classification, while if a Minnesota farmer buys a farm truck from the Twin Cities he has to pay freight only under the third classification, about half the first class rate. Manufacturers in° St. Paul and Minneapolis and Duluth and Superior can ship goods into eastern Montana at the same rate that Fargo and Grand Forks pay, although® the North Dakota - cities -are hundreds -of miles mnearer to North Dakota points get no through rates on commodities shipped from the east and south and hence have to pay twice as much freight in proportion to the distance as South Dakota and Minnesota points. Not a city in North Dakota has a distributing rate to aid in the building up of manufactories and the jobbing trade, and probably is the only state in- Shippers in Wahpeton, Fargo and Grand Forks, North Dakota, haul their . goods-across the Red river into Minnesota and ship them from there, taking advantage of the lower rates that another state has compelled the railroads ‘to make, because North Dakota has not insisted on like treatment. Railroad freight rates have not been lowered in North Dakota, except on. a few commodities, since the railroads were built. The state has gone on pay-. ing rates fixed by pioneer railroading days when all the traffic would bear was put on. Increase of traffic a hundred fold has not-lessened the North Dakota rates as they have every other state in the union enjoying a similar growth, They:are_asking that_the Just a little difference in distance. tariffs, in general” effeck throughout the state, be reduced.10 per’ cent on.distances from 30 to 50 miles," inclusive, and 15 per cent on all distan ces above 50 miles. This demanded re' duction is considered by some too small a drop to request, in view of the facts, but''the - committee explains that it is _not asking more #an-it expects to get, as is often the case irf rate suits, and if is going to insist on the full reduction demanded; without compromise. No distributive rates are asked for Fargo or any other city. Merely reducs tions that will affect every point in the state are asked. However, the present suit is an entering wedge. If it is sue« . cessful-it will mean a readjustment of some commodity rates later and more “than likely a demand of several North Dakota cities for distributing = rates; such as are enjoyed by cities in every, other state in ‘the union. WHAT THE SUIT MEANS' AS FIGURES SHOW_IT ... What ‘thq present su}t means can best be shown in figures. It costs 54 cents ' . per 100 ‘pounds to move hardware 200 miles between two North Dakota points. _Iil:&.(_:ols'tsv only 30.2 cents in Towa, only |